ReadyNAS Duo Upgrade to 2TB Hard Drives

yes, you are right.
Please do not swap the second 2T drive before the first 2T drive sync finished .

Here;s what you should do
1. You should ensure you have a good backup of important data primarily stored on the ReadyNAS. RAID is not a backup and you will be breaking that RAID when you replace a disk. So during the time the replacement disk is syncing you are vulnerable to your other old disk failing.
2. You should upgrade to the latest RAIDiator (currently 4.1.7: http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_4_1_7_Notes). Note that the update requires a reboot.
3. If one of your disks is failing/bad obviously it should be replaced first. You can check the health of the disks under Status > Health > SMART+ in Frontview. If neither disk looks to be failing/bad then you can choose whichever disk you want to replace first.
4. Let's assume you replace disk 2 first. You would e.g. take disk 2 out and put the new SeaGate in slot 2. You would then wait for the resync to complete.
5. Then you would remove disk 1 and put the Hitachi in slot one. Don't reorder the order of the disks. Simply replace the existing disks with new disks one by one waiting for the resync to complete before replacing the next disk. Once the resync has completed on the final disk replacement you should be prompted to reboot for expansion to take place.

Note that whilst the disks you have chosen may not be 4k sector disks, going forward all new 2TB disks released will be. So if you can it would be better to do the following:
1. Backup all data
2. Verify backup is good
3. Upgrade to the latest RAIDiator (currently 4.1.7: http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_4_1_7_Notes) if you haven't already
4. Do a System > Config Backup
5. Factory default: http://www.readynas.com/forum/faq.php#How_do_I_reset_the_ReadyNAS_to_factory_default%3F
6. Restore Config Backup
7. Restore data from backup

Thanks for that great info, very detailed.

I have successfully added both hard drives now but it says on the Frontview home screen...

Volume C: Online, X-RAID, 2 disks, 95% of 925 GB used

But under Status -> Health it does say they are 1.86TB. It hasn't prompted for me to reboot since syncing could this be why?

Disk 1 Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 1862 GB
Disk 2 Seagate ST32000542AS 1862 GB

Try doing a reboot anyway, wait 10 minutes and if Frontview still hasn't given an alert about expansion try another reboot.

If you still have problems then there are some further things that can be tried.

Brilliant. Rebooted and got the alert that it needed to do a few things for the expansion to happen.

All sorted now, thanks for your help!

I'm looking at doing the same 2x 500gb to 2 x 2tb upgrade.

Am I right in thinking that I have to take 1x 500gb out, format the drive and back up the duo to the drive over usb.
remove the other 500gb, backup config, insert 2 x 2tb, factory reset, wait..., transfer the back up over usb.

It's just the formatting and backing up step that I don't get - I assume netgear's xraid means that the drives cannot be viewed on their own by putting them in an enclosure and that is why it's required?

Thanks for all the billiant information on these forums - they have saved me on many occasions!

Kind regards

Ben

I wouldn't do it that way. Breaking the RAID before having a backup isn't a good idea in my view.

I would preferably backup to none of the drives you mentioned above. If you really want to backup to one of your drives put one of the 2TB drives in a USB enclosure or in a PC, backup to it, verify the backup is good, download the Config Backup zip file (System > Config Backup) onto your PC. Then power down, remove the 500GB disks, do the factory default with the other 2TB disk installed, restore config backup, then restore data from backup, then add the 2TB disk you used as a backup while the NAS is on.

Doing data recovery using drive 1 from your X-RAID array would be a last resort. The data can be read, but it does take a bit of work and not recommended. So yes you would need to backup to a USB disk or a disk inside your PC or connected by some other means. You could alternatively if you prefer backup to another ReadyNAS.

bendraper wrote:
I assume netgear's xraid means that the drives cannot be viewed on their own by putting them in an enclosure and that is why it's required?

Is this right ?

I currently have a single 500gb drive in my Duo which is full. I'm going to replace it with 2x 2Tb drives. Can I put the 500gb drive in an enclosure and access the files on it ?

bwblackett wrote:
bendraper wrote: I assume netgear's xraid means that the drives cannot be viewed on their own by putting them in an enclosure and that is why it's required? Is this right ? I currently have a single 500gb drive in my Duo which is full. I'm going to replace it with 2x 2Tb drives. Can I put the 500gb drive in an enclosure and access the files on it ?

Possible to read the data, but it's not recommended to do this. It isn't easy to read it using a Linux machine, but it can be done.

Be sure to choose disks from the HCL.

I'd suggest you do the following:
1. Backup all data (put one of the new 2TB drives in an enclosure an backup to this).
2. Verify backup is good
3. Upgrade to the latest RAIDiator (currently 4.1.7: http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_4_1_7_Notes) if you haven't already
4. Do a System > Config Backup
5. Power down, remove the 500GB disk. You can put this drive back in the NAS later if you need to.
6. Put the other 2TB disk (not the one from the USB enclosure) in the NAS.
7. Factory default: http://www.readynas.com/forum/faq.php#How_do_I_reset_the_ReadyNAS_to_factory_default%3F
8. Restore Config Backup
9. Restore data from backup
10. Remove the disk from the USB enclosure and hot-add (add it to the NAS while the NAS is on) it.

I understand all the stuff about backing up and replacing drives.

All I want to know is it possible to read the old drive on an XP PC or would I have to format it and re-copy the data ?