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I'm trying to enable timemachine on my readynas, but amount of drive space available doesn't align with any of the available volumes. Two volumes have TBs free, and the other has 514 GB free. The nas timemachine configurator shows 550GB free. Only change to the system was erasure/resync of a 2TB volume (removal or a prior timemachine instance, and that volume now shows 1.81TB free). What am I missing? Thanks!!!
While one could move the home folders manually via SSH, there is a lot to do, and thus many places a simple mistake could have some bad consequences. Exporting all the volumes except the one you want to be primary then re-importing will work. I ran some experiments on export/import some time ago. If you're lucky, the NAS will move the primary to the one you want after the first export, so you should check that before exporting the next. Note that I'm pretty sure the user has to log in for the actual home folder to be created after the home location is moved, just like one has to when first setting up a new user.
Please give more information on your volumes. Time Machine backups can only go on the "primary" (normally first created) volume. But if you delete the primary volume and there are others available, then the NAS assigns a new one, not necessarily the largest. Re-creation of the original doesn't move it back.
Thanks for that! Had no idea of the concept of a primary volume... The first created volume is the one I erased. There are three volumes: 2TB, 6TB and 8TB, and the 2TB one is a RAID setup and the one I'd like to use for time machine... Is it possible to change which volume is primary?
You could try exporting the two you want as secondary, then remove the disks and power down. Put the remaining disk in slot one (just to keep track of it) and power up. That should make the remaining volume primary.
Then you could power down, reinsert the two exported volumes, and power back up to import them.
Not 100% certain that will do the job, but it should (and is much faster than destroying the volumes and reloading everything from backup). I do recommend having an updated backup before you do this (it's always a good idea when manipulating disks).
Yeah, the uncertainty of whether the data on the other volumes would persist concerns me a bit. I would hope that removing a drive and reinserting woldn't generally delete data, but...
Yeah, the uncertainty of whether the data on the other volumes would persist concerns me a bit. I would hope that removing a drive and reinserting woldn't generally delete data, but...
Note the first step is to export the volume (the export control is on the volume settings wheel).
I think you should always have a backup anyway, but manipulating disks carries some extra risk even if the software works perfectly - you could of course accidentally drop one.
While one could move the home folders manually via SSH, there is a lot to do, and thus many places a simple mistake could have some bad consequences. Exporting all the volumes except the one you want to be primary then re-importing will work. I ran some experiments on export/import some time ago. If you're lucky, the NAS will move the primary to the one you want after the first export, so you should check that before exporting the next. Note that I'm pretty sure the user has to log in for the actual home folder to be created after the home location is moved, just like one has to when first setting up a new user.
DISCO!!! Thanks @Sandshark and @StephenB!!! Exporting the second-in-line volume that had become primary made the first volume become primary again, and I have my timemachine space back! Appreciate the help immensely!!
