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Volume Export and Import
1 TopicExperiments with exporting and importing a volume in OS6.7.1+
I'm not sure when it got added, but OS6.7.1 and above have an "Export" function for an array. When you select it, it tells you that it's for "cold import" to another ReadyNAS and that it cannot have the same volume name as any already on the target NAS. This seems to be designed for systems with multiple volumes, and I had one instance crash and burn when I did not disable XRAID before trying to import, so I do not recommend you try this without disabling XRAID before doing an export or import. On a multi-volume system, XRAID would already be disabled. And being an undocumented feature, you should have a backup of both systems and be prepared for the worst if needed -- factory default and rebuild everything. The problem I had when I forgot to disable XRAID (I'm pretty sure that's what caused it) was that the primary volume would no longer boot properly. It gave the dreaded "management system is offline" problem. The volume was still accesible via SMB, but I would not trust that it always would be. I had to do a factory default on the primary array, but I could still add the exported one after that. Again, I would not trust that will always be the case. Note that I did an export and import several times with XRAID disabled and did not have an issue, so I think it is pretty reliable when used with XRAID disabled or else I would not be posting this. A major issue if you have only one volume is that by default it is named data and you cannot import it to another device that already has a data volume. So, if you plan on using this function, you need to work around that if you expect to move the primary array. I know of no way to rename a volume before export. The export works pretty much like you would expect. You select the volume, select Export, confirm by typing EXPORT, and it does some stuff and the volume turns red. You then remove the drives. Import is also straight forward. Keeping the same drive order, install the drives in empty bays of another unpowered NAS (this is what it means by "cold import") that has had XRAID disabled, and power up. It takes a little longer to boot, and you now have your two volumes. Or, you can install them as the first drives in a new system and they will become the primary volume. If you had shares with the same names on the two volumes, only the one from the added volume will be visible. But, you can rename the visible share and the other will become visible (I think I had to reboot). I'm not sure what happens with home folders, I don't use them. Though you can export the primary volume where the home folders reside, it's probably not intended for that. The shares on the imported volume will have no sharing privilages at all. The export appears to wipe them out (they are gone even if you import into the same system). That makes sense because the new NAS may not have the same access protocols, users, and groups. So, you have to set all that up again. Now, if you are just moving the only volume from one NAS to another, this is not necessary. You can move from a 2-bay to a 6-bay system by just moving the drives and everything will be retained. Just make sure the new chassis is at the same OS revision as the old for the cleanest transfer. And speaking of OS versions, it did not seem to make a difference that I moved the volume from a 6.7.1 to a 6.7.4 system. But if the revision was more extensive, i don't know what would have happened. It is unclear to me if the OS partitions on the moved drives were updated or not. Now, this begs the question as to whether this could be used as an offsite backup system. One primary array and two secondary ones that are swapped in and out. Until we find out what happens with a major OS update, I would not trust it. Same thing with using this to offload data from a completed project. And it's probably undocumented for a reason -- it's not fully tested. I'd stick with USB drives for now, even if slower.4KViews0likes9Comments
