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Which disk format to use when adding
I have a NAS 102 populated with two drives, RAID1, now running out of space. I've added a further external drive via USB port. The System sees it, but reports the message: System: External storage...
Rucyj35 wrote:
Yes, that's what I thought. However, although it was set to sync and GMT, the time was well out. I assumed it was syncing to an American server, so I disabled it and entered the time manually.
You can configure 0.pool.ntp.org and 1.pool.ntp.org. That should give you a local server.
Entering the time manually is generally good enough, but it needs to be re-done periodically because the internal clock will drift. Also you need to recheck it after a power disruption.
Thanks.
That would, I think, be disappointing, as all the documentation says the RAID will automatically absorb any added storage. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the implications. What I had intended was to make more space available to the existing RAID so that it could continue to service my backups without needing reconfiguration.
For example in the Software Manual it says: 'With X-RAID, you can start out with one hard disk, add a second disk for data protection, and add more disks for additional storage capacity. X-RAID accommodates the new disks automatically. You can replace existing disks with larger-capacity disks and X-RAID automatically accommodates the new disks'.
How could I make the additional space available to my backup system?
Rucyj35 wrote:
That would, I think, be disappointing, as all the documentation says the RAID will automatically absorb any added storage.
External disks aren't added to RAID. That is a really bad idea, since any USB disconnection would result in an out-of-sync array. USB disks are also often SMR (shingled magnetic recording) - which is a technology that is not well suited to RAID.
That said, you can still create shares on the external disk, and move some of your data to it. The share list you see in Windows and other software doesn't include the volume name, so there is no distinction as far as file access goes.
Rucyj35 wrote:
How could I make the additional space available to my backup system?
I already gave you the best way - which is to get two larger internal disks (Seagate Ironwolf or WD Red Plus), and expand the RAID-1 array. You'd hot-swap the first, wait for the sync to complete, and then hot-swap the second.
Can you tell us what your "backup system" is? Are you talking about Time Machine (Mac), an iSCSI LUN, or backing up to share(s)?
External disks aren't added to RAID. That is a really bad idea, since any USB disconnection would result in an out-of-sync array. USB disks are also often SMR (shingled magnetic recording) - which is a technology that is not well suited to RAID. OK, understood; however, that is very much not the message from the manuals, so they are extremely misleading.
That said, you can still create shares on the external disk, and move some of your data to it. The share list you see in Windows and other software doesn't include the volume name, so there is no distinction as far as file access goes. OK, I might have to go that way and change the destination of the backup, keeping the existing position as an interim hold.
I already gave you the best way - which is to get two larger internal disks (Seagate Ironwolf or WD Red Plus), and expand the RAID-1 array. You'd hot-swap the first, wait for the sync to complete, and then hot-swap the second. Unfortunately I already acquired the new USB drive, so I'll need to consider my strategy.
Can you tell us what your "backup system" is? Are you talking about Time Machine (Mac), an iSCSI LUN, or backing up to share(s)? Commercial backup to a Share on the NAS.
Thanks for your help. Any other thought welcome.
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