RAID 1 to Two Stand-Alone Drives (Break, Format, Copy, Format)

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RobHyde
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RAID 1 to Two Stand-Alone Drives (Break, Format, Copy, Format)

Post by RobHyde »

Please don't flame me for the even suggesting this but I don't have a spare drive to backup all my data on a separate (from the RAID 1) disk.

If I have a TS-253D with a RAID 1 setup. Let's say I can't afford a drive upgrade and I don't have a third drive for backing up the RAID 1. If I needed to convert my two drives into a non-RIAD configuration could I do the following:
1) Break the RAID 1 by removing one of the disks (RAID 1 will show as broken).
2) Take the removed disk to another machine and FDISK / Format it.
3) Insert the newly formatted disk back into the QNAP server and let it format etc.
4) Move all QNAP applications / Content to the newly formatted drive.
5) Removed the broken RAID disk and boot up QNAP server to make sure everything works fine.
6) Take the removed disk to another machine and FDISK / Format it.
7) Insert the newly formatted disk back into the QNAP server and let it format etc.

Does this sound like this would work? Is there an easier way to do this? Does QNAP now allow you to break a RAID 1 and just convert them both to dual copies of the RAID (After I choose which will host the QNAP applications).

Thanks in advance.
Last edited by RobHyde on Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 to RAID 0 (Break, Format, Copy, Format)

Post by dolbyman »

You cannot go to RAID0 without losing all data on all disks involved. So an external backup drive is a must (even more so with RAID0)
RobHyde
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Re: RAID 1 to Two Stand-Alone Drives (Break, Format, Copy, Format)

Post by RobHyde »

Thanks for the quick response, and sorry I mistakenly said to RAID 0 when I really mean to two stand alone drives (not RAID 0 Striping).

So are you saying QNAP won't let you add a new drive until you fixed the broken RAID and Sync the MIRROR? The question is whether you can lose the data one disk at a time while the system runs with the apps and content on one disk. Basically I guess you could say you are doing a backup of the broken mirror (RAID 1)
Last edited by RobHyde on Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 to Two Stand-Alone Drives (Break, Format, Copy, Format)

Post by dolbyman »

qnap wont have you go from raid1 to single drive at all..you need to do that manually via command line..it is not a supported option at all
FSC830
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Re: RAID 1 to Two Stand-Alone Drives (Break, Format, Copy, Format)

Post by FSC830 »

Not supported and without an external backup a high risk of loosing all of your data!
The forum is full of threads in which people loose their data while not having a backup - for various reasons, not mandatory while playing with the raid setup.
A NAS can fail for a wide variety of reasons, including theft or other criminal activity. And sometimes it dies without an external cause...
So no backup, no pity!
Dont cry afterwards, if anything goes wrong. 8)

Regards
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