Can't add disk to volume

[Doc_PT]

I have a 6-bay unit which is giving me a little trouble. I am trying to add a disk to the volume using the UI by checking the "add to volume" box (but not "add as a spare"), hitting apply, then under system/power forcing a reboot. When I reboot, the disk appears as detected but with the same options below to add or add as a spare. The volume resize does not occur on reboot.

top 3 disks are 3 TB. 4 (the one I'm trying to add) and 6 are 2 TB. Only 2 TB are being used on the 3 TB disks as this started as a 2 TB x 4 array.

I would rather not have to go through backing up the entire storage array and re-create the volume if I can avoid it. I've had to do that in the past.

[StephenB]

What firmware are you running in the NAS?  Are you using flexraid or xraid?

With XRAID you would be using all 3 TB in the first three disks.  Can you also post the size of the volume as reported by the admin web ui?

[Doc_PT]

Things have gotten a bit worse. Now I can't get to the admin page. RAIDDar reprots my firmware is 4.2.31 and the array is healthy, showing 3 discs. After reboots and FS checks, I thought the best plan was to remove disc 4 and try to replace the last remaining 2TB with a 3 TB. That seemed to work -- it did the resync -- but not the resize. I'm not rebooting with 1-4 as 3 TB and 5 and 6 empty to see if that helps anything. It's doing a Check FS now.

[Doc_PT]

Sorry, I don't remember whether I set this up as xraid or flexraid. RAIDar is now showing all 4 disks (1-4) and Healthy status. LCD shows volume is still 5.4 TB (0.2 free). Web Admin UI is still unreachable.

[StephenB]

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@Doc_PT wrote:
Sorry, I don't remember whether I set this up as xraid or flexraid. 

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The expansion behavior depends on how you set it up.  But of course the web admin ui should be available. 

One option is to contact paid support (my.netgear.com).  Ask for per-incident support. 

Another is to back up the data, rebuild the NAS (using XRAID) and then restore the data.  If you use this option, you could also convert your NAS to OS-6 if you wish (though that is unsupported y Netgear).

[Doc_PT]

Do you have an e-mail address for Netgear support? I can't even create a ticket because it won't let me register my product because it says it's already registered. (I had to create a new account because it wouldn't let me log in with my old password.)

[StephenB]

customer.service@netgear.com

@Marc_V or @JohnCM_S could also help you with the registration account problem.

[Marc_V]

Hi @Doc_PT

I sent you a PM regarding the request, please let me know if this resolved the issue on your device registration.

Regards

[Doc_PT]

Please send it again. I don't see any button to read PM's.

[StephenB]

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@Doc_PT wrote:

I don't see any button to read PM's.

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Click on the envelope icon at the top right of the forum page.

[Doc_PT]

Sorry, I don't see an envelope icon.

In any case, I am able to get into the admin interface again. However, Any attempts to add a disk to the volume are not successful.

I have 4x3TB disks inserted. They are only using 2TB. I tried clicking the "expand" button, apply, then under the Shutdown menu, shutdown and reboot and apply. But it does not resize the volume.

Adding a blanked 2TB disk and selecting add to volume (not as a spare) with the same reboot process does not trigger the volume resize.

Is it possible to trigger the resize through ssh?

[StephenB]

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@Doc_PT wrote:

Sorry, I don't see an envelope icon.

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It's not shown when you are replying, but it is shown on other pages. Try clicking on "netgear community" first.

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@Doc_PT wrote:

I have 4x3TB disks inserted. They are only using 2TB. I tried clicking the "expand" button, apply, then under the Shutdown menu, shutdown and reboot and apply. But it does not resize the volume.

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Can you clarify where the expand button is? 

Do you mean the radio button on page 41 of the manual?  Or do you mean the "add to volume" button shown on page 43.  http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RNDU2000/ReadyNAS_Business_SW_05Nov13.pdf

Also, can you post a screenshot of the volume settings page of the web UI?  Try to position the scroll bar so it shows all the disks.  For example:

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@Doc_PT wrote:

Is it possible to trigger the resize through ssh?

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Perhaps.  But I think we need to sort out what's wrong.  There should be clues in the full log zipfile.  expand.log is a reasonable place to start.

[Doc_PT]

The "Expand" button was next to the "delete volume" button at the top. I say "was" because it no longer appears there.

I tried hot unplugging and re-plugging the 4th disk to see if that would trigger the volume expansion. Disk passed, started resyncying then stopped after a few minutes. Now it's sitting in unprotected. I would like to return it at least to redundant so that I can get the data off without fear. Guessing it needs a factory reset and might move it to firmware 6.

[StephenB]

You are running flexraid (RAID-5).  That explains why there was no automatic vertical expansion (using all 3 TB).

Try hovering your mouse over the "ball" icon on channel 4, and see if that gives you any additional status.

If nothing is happening, then the next troubleshooting step is to test the new drive with lifeguard in a PC. You can use a USB adapter/dock for this.

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@Doc_PT wrote:

I would like to return it at least to redundant so that I can get the data off without fear.

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Resyncing a new disk requires reading every sector in the data partition of the remaining three (and then writing every sector in the data partition of the new drive).  Backing up everything requires about the same number of reads, since the volume is pretty full.  So the risk of data loss is the same either way if you are doing a full backup - and less if you are doing an incremental backup. 

If you have the disks available to offload the data, I think you should do that now.

[Doc_PT]

Agreed. I'm working on backing up now.

Thanks.