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Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

schalliol
Aspirant

When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Hi Folks. I just want to make sure my Ultra 4 Plus will expand properly when I replace one of my 2TB disks with another 4TB. I have 3x2TB and 1x4TB as it stands. I believe the volume should be in X-RAID, but it reports "RAID 5". I understand effectively X-RAID is RAID 5 until it has a pair of disks with higher capacity than the others. In my case I believe I have 2TB on the 4TB drive just hanging out blank, but should I see the format name change from RAID 5 to something else when I replace one of the 2TB with the 4 TB? Thanks!
Message 1 of 14
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Well it would still be using RAID-5 for the first layer (4x2TB).
Message 2 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Okay, but it's X-RAID vs Flex-RAID right? Saying the format is RAID-5 just means it's RAID-5 for now. So is it RAID-5 for the first layer and RAID-1 for the spare 2TBx2TB? Thanks!
Message 3 of 14
vandermerwe
Master

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

You are running 4.2.27, not OS6?

In 4.2.27 if you are using Xraid 2 then the volume tab should say Xraid 2, not raid 5.
You are therefore using flexraid in which case you'd need to replace all the disks in the volume before you got vertical expansion. Obviously you would need to do this one at a time, allowing resync.

After you add another 4 tb disk, you could create a new raid 1 volume in the space, allowing you to utilise this space. It won't be part of your main volume though.

Do you currently have an option to create a jbod volume in the 2 tb space?

Do you have a backup?
Message 4 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

I should've been more clear! I am running 6.2.0. I previously had 3 2 TBs, and I just put in the first 4 TB. I plan to add another 4TB in place of a 2TB on Monday.

I do not see an option to add another volume. I do see X-RAID illuminated on the right but the format shows RAID 5. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for your help!
Message 5 of 14
vandermerwe
Master

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Ok so you are in xraid so when you replace one of the 2tb disks with a 4 tb the volume will expand. I'm not sure what will happen to the raid 5 indicator, but it doesn't matter.
Message 6 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Thanks so much!!

Cool to see another Infrant user still quite active.
Message 7 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Okay, so I believe I did what I was supposed to do and yanked one of those 2TB disks tonight and got the flashing "Degraded" message. I thought it should've just said "Unprotected". I put the 4TB drive in and it says it is rebuilding. Did I do what I should've done and should I expect 100% recovery? I've had drives fail before and never saw the Degraded message. Thanks for any thoughts!
Message 8 of 14
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

You did what you were supposed to do. Obviously if a disk is in a bad way that one should be replaced first. Otherwise it doesn't matter which one is replaced first.
Message 9 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

Thanks! I found the one that showed the most signs of aging. Shouldn't it have said unprotected instead of degraded, or is that just in previous OSes? Thanks again!
Message 10 of 14
StephenB
Guru

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

I believe it has always said "unprotected" if the array was RAID-0 or jbod, and "degraded" if it is redundant with a failed/removed disk. Personally I find that more informing.
Message 11 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

This makes sense. I couldn't find a FAQ on different states, which might be nice if NETGEAR happened to have time.

I agree degraded makes sense, but when the status says recovering data (which I understand makes sense from the way RAID 5 works), I was trying to determine whether it means there was data loss or not.

Thanks again for all your help! I feel like such a newbie on this expansion stuff!
Message 12 of 14
StephenB
Guru

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

It would be nice to have more information.

You shouldn't have data loss unless another disk has (or develops) errors during the resync. That does happen sometimes.
Message 13 of 14
schalliol
Aspirant

Re: When in X-RAID, RAID 5 is Often Shown, Right?

:thumbsup: Thanks as always!
Message 14 of 14
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