RAID1 HDD upgrade on TS-201 via hotswap

[vipula]

I currently have x2 150GB (ATA ST3160827AS 3.42) drives installed in a RAID 1 configuration.

I'd like to upgrade the drives to x2 500GB, in RAID 1 while maintaining my current data.

Is it has simple as removing one of the existing 150GB drives, replacing it with one of the new 500GB drives, letting the rebuild finish, then removing the other 150GB drive, replacing that with the other new 500GB and allowing the 500GB drives to synchronise again?

So, here's what I have in mind:
Current drive 1 (150GB) = C1
Current drive 2 (150GB) = C2
New drive 1 (500GB) = N1
New drvie 2 (500GB) = N2

In the TS-201, current config is C1:C2, RAID1

Propose C1:N2, allow RAID 1 to rebuild N2, then N1:N2 and allow rebuid to N1.

Will that process enable access to the new storage space?

If this is completely wrong and there is a better/faster/more reliable way, please let me know.

Thanks!

[QNAPRei]

Hi vipula,

Sorry we do not support RAID expansion for TS-201 (or TS-209) currently. If you rebuild RAID with C1:N2, only 150GB of N2 is used for RAID rebuilding, the 350GB space is wasted. When you replace C1 with N1 to rebuild N1:N2, again, only 150GB of N1 is used, and 350GB of N1 is wasted.

To reserve your data and copy them from C1:C2 to N1:N2, there're two ways:
1. Copy data from C1:C2 to N1:N2 via remote replication, which means you need to get another 2-bay QNAP NAS for N1:N2.
2. Copy data from C1:C2 to a PC or an external storage device. Install N1 and N2 to NAS, then copy the data from the storage device to NAS (N1:N2).

[vipula]

Thank you for your confirmation and explanation, all very clear.

Look forward to RAID expansion support in future firmware releases - not too far away I hope

[cfo_work]

Hello vipula,

I got another way to migrate your data in C1:C2 to N1:N2.

Steps:
1. unplug C1 and C2

2. plug in N1 and N2 and format to RAID 1.
3. unplug N1 and N2

4. plug in C1 and C2
5. connect TS-20X to N2 by "usb to sata cable"
6. format N2 to ext3
7. copy all data from TS-20X to N2
8. unplug C1 and C2

9. plug in N1
10. connect TS-20X to N2 by "usb to sata cable"
11. copy all data from N2 to TS-20X.

12. erase all data and partition to N2.

13. plug in N2 to TS-20X
14. TS20x should rebuild automatically.

I hope the above procedure will work

[vipula]

Hi cfo_work,

Thanks for the suggestion - that seems like a very clever process.
Have you tried it yourself (know someone that has) or is it a 'theoretical' tip?

I have the cable, so I'll give that a shot.

Once again, very clever... thank you!

[Royan]

I have the cable, so I'll give that a shot.

Hi.

I'm curious...
Did it work?
Did you get your expanded raid by the given "recipe" ?

Royan

[DPBaker]

I have a TS-201 with 2 x 300GB drives configured as RAID1 mirror. No problems so far for more than a year - here in Malaysia we get weekly power failures that usually last longer than my UPS can handle so have been happy that I still have all my data.

I am about to buy 2 x 750GB drives tomorrow & upgrade the TS-201 So, I am also wondering whether the above method will work, especially as I have no hard drive in any PC with 300GB free! Any news of success from anyone?

I also have 1 question - is the data on each 300GB hard drive just stored in normal FAT or NTFS that would allow me to take 1 of the drives out & put it into a PC (as 2nd drive - not boot drive) and read the data? If so I could just put the 2 new 750GB drives in the QNAP, put one of the 300GB drives in my PC & then copy everything from the 300 to the 750 RAID1 mirror? Or is the 300GB drive formatted so that it isn't readable outside the QNAP?

Thanks,

Dave
(crossng my fingers to get a reply by tomorrow and also hoping that the shops here in Malaysia sell one of the two 750GB hard drives that are mentioned in the compatibility list! Anyone have any other 750GB drives that work ok with RAID1 in the TS-201?)

[vipula]

Hi,

I didn't get a chance to try some of the methods mentioned. I did a manual copy over to another disk, installed the new drives at set to RAID1, then copied data back. Very manual!
If you give one of those suggestions a go I'd also be interested in hearing of the results.

I'm certainly not an expert, however I don't think your suggestion of taking out one of the 300GB drives and connecting it to your computer will work - I believe the file system is not Windows based.

Good luck!

[Royan]

Sorry to say that plugging your 300GB drive to a computer will not work.

The file system is ext3, a standard linux filesystem. This can normally be mounted in a linux computer, or even under windows, with special software. But the killer is Raid1. This means that you have to have it mounted to an identical raid controller in order to access the data on a different machine.

So, a qnap raid1 disk is only accessible from a qnap raid controller.
(Actually, i believe this is quite common with raid controllers.)

Royan

[DPBaker]

Well, mission almost accomplished. I chickened out & copied my 300MB to a spare drive I had lying around & then put in the new 750GB drives & copied everything back. Not quite finished and have been going 5 days already!

I must say I am worried that the drives can't be read, even by a linux machine. It seems the point of failure has been transfered from the hard drive platter or electronics to the raid controller electronics. Pity someone can't invent a simple mirror system where in the event of a raid controller failure I can just throw one of the hard drives into a normal PC & get my data back easily. Performance isn't really an issue to me as I use my raid array for backups for my main notebook & desktop drives. Losing the data & having to hunt around for another qnap machine in Malaysia is a worry though - I bought the TS-201 in Singapore on a trip there & last time I went back the same shop was only selling Buffalo units.

Thanks for the help everyone. This forum is quite good, and definitely gives me more faith in the product. Too much equipment around these days without support but QNAP seems to have that covered with these peer-to-peer forums.

Dave

[Royan]

I think the only way to avoid the problem of mounting raid disks in a different computer is to use a software based raid.

This way you won't be dependent on a single piece of hardware in case of raid failure, and can create an identical raid environment in a new computer.

Royan

[xavierh]

Well, mission almost accomplished. I chickened out & copied my 300MB to a spare drive I had lying around & then put in the new 750GB drives & copied everything back. Not quite finished and have been going 5 days already!

I must say I am worried that the drives can't be read, even by a linux machine. It seems the point of failure has been transfered from the hard drive platter or electronics to the raid controller electronics. Pity someone can't invent a simple mirror system where in the event of a raid controller failure I can just throw one of the hard drives into a normal PC & get my data back easily. Performance isn't really an issue to me as I use my raid array for backups for my main notebook & desktop drives. Losing the data & having to hunt around for another qnap machine in Malaysia is a worry though - I bought the TS-201 in Singapore on a trip there & last time I went back the same shop was only selling Buffalo units.

Thanks for the help everyone. This forum is quite good, and definitely gives me more faith in the product. Too much equipment around these days without support but QNAP seems to have that covered with these peer-to-peer forums.

Dave

with hardware raid you will always have this issue of what happens when the raid controller dies...You will need to get the same controller (with the same version of software) to try and restore.

In the case of the qnap, yes, you will have to get the same version of the device that you have. The way i see it, is that as the importance of the data you are trying to safeguard increases, so must increase your security budget.

I for myslef do not rely just on the QNAP for security. I use also other devices in case something goes bad...

[DPBaker]

The way i see it, is that as the importance of the data you are trying to safeguard increases, so must increase your security budget.

Hopefully 50GB Blue Ray writers will be within my price range soon. That's my next step as most of my data is photos & home movies.

[Barbarian]

I just successfully completed a RAID 1 HDD upgrade (500Gb to 1.5Tb) on TS-201 via the following method (only useful if you don't have a spare drive).

Using the OP's naming convention:
1) Remove C1 and C2 from TS-201 and Install N1 and N2 and format for RAID 1 (make sure to label the actual drives as slot 1 and 2 and don't change the order)
2) Take out N2 and connect to PC via SATA and format as NTFS (or anything else that your OS would like)
3) Install C1 and C2 back in TS-201 and copy all data over the network to the PC
4) Remove C1 and C2 and place JUST N1 back in TS-201 (make sure to place it in slot 1)
5) Boot TS-201 and it should go to degrade mode (if the disk shows as Invalid you probably placed it in the wrong slot)
6) Copy all data over the network from the PC to TS-201
7) Delete all partitions from N2 and install back in TS-201
Boot TS-201 and it should rebuild the RAID with all the data intact

[ophox]

Does this mean, that qnap did not manage to write a firmware for increasing the volume size in the last two years?