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Help needed - How to restore data from Readynas drive

BigShotBob13
Aspirant

Help needed - How to restore data from Readynas drive

Looking for the best way to do this transfer. Recently got the RN214 to replace a WD My Book Live 3TB drive.

Started with 4TB drive and backed up a 1 TB, 2tb and 3 tb. I want to repurpose the 2 TB and 3 tb drives (Seagate ironwolf and WD Green drives) and thought it would just automatically do x-raid 5.

Now after reading I would need to start with the 2 TB, add the 3 tb and then the 4tb. Is that correct? What is the easiest way to recover the data from the 4 TB drive and use it as backup?

I have USB enclosures that are working well and used R Linux to recover the data from the 3 tb drive.

Any help would be great!
Model: RN214|4 BAY Desktop ReadyNAS Storage
Message 1 of 3

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StephenB
Guru

Re: Help needed - How to restore data from Readynas drive


@BigShotBob13 wrote:

Now after reading I would need to start with the 2 TB, add the 3 tb and then the 4tb. Is that correct? 

With XRAID that that is correct.  If you did that, then you'd end up with a 5 TB volume size (with 1 TB of the 4 TB drive being unused).  The general capacity rule for XRAID is "sum the drives and subtract the largest".

 


@BigShotBob13 wrote:
...WD Green drives...

Although my ancient NV+ is still using these drives, I don't recommend them for NAS/RAID use (and neither does Western Digital).  

 

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=996 wrote:
WD only recommends using a Desktop drive in a RAID array with no more than two (2) drives (Raid 0 or Raid 1 only).

NAS-purposed drives (WDC Red, Seagate Ironwolf) are better choices than desktop drives and similar in price.

 

You have a couple of options here:

  • Don't use RAID redundancy - switch to flexraid, and then add the repurposed disks as jbod (each disk is it's own volume)
  • Purchase a new 4 TB drive, so you get RAID-1 on existing 4 TB volume.  Then switch to flexraid and create a jbod volume for the ironwolf.
  • Get two new 4 TB drives, so you get an 8 TB volume, and use the older drives in the USB enclosures to back up the NAS.
  • Ignore my advice (and Western Digital's) on drive choice, and do a factory reset with all your drives in place.

I'd go with the two new 4 TB drives option + USB backup option myself.

 


@BigShotBob13 wrote:
 used R Linux to recover the data

R-Linux doesn't support the BTRFS file system used on the NAS, so you can't use that.  You could boot the PC up with a linux Live disk, install mdadm and btrfs, and then mount the drive using the linux shell.

 

The simpler way is to copy the files from the NAS shares over a wired ethernet network.  That can be done with drag-and-drop, though a utility that can verify the copy (teracopy is one) might be a better option.

 

Note that RAID isn't enough to keep your data safe, so you should have a backup plan for your NAS.

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Message 2 of 3

All Replies
StephenB
Guru

Re: Help needed - How to restore data from Readynas drive


@BigShotBob13 wrote:

Now after reading I would need to start with the 2 TB, add the 3 tb and then the 4tb. Is that correct? 

With XRAID that that is correct.  If you did that, then you'd end up with a 5 TB volume size (with 1 TB of the 4 TB drive being unused).  The general capacity rule for XRAID is "sum the drives and subtract the largest".

 


@BigShotBob13 wrote:
...WD Green drives...

Although my ancient NV+ is still using these drives, I don't recommend them for NAS/RAID use (and neither does Western Digital).  

 

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=996 wrote:
WD only recommends using a Desktop drive in a RAID array with no more than two (2) drives (Raid 0 or Raid 1 only).

NAS-purposed drives (WDC Red, Seagate Ironwolf) are better choices than desktop drives and similar in price.

 

You have a couple of options here:

  • Don't use RAID redundancy - switch to flexraid, and then add the repurposed disks as jbod (each disk is it's own volume)
  • Purchase a new 4 TB drive, so you get RAID-1 on existing 4 TB volume.  Then switch to flexraid and create a jbod volume for the ironwolf.
  • Get two new 4 TB drives, so you get an 8 TB volume, and use the older drives in the USB enclosures to back up the NAS.
  • Ignore my advice (and Western Digital's) on drive choice, and do a factory reset with all your drives in place.

I'd go with the two new 4 TB drives option + USB backup option myself.

 


@BigShotBob13 wrote:
 used R Linux to recover the data

R-Linux doesn't support the BTRFS file system used on the NAS, so you can't use that.  You could boot the PC up with a linux Live disk, install mdadm and btrfs, and then mount the drive using the linux shell.

 

The simpler way is to copy the files from the NAS shares over a wired ethernet network.  That can be done with drag-and-drop, though a utility that can verify the copy (teracopy is one) might be a better option.

 

Note that RAID isn't enough to keep your data safe, so you should have a backup plan for your NAS.

Message 2 of 3
BigShotBob13
Aspirant

Re: Help needed - How to restore data from Readynas drive

Wow, that was a fantastic and detailed answer!! I'll look into getting more 4 TB drives and use those as backups or as desktop drives.

Thanks so much for the help!!
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