Added Larger Hard Drives, Resynced, but still same space

[Jbalicki10]

I apologize, ReadyNas was designed so perfect I hardly touched the thing.  I decided to add larger hard drives but still I dont see the extra space.  OS is at the latest release

Here is my original configuration:

Raid 5

1: 3 TB

2: 3 TB

3. 5 TB

4. 5 TB

*Showed I had 10 TB space

I upgraded number 2 hard drive first and let it do the resync. Then I added a new drive to 1.  My new config looks like this:

1: 8TB

2: 8TB

3: 5TB

4. 5TB

*Shows I have 10 TB space only.

I thought I would have 13 TB to play with the added drive.  I noticed after the sync it created 2 Raid Groups.  1) Contained all 4 Hard Drives. 2) Contained Drives 3 and 4.  I did a reboot and no change.  What did I screw up?

Thanks in advance

[Sandshark · Accepted solution]

If you did not have XRAID enabled, then the NAS rebuilt according to the rules for FlexRAID, which is exactly what you got.  I've never tried enabling XRAID after a FlexRAID resync to see if it then sees the empty space and adds it to the array.  It is certainly worth a try.  If it doesn't work, you may have to one at a time format the new ones and let them sync again, but in XRAID mode.  Without XRAID enabled, rebooting will not help.  With it enabled, then try a reboot if the NAS does not see the empty space on its own.

[Sandshark]

Is XRAID still enabled?  Your original configuration would need two layers, one with 3TB each from all 4 and one with 2TB each from 3 & 4.  It looks like that configuration didn't change when you swapped out the drives.  It should have needed multiple resyncs to do the required layers.  Did you see that?  If not, have you tried rebooting to see if that will trigger the additional resyncs?

[Jbalicki10]

Thank you for your reply. 

I do not believe that it had XRAID enabled.  How can I check?  I did not see it highlighted.  The Resync did take a very long time for the 3TB replacements.  It took 2 days for each drive. I did reboot after each resync.  Would it help if I posted pictures of the screen shot of the configuration?  My goal is to have my data backed up in case of one drive failure not multiple drive failures.

Thanks in advance.

[Jbalicki10]

Oh I will try to reboot a few times after work to see if your suggestion will work.

[Sandshark · Accepted solution]

If you did not have XRAID enabled, then the NAS rebuilt according to the rules for FlexRAID, which is exactly what you got.  I've never tried enabling XRAID after a FlexRAID resync to see if it then sees the empty space and adds it to the array.  It is certainly worth a try.  If it doesn't work, you may have to one at a time format the new ones and let them sync again, but in XRAID mode.  Without XRAID enabled, rebooting will not help.  With it enabled, then try a reboot if the NAS does not see the empty space on its own.

[Jbalicki10]

You were spot on. It was using Flex Raid not X Raid.  Doing the resync now and have 4 TB more free space