converting from RAID 1 to RAID 5 (adding a third drive)

[robkaiser]

Would anyone happen to know how difficult it is to add a 3rd drive and then convert from RAID 1 to 5? I am going to be receiving my CS-406 within the next couple of days, and am contemplating starting with 2 - 320Gig drives and RAID 1. Adding a thrid drive from the outset is an option. Trying to decide what makes the most sense.

thanx in advance

Rob

[marius]

I have the same question, apart of I just have 2 150gb HD in Raid 1, and I would add a 300gb that is a gift. So there is a convenient solution?

[Franklin]

The ability to migrate from RAID 1 to RAID 5 is currently under development and that ability will be released in the future.

[Harpix]

Hello,

This question is a major issue for me :
* Could you be more precise in delay (any idea about dates?)

I could read in some posts that Synology work on evolution capabilities from 3 disks to 4 (in RAID 5).
* Are there other expansion capabilities you work on ?
* Dates ?

I have a good experience on DS101 and that's why I would prefer to continue with Synology product. But at this time, I have a big hesitation with Infrant and their flexibility.

[Franklin]

I cannot give out an exact date, because this technology is still under development

This is what is currently supported using 428 Firmware

1 Disk NON-RAID --> 2 Disk RAID 1
x Disk f GBs RAID 1 --> x Disk g GBs RAID 1
x Disk f GBs RAID 5 --> x Disk g GBs RAID 5

Under development

x Disk RAID 1 --> y Disk RAID 5
x Disk RAID 5 --> y Disk RAID 5

[Harpix]

OK great.

Thanks for this answer, it is sufficiant for me.
The NAS I need is planned to be bought S2 2007...

[pommie]

I'm in a similar situation with 2 drives mirrored and I plan to add two more and convert to raid 5. Can this be done with the latest firmware?

[pommie]

Franklin, can you tell me if this is possible yet?

Thanks

[Franklin]

Sorry for the delay for responding to your question---I was waiting for a reply from our RD team.

The ability to convert a 3-Drive RAID-5 to a 4-drive RAID-5 is currently under research and development, however, we will not guarantee that we will release this ability to the production level. The reason for this is converting from 3-drive to 4-drive introduces a lot of variables to the security of the data, such as

What happens during a bad sector
What happens during a black out
What happens during a brown out
What happens when the UPS battery is depleted
What happens during if a source HDD suddenly crashes
What happens if a destination HDD suddenly crashes

And there are a lot of more variables to consider, but these are a few examples of what could go wrong when converting from 3-drive to a 4-drive system.

With regards to a 2-drive RAID-1 to a 3-Drive RAID-5, our RD team currently has no schedule to study this idea.

Sorry if my answer wasn't more helpful.

[pommie]

OK thanks for the info. I plan to add two additional disk this weekend.
so can I assume that:-


1. All data will be lost as I need to remove the volume and re-create a new one?

2. That any 3rd party apps such as TwonkyMedia will need to be re-installed?

Cheers

[Franklin]

pommie-

Yes, all data will be lost when the volume is deleted.
With regards with 3rd-party applications, I don't believe that will need to be reinstalled (because it installs to the OS partition, and not the data partition) however, I would be prepared to reinstall it.

[toturi]

hi franklin,

any updates from the R&D team on this feature (expand from 3 disk to 4 disk RAID 5)? or are they looking into implementing this feature? thanks!

[Franklin]

Greetings all

Our engineering team is currently testing the following capability

x Disk RAID5 -> y Disk RAID5

We have scheduled to release this capability during 2008 Q1. Note, this capability is still under heavy stressing, to ensure that it is stable with our system and the volume is stable. If there are any defects found, we may delay or cancel the release of this capability.