I'm sure this is something simple I'm missing, but I started out with a RN104 in X-RAID (RAID 1) with two 3TB disks.
They are now full so I've just added another 1.5TB disk....and waited...and waited....and nothing seems to happen. I do get a message saying that channel 3 has changed from RESYNC to ONLINE immediately after inserting disk (see attached pic).
From everything I've read, I thought X-RAID would automatically add any new disk to extend the system. I've done all sorts including adding & removing the drive, formatting, destroying, switching from X-RAID to Flex and back again...but the only thing I can seem to be able to do is if I add another drive to the 4th bay, I can create a new RAID group (which I don't want to do).
Can anyone shed any light into what's gone wrong please?
I suggest you to insert another 3TB drive (or greater than 3TB) instead of a 1.5TB drive. It is recommended to add drive/s that has a greater or equal storage capacity as with the existing drives inside your NAS when doing horizontal expansion.
Make sure that the drives you add are compatible with the RN104. Here is the link where you can check the compatible drives for the RN104.
Oh no, what a pain but thanks very much for the help....my only other 3TB disk is in my RN102 in JBOD format, which I'm in the process of copying across to the RN104.
Never mind...it'll just take me longer but will do some copying around and get the data off the 3TB so it can go into the RN104!
Just to add, I have noticed that your RAID configuration is RAID1. Even if this disk has been added, your storage capacity won't increase. Have your files backed up and destroy the volume. Use RAID 5 and put in on X-RAID.
Oh no - I was afraid that RAID 1 was just mirroring and wouldn't allow me to add disks, but for a device that hails itself as being simple to set up with X-RAID this is becoming a nightmare. I didn't see any option to set the RAID level when I first inserted the disks and pressed the reset button. There's nothing in the online menus that I can see that gives me any option to change the RAID level either - it's either X-RAID or Flex-RAID. I've just been googling how to configure the RN104 from RAID 1 to RAID 5 but again nothing (yet) - just lots of talk about X-RAID, which seems to be interchangeable with RAID1 and 5. Which is it?
I am seriously regretting buying the RN104 and not just sticking with JBOD in the RN102. Sorry for the rant but I have lost my patience with this thing.
I quote from their website:
"With X-RAID, you do not need to know intricate details about RAID to administer your system. X-RAID allows you to add storage space without reformatting your drives or moving your data to another location. Because the expansion happens online, you can continue to use your ReadyNAS system while the volume capacity increases."
I apologize for the inconvenience. Kindly read below:
You have an existing 2x3TB drives in your RN104. With X-RAID configured in the RN104, this will be RAID-1 since there are 2 drives and this will do mirroring. This will allow one-disk failure which means if ever one drive fails, data is still intact on the healthy drive. You will just simply remove the faulty drive and replace it with a new 3TB drive.
If you will add another 3TB drive in the RN104, this will be RAID-5 (still X-RAID configured). It will give you approximately 6TB of storage and the remaining 3TB will be used for parity. This will allow one-disk failure. For example: you have 3x3TB drives labeled disks A, B and C. If disk A fails, data is still intact in disks B and C. You will just have to replace disk A with a new 3TB drive to allow one-disk failure again. In the event that two disks fails at the same time then you will need to contact NETGEAR Support.
Since you mentioned that XRAID is configured on XRAID (RAID1) in your initial post, you will just have to add another 3TB drive then it will automatically proceed with the resync process. After the resync process, you should still be able to access your data. It will give you approximately 6TB of storage and the remaining 3TB will be used for parity. This is possible because of XRAID. But with the traditional RAID, you will have to back up the data first, then factory reset the NAS, insert all 3x3TB drives, then reconfigure it from scratch, and finally transfer back the data to the NAS.
Kindly access this NETGEAR RAID Calculator and follow the steps. It will help you check the capacity used for data and protection with your RN104 configured on XRAID.
Perfect explanation, many thanks - so my misunderstanding is that you have to add drives that are equal or greater to the original disks installed to be able to let X-RAID do its stuff.
I'm glad I don't need to start from scratch at least!
I just need to decant the data from my 3TB drive in my RN102 and then I can install that in my RN104, and everything will be good.
