Migrating to ultra 6 keeping old disks

[Ney]

Hi,
I have an old raid5 array in a PC 3x1.5TB, but it is full and it is too much of a hassle to keep it updated and expand it . So i deceided to get myself an Ultra 6, and i got 3x3TB disks on the way to get me started.

Now the question is, what is the best approach to migrate my data to the Ultra 6, and is it possible with the x-raid2 to use my existing disks as extra space?

My first thought was to chuck the 3x3TB in the readynas, let it build the raid array, transfer the data via the network, and then put in the old 3x1.5TB, and let it figure out itself what to do. But reading some threads in here I am beginning to doubt what is the best approach. Can you expand a raid array with smaller disks?

Thanks!

[readysecure1985]

Adding the 15.TB drives after the 3TB drives will not work. The ReadyNAS will see them as the wrong size and reject them. I would suggest backing up your data to an alternate device and install all the drives at the same time and perform a factory default on the ReadyNAS. This will give you the most storage for your drives and allow for future expansion if you eventually decide to replace the 1.5 drives with 3s.

[Ney]

Adding the 15.TB drives after the 3TB drives will not work. The ReadyNAS will see them as the wrong size and reject them. I would suggest backing up your data to an alternate device and install all the drives at the same time and perform a factory default on the ReadyNAS. This will give you the most storage for your drives and allow for future expansion if you eventually decide to replace the 1.5 drives with 3s.

Thanks. That was as i feared I will have to figure out of i can scoop up enough space here and there to do a complete move as you suggest *sigh*

question: will i still have full redundancy with mixed drives? As i understand(I maybe very well be wrong ) xraid may split the 3tb drives into 1.5tb partitions so all its effectively a raid with 9x1.5tb partitions, but won't that mean that i will loose my data if a 3tb drive fails? I must admit i have a hard time wrapping my head around raid with different drive sizes

bonus question: what will happen if i put in a single 3tb drive, move data, then add the 1.5 drives one at a time, and then lastly put in the last two 3tb drives?

extra bonus question: is there any way the readynas can treat the 2 times 3 drives as two different raid 5 partitions? so i get a 6tb from the 3x3 and 3tb from the 3x1.5?

Thanks for your patience

[readysecure1985]

If you are using XRAID2 then you will have single disk failure tolerance. If one of the 3TB fails, it has parity on the other 3TB drives for its expansion and parity on the 1.5TB drives for the base.

If you put in a single 3TB drive and try to add the 1.5TB drives later they will be rejected.

You can setup with FlexRaid to split the drives out the way you are suggesting. You can choose FlexRaid when doing the initial setup.

Bonus answer: You likely only have 3 TB of data currently. You could install one of the 3TB drives in an alternate device, move the data from the old raid to the new drive and then install the 3 1.5TB and remaining 2 3TB drives in the new ReadyNAS. After install you can move the data over and then install the last 3TB drive to expand the storage.

[Ney]

Excellent idea! And yes the current array is almost full at 3TB. It shouldn't be too much trouble to add a 3TB drive to the current setup and do as you suggest. Don't know why I didn't think of that Also thanks for explaining the parity situation, it makes sense now that i got 3TB parity distributed evenly across the two drive types, so i should end up with 10.5TB total, which is a bit more than I hoped for.

Thank you very much!

[readysecure1985]

I'm glad I was able to help you out with that! Keep the questions coming if you have more.

[TeknoJnky]

so i should end up with 10.5TB total, which is a bit more than I hoped for.

it will be less than 10.5, 1.5tb is more like 1.4 usable, which will get you 9.8, minus OS and raid overheads, you will likely end up with 9.5 to 9.6 tb usable space

[liudaolunhui]

That was a great piece of information.Thanks for sharing.

[Ney]

so i should end up with 10.5TB total, which is a bit more than I hoped for.

it will be less than 10.5, 1.5tb is more like 1.4 usable, which will get you 9.8, minus OS and raid overheads, you will likely end up with 9.5 to 9.6 tb usable space

Sure, I meant 10.5 unformatted and unpartitioned But thanks for clarifying.

[Ney]

Hi, just a quick followup question. I got my new 3tb drives, copied over the old raid array to one of them. And put 2 new drives and the three old ones into the nas. Now to my surprise one of the 3tb drives is DAO, and i currently got all of my data on ONE drive which annoys me no end.

So can i put in the 3 small drives by themselves, copy over the data, and then add the 2x3tb drive that works, and then later on add the last 3tb drive, after it get replaced, and still achieve the same result as if i put in the three small ones and two 3tb at the same time?

[StephenB]

Are you using xraid2? If so, then your data isn't on one drive, though it is on one volume.

So can i put in the 3 small drives by themselves, copy over the data, and then add the 2x3tb drive that works, and then later on add the last 3tb drive, after it get replaced, and still achieve the same result as if i put in the three small ones and two 3tb at the same time?

Starting with the small drives only will give you a 3 TB initial volume size, which can be expanded to 11 TB later on (without a factory reset).

Putting in all the drives would give you a 9 TB initial volume, which can be expanded to 16 TB later on.

Either will work for now, though I would personally wait for the new drive so I could maximize my expansion ceiling.

[Ney]

No, the data is on 3tb drive in the old server i am migrating from, where i am reusing the disks from and old raid array

Staring with a 3tb volume wouldn't matter, since i can then get my data back on a raid instead of a single drive. However only being able to expand to 11tb really sucks, I had hoped I would still be able to expand to 15tb later on by going 6x3tb raid 5 Guess i will have to wait until i can get the drive exchanged *sigh* Thank you for the quick answer.

ps. I assume factory reset means that all data is lost and need to be backed up, not just that it needs to sit and chew data overnight and being offline, right?

[StephenB]

ps. I assume factory reset means that all data is lost and need to be backed up, not just that it needs to sit and chew data overnight and being offline, right?

Yes.

[Ney]

Btw, is there a logical explanation as to why I can only expand to 11tb? I must admit it is a bit confusing for me

[PapaBear]

Ultimately with 3x1.5TB disks and 3x3TB disks you would have a max gross volume of 10.5TB (3x1.5 = 2x3TB with 1x3TB providing single redundancy). Your actual net volume would be around 9.4TB (10.5TB x .9).

If you added the 1.5TB and the 3TB disks one at a time, I would suggest a factory default with all four, preferably all five including the replacement for the DOA 3TB drive. There is a max limit of 8TB on expansion and this would allow you to push it as far out as possible. Only 6 bay units with large drives (2+ TB) can hit this at this time. (A 4 bay unit with 3TB drives would be limited to a gross volume of 9TB and is unlikely to hit the 8TB expansion limit.