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I have an external G Raid HDD and it's a 4TB, so 2 4TB drives inside. I was wondering if I take out one of the 4TB drives can I replace it with say an 8TB drive and once the remaining 4TB clones itself onto the 8TB could I remove said other 4TB and put in an 8TB thus turning my 4TB G Raid into an 8TB G Raid?
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You’ll want to backup your stuff before doing anything as either a Mirror or RAID set as the two drives are dependent on each other.
As far as setting up as odd set (one 4TB and one 8TB drive) you can’t really RAID them as you won’t get the added benefit of the extra 4TB the 8TB offers. You would need to replace both drives as a matched pair (two of the exact same make & model).
Now you could use the two drives independently, but then you loose either the mirror so if one drive dies you don’t loose your stuff, or if RAIDed then the performance of the striping the data across the drives.
Frankly, I only use 4 or 8 drives in a RAID set for my work and also mirror them to a second drive case. But my needs are somewhat unique.
crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0
Yes, I was talking about swapping one 4 for an 8 and then once mirrored swap the other 4 for an 8 and then having 2 8's inside mirrored for an 8TB ext. HDD. I do use an outside backup source as well.
@skulman - Might be best to get a new crate and drives Vs messing with this setup. I would strongly recommend getting a four drive bay crate. Then install your two 8TB drives leaving room to expand later.
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Upgrading your G-RAID HDD depends on drive compatibility and RAID configuration. Many enclosures have size limits, so check your model’s specs before swapping in larger drives. If using RAID 1, upgrading one drive won’t increase storage—it will mirror the smaller capacity. Back up your data and confirm support for larger drives before proceeding.
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So the two current drives are setup as a mirror set or as a RAID set or, they are independent of each other?
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0
@danj from what I was told when I bought it, that it has 2 drives so if one goes bad you can swap it and the original will mirror to new drive, always having 2 drives in the end.
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Skulman crwdne2934271:0
@skulman - That then requires both drives need to be replaced with the same sized drive (matched pair) to still have a Mirrored set.
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0
@danj so I don't mirror new drives from old drives one at a time? I thought all the data was on the HDD's and had to be mirrored from original HDD's one at a time.
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Skulman crwdne2934271:0
@skulman - The crate configured in a Mirror (or a RAID set) two drives here, is handled as if was a standard external drive (one drive) so if you had a second crate with two drives mirrored you would just copy between the two as if they where standard drives.
Getting a four or larger bay crate allows deeper RAID setups if you need performance. With two more bays you can setup a second Mirror Set which buys you data protection and a bit more performance. A larger RAID set gets still more performance and adding a CRC drive protection. Here’s a good write up What is RAID Storage?
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0
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