ReadyNas314 OS6 w.4X2TB drives how to get it as RAID 1

[rossngm]

Hi

I'm not even sure if this is the right board to post this question/request for help in!I'm not an IT pro, but I am in charge of our office IT, only 5 of us and we get by!

I was adviced by an IT pro to go for a Ready Nas 316, I decided a 314 would suit us fine, and allowing for exapnsion say 24months 4TB would be enough, so 4 drives of 2TB each as he also advised to run it as RAID 1. Basically we are looking at decomissioning our server.

So I unpack the box all looks lovely and shiny, instructions look brief!

I plug in the 4 drives, so far under control, I plug in and open up RAIDar then run through the setup and get test emails sent and it is suddenly building itself or something. After 6 hours it says it is built and I see it is xraid 5? I then trawl the Netgear support and find some guides that to be honest aren't that easy for me to follow! I'm still at a lose at how to change from RAID 5 to RAID 1 do I have to destroy the drives first, then how do I get in to build it as RAID 1, I'm looking fo a real step by step idiot proof guide if it exists!

Hope someone out there can help.

Cheers

Ross.

[mdgm-ntgr]

1. Go to the Volumes Tab
2. Click on the X-RAID button and disable X-RAID.
3. Click on the volume and select the option to destroy it and confirm your choice
4. Select the disks and create a new volume and select the RAID level of your choosing. Best to call this volume 'data' (no quotes).

[StephenB]

Not sure how much you know about RAID - you might want to chat with your IT consultant on your choices.

With 4 disks you'd need two volumes with RAID-1, and you would have 4 TB of volume space.
-You'd have protection from a single disk failure, and in some cases (not all) from two disk failures.
-You need to manually balance the space across the two volumes.
-expansion requires installing at least 2 new drives
Some people like RAID-1 because off-line recovery is somewhat easier than the other RAID modes.

You have two other choices though:

(a) stick with RAID-5, which will give you 6 TB of volume space.
-a single volume with protection from a single disk failure
-no need to manually manage space across the disks.
-expansion requires installing at least 2 new drives and is automatic
-Off-line recovery requires that you be able to install at least 3 disks in the recovery system.

(b) go with RAID-6, which will give you 4 TB of volume space
-a single volume with protection from 2 disk failures
-no need to manually manage space across the disks
-expansion requires replacement of all 4 drives, and is automatic.
-off-line recovery requires that you be able to install at least 2 disks int he recovery system.

All the above will work fine, though for most users XRAID/RAID-5 is a good choice.

Did you talk with the IT guy about backup? RAID is not a substitute for backup.

[rossngm]

sorry for late reply, thanks for advice all is well now and I have bought a second device for our other office, yes back up being done so no worries, although I am having issued with readycloud access I will post question somewhere else.