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[ddestefa]

I've been running 2 500-GB drives in a RAID-1 for a couple of years and want to incease capacity by adding 2 1.5 TB drives in RAID-1 while still keeping my data.  (I'm running 1.08 firmware)

Is it possible to do the following?

1) Pull both 500 GB drives from the NAS
2) insert and formmat both 1.5 TB drives in a RAID-1
3) Pull one drive out and put in one of the 500GB drives
4) copy the files over to the 1.5TB drive
5) pull the 500GB drive and re-insert the 1.5TB

Is this the most efficient way to do this and will it work?

[fordem]

No it won't work - at step #3 the unit will attempt to rebuild the 1.5TB array to the 500GB disk and return an error indicating the replacement disk is too small for the rebuild.

You have a couple of options ...

- the first of these is to backup the data from the existing 500GB array (if you don't already have a backup - which, by the way, you really should), then replace the drives and create the 1.5TB array, followed by a restore.

- the second option would be to remove a drive from the DNS-323 and connect it to a PC and either mount the drive in linux or in Windows with an installable file system driver, and then install the 1.5TB drives and create your array before transferring the data over.

[ddestefa]

What if I skip the RAID-1 on the newer drives.  Can I just format one of the 1.5 TB's and put in one of the original 500 GB's and copy everything over?  I'm considering not using RAID anymore and just having the extra space.

Another option I'm considering is purchasing a second NAS (either Synology of another DNS-323) and using the original just for backup purposes since I've really been relying on the RAID to be my backup, which after reading on here I realize does not make sense.

[fordem]

Yes - you can remove the 500GB drives and insert a single 1.5TB drive and format it and then reinstall one of the 500GB drive and have two standard volumes.

[ddestefa]

even though the 500 GB was a RAID drive?

[fordem]

Even though the 500GB was part of a RAID array - as long as you format the 1TB as a standard volume, the unit will allow you to install a second volume that was removed from a RAID array and treat it as a standard volume.