ReadyNAS NV+ Disk Expansion Problem

[herbg]

I need to expand the volume capacity of my NV+ which is used strictly as a repository for backups.

All 4 drives are Seagate ST32000641AS 250GB with 228 GB allocated for a total volume of 684 GB.

I replaced 2 of the ST32000641AS hard drives with 2TB Seagate ST32000641AS drives. However, after re-syncing, the total Volume remains stuck at 684GB.
Both of the new drives have 228 GB of 1862 GB allocated to the total volume.

Did I miss something in my attempt to expand the volume capacity?

Please advise.

[Jedi Knight]

What's your RAIDIator version? Also, have you reboot the system after all disk has been replaced?

[herbg]

RAIDiator 4.1.7 [1.00a043]

And, yes, I've rebooted the NAS a couple of times.

[mdgm]

X-RAID uses the capacity of the smallest disk. It will only vertically expand when all disks have been replaced with higher capacity disks.

Also you're using quite old disks so it's possible you last factory reset on RAIDiator 3.x and also have an expansion issue. If you download the logs (Status > Logs > Download all logs) and you extract the zip contents and look in volume.log, what is the "block size"?

X-RAID is found on Sparc ReadyNAS (e.g. Duo, NV+)

X-RAID2 is found on x86 ReadyNAS (e.g. NVX, Ultra, Pro). X-RAID2 can be expanded when redundant space can be added ( so using single-redundancy you'd only need to replace two disks to get vertical expansion).

[herbg]

I downloaded the Volume Logs where the Block size:16384 is listed.

I didn't realize that X-RAID limited expansion in this way. I also have a ReadyNAS Pro, using X-RAID2, and I've increased expansion by adding larger drives.

So, do I remove the 2 remaining original Seagate drives to get vertical expansion? Or, do I have to purchase 2 more 2TB drives?

Thanks.

[mdgm]

You need two more 2TB drives. Your block size is fine.

[herbg]

Interesting ... my IT guy told me to simply remove the 2 old drives as RAID would simply use the two 2TB Seagate drives to create a new larger volume.

Is he wrong?

[mdgm]

He may have been confused between X-RAID2 and X-RAID.

X-RAID2 acts as you expect: X-RAID2 in Action

The much older X-RAID does not. See X-RAID — RAID for the rest of us

[Jedi Knight]

Thanks mdgm.

XRAID requires all disk replacement before expanding the volume vertically. XRAID2 only required minimun of two disks replacement for vertical expansion.

[herbg]

A little bit of confusion reading: X-RAID — RAID for the rest of us.

Could I not simply remove the 2 old drives and just run the NV+ using the two new 2TB drives, in a X-RAID configuration? This should immediately increase my volume from the original volume of 684 GB.

Perhaps I don't have the ultra redundancy of 4 drives but I'd be happy with the improvement of two 2TB drives.

Thanks

[mdgm]

No. Removing one disk removes redundancy. Removing a second disk would put your NAS in "life support" mode. You cannot reduce the number of disks and expand your volume.