RAID5 Expansion

[Data_Dan]

I am currently in the process of expanding my RAID5 volume from 4 x 3 TB drives to 4 x 6TB drives. The 3rd drive has been added but I have not seen it go ONLINE in the logs yet but it displays as ONLINE on the System page. The volume is still syncing. Is it too soon to upgrade the 4th drive or do I have to wait for the process to finish? I am hoping it will remain a RAID5 volume and not change to a RAID6 volume.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

Wait for resyncing to complete.  If you remove a drive too early you will lose your data.

You now have two RAID groups on the 6 TB disks (the original 4x3 TB group, and a new 2 TB group).  Both need to sync.

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@Data_Dan wrote:

 I am hoping it will remain a RAID5 volume and not change to a RAID6 volume.

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That never happens with vertical expansion.  And the threshold for horizontal expansion is higher than 4 drives.

[Data_Dan]

Here is the System page showing the drive is ONLINE.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

Wait for resyncing to complete.  If you remove a drive too early you will lose your data.

You now have two RAID groups on the 6 TB disks (the original 4x3 TB group, and a new 2 TB group).  Both need to sync.

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@Data_Dan wrote:

 I am hoping it will remain a RAID5 volume and not change to a RAID6 volume.

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That never happens with vertical expansion.  And the threshold for horizontal expansion is higher than 4 drives.

[Data_Dan]

Thanks!

[Data_Dan]

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@StephenB wrote:

Wait for resyncing to complete.  If you remove a drive too early you will lose your data.

You now have two RAID groups on the 6 TB disks (the original 4x3 TB group, and a new 2 TB group).  Both need to sync.

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@Data_Dan wrote:

 I am hoping it will remain a RAID5 volume and not change to a RAID6 volume.

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That never happens with vertical expansion.  And the threshold for horizontal expansion is higher than 4 drives.

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I added the 4th drive this morning after the volume had re-synced and now the volume is degraded and is prompting to remove inactive volume. If I click on the 4th drive the format option appears. Do I have to format the 4th drive to add it to the 1st RAID group?

[StephenB]

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@Data_Dan wrote:
I added the 4th drive this morning after the volume had re-synced and now the volume is degraded and is prompting to remove inactive volume. If I click on the 4th drive the format option appears. Do I have to format the 4th drive to add it to the 1st RAID group?

I'm assuming that the main volume is ok (and you still have access to your files).  If that's not the case, let me know.

The NAS won't automatically add a formatted disk to a data volume - that helps prevent inadvertent data loss.  So you do need to click on the fourth drive on the volume tab, and format it there. 

[Data_Dan]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@Data_Dan wrote:
I added the 4th drive this morning after the volume had re-synced and now the volume is degraded and is prompting to remove inactive volume. If I click on the 4th drive the format option appears. Do I have to format the 4th drive to add it to the 1st RAID group?

I'm assuming that the main volume is ok (and you still have access to your files).  If that's not the case, let me know.

The NAS won't automatically add a formatted disk to a data volume - that helps prevent inadvertent data loss.  So you do need to click on the fourth drive on the volume tab, and format it there. 

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Yes files are OK. I put the original drive back in so now I have wait for it to sync. Once that's done I will try the other drive again. The "new" drive is from another NAS. I had performed a quick erase using WD Lifeguard. I am now in the process of doing a full erase on it. I will report back tomorrow

Thanks.

[StephenB]

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@Data_Dan wrote:
I had performed a quick erase using WD Lifeguard. 

Hmm... That should have been enough to remove the partitions (zeroing the first and last million sectors).

Hopefully the full erase will take care of it.

[Data_Dan]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@Data_Dan wrote:
I had performed a quick erase using WD Lifeguard. 

Hmm... That should have been enough to remove the partitions (zeroing the first and last million sectors).

Hopefully the full erase will take care of it.

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I put the erased drive in this morning. It is now re-syncing. I guess it wasn't wiped clean enough the first time

Thanks!.