Page 1 of 2

Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:00 pm
by Gryzor
Hello guys!

I've been running my TS-251 with a single, 2TB disk. Stupid, I know (when I first set it up circumstances IRL prevented me from completing the setup and it all went downhill...), but anyhow.

Now I want to both upgrade, say to 6TB, AND add a second HHD for some nice RAID safety action.

My question is, which process should I use to prevent any data loss? Unfortunately, having a very small baby in the house prevents me from dedicating time to set up everything again (OS, apps)...

Thanks!
T.

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 6:31 pm
by storageman

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 6:37 pm
by Gryzor
storageman wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 6:31 pm Did you google it?????

https://www.qnap.com/en-uk/how-to/tutor ... -migration
Ooh! Actually yes, I did, and I did find the article, but got a 404 on that link. That was from home in the morning, now at work it opened fine. Maybe it was temporary or something, but thanks!

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 6:25 pm
by Gryzor
So I did read the article when I got home at last (thanks again for the pointer) but I'm not sure if it covers my (simpler) need.

The user cases described are more complex than going from single disk->RAID 1->upgrade first disk. I think I have understood what I need to do but since it's valuable data (isn't it all? :D ) we're talking about, is there a simpler guide for my case anywhere?

Thanks again!

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 2:06 pm
by MrVideo
If you haven't figured it out by now, you can't upgrade a single disk without starting over. You have to first expand to RAID1, using a 6TB disk, and then do a one-at-a-time disk upgrade to 6TB.

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 7:05 pm
by Gryzor
Ah, yes, I did understand that: insert the second, new drive as a second HDD, upgrade to RAID 1, then remove the original drive (hot-swap??), insert the new one and mirror the second (new) to the first (new) drive.

I must figure out the menus but I think I'll manage.

Thanks for the notice :)

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:08 pm
by MrVideo
Gryzor wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 7:05 pm Ah, yes, I did understand that: insert the second, new drive as a second HDD, upgrade to RAID 1, then remove the original drive (hot-swap??), insert the new one and mirror the second (new) to the first (new) drive.
But, it isn't that simple. By just doing what you describe, you will not be able to take advantage of the size of the new drives.

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 4:08 pm
by Gryzor
Oops, you're absolutely right, that's just upgrading to RAID 1. I should also expand the volumes to the full disk capacity. Is that step at the end of the process?

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:44 pm
by MrVideo
Let me spell it out:
1: Buy three 6TB (or whatever size you want) HDDs
2: Install one of the 6TB HDDs and expand to RAID1
3: Run "replace one-by-one disk expansion" process (this means pulling the newly installed 6TB drive and replacing it)
4: Expand volume capacity to desired amount, if not all of it

The 6TB HDD that was pulled can now be used for external backups via a USB3.0 docking station.

To be safe, before doing any of this, back up your NAS.

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:13 pm
by Gryzor
Now you quite lost me. Why three disks for a two-bay system? I don't need/want to have an external backup disk (already have 2 4TB ones doing that job, don't really want to spend money on one I don't need).

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:28 am
by MrVideo
Then, before pulling the 6TB HDD, you'll need to delete the partition table. The NAS needs to believe that it is new before putting it back in.

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:28 pm
by Gryzor
MrVideo wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:28 am Then, before pulling the 6TB HDD, you'll need to delete the partition table. The NAS needs to believe that it is new before putting it back in.
But. According to the process I described and from what I see, I'm not pulling any 6TB drives out:

-I have a single 2TB one.
-I insert a 6TB in bay 2
-create RAID 1
-remove the 2TB from bay 1
-sync from bay 2 to bay 1
-expand to full capacity.

Where does pulling a new drive come in?

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:31 pm
by dolbyman
the first 6TB will be synced with only 2TB ..you need to pull/wipe/reinsert it during the swap one by one process to expand capacity

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:00 pm
by Gryzor
First of all, thanks for your continued effort to help!

So this is a hairier proposition. I thought - and that was my initial quest - there was a way to increase the volume to take up the whole drive space, as hinted at in the Online RAID Capacity Expansion mention in the first article (https://www.qnap.com/en-uk/how-to/tutor ... -migration). Even in the steps you described above, #4 mentions such a thing. I can't wrap my mind around why I have to play with partition tables manually...

Say, it is possible to pull the drives and expand the partitions using a PC?

Re: Upgrade capacity and disks without losing my setup?

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 10:47 pm
by dolbyman
nothing like this neccessary ..just do as said before

- migrate to raid1
- expand via procedure by:
swapping the 2TB with a 4TB
swapping the 4TB in place (format it quickly so its new to the nas)