User Manual

Vertically Expand a Volume

Both X-RAID and Flex-RAID volumes support vertical expansion.

When you vertically expand a Flex-RAID volume, you must replace all disks in the volume with larger-capacity

disks.

Vertical expansion is not available for RAID 0 volumes.Note

When you vertically expand an X-RAID volume, you must replace disks in the volume according to the

following table.

Table 2. X-RAID vertical expansion requirements

Disk Replacements Required for Vertical ExpansionRAID Level

Replace 2 or more disks with larger-capacity disks.RAID 1

Replace 2 or more disks with larger-capacity disks.RAID 5

Replace 4 or more disks with larger-capacity disks.RAID 6

If you replace fewer disks than required for vertical expansion, the disks are reserved for data protection.

Your available storage capacity does not increase to accommodate the reserved disks until you replace the

required number of disks.

IMPORTANT:

To reduce the risk of data loss, we recommend that you back up your data

before vertically expanding a volume.

To vertically expand an X-RAID volume:

1. Replace one disk in the volume with a larger-capacity disk.

For more information about how to add a disk to your system, see the hardware manual for your system,

which is available at http://www.netgear.com/support/product/ReadyNAS_OS_6.

You must use supported disks in your ReadyNAS system. For a list of supported

disks, visit http://www.netgear.com/readynas-hcl.

Note

2. Wait for the volume to resync your data.

You can continue to use your ReadyNAS system while the volume is resyncing. Resyncing can take

several hours.The start and completion of the resyncing process are recorded in the system log (see

System Logs on page 219).

If you set up email notifications for your system, you receive an email message when the process

finishes. For more information about alert notifications, see Configure System Alerts on page 163.

3. Repeat Step 1 on page 36 – Step 2 on page 36 until you replace the required number of disks with

larger-capacity disks.

For more information about X-RAID vertical expansion requirements, see Table 2.

Volume Configuration

ReadyNAS OS 6.9.3