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[nikhalton]

I have 2x 2Tb drives in my 323 at the moment.

They're configured as Raid 1 mirrors (yeah, I know).

Somehow or other, I'm getting perilously close to filling these up.

I can't afford to add new drives/another NAS to my system right now, so I'm contemplating breaking the RAID mirror and giving me 2x2Tb drives with no RAID, to a total of 4Tb.

Can someone advise me on how to do this, please, without losing data, that is.

I'm assuming I do NOT go into the DNS set up tools and "set RAID type and reformat"?

Do I need to remove a physical drive, format the remaining one and set it as a stand-alone, then add the other drive (with all my data on it) and add it as a stand alone?

Or is there a simpler way of doing it?

[ivan]

First of all make sure you have a confirmed and tested backup of your data. 

Then equip yourself with a USB/SATA caddy or adapter. 

You can then remove the left hand drive and format the remaining drive by selecting raid type as 'standard'.

Then, using the USB caddy or adapter and a program of IFS (assuming you are using windows OS) that can read Ext2/3 file system, transfer the files from the removed drive to the newly formatted disk.

Once that is done format the drive in the USB caddy or adapter - this will prevent the NAS from wanting to rebuild the RAID array.

Reinsert the disk and format it as standard.

You are then ready to roll.  Just make sure you keep your backup up to date.

[dosborne]

Before formating the drive in the USB enclosure, copy all the data back to the NAS. You can download a linux driver for windows in order to access the data.

[fordem]

Step 1 - Remove one drive (either one).
Step 2 - Format the remaining drive.
Step 3 - Re-install the drive removed in step 1.

[nikhalton]

Thanks folks.

I must say that fordem's process is more what I was hoping for (no need for USB caddies etc).

Is it inherently more risky or likely to fail than ivan's recommendation?

[JavaLawyer]

Any procedure that modifies the HDD configuration containing source data has some degree of inherent risk. Do you have a backup of your data? So long as you have a backup of your critical data, the consequences of the procedure failing are mitigated and you will have a path for 100% data recovery.

[fordem]

I would say less for the simple reason that there are less steps to possibly fail.

[ivan]

I would say use fordem's method after you have a tested backup.  What I described is the method we use on clients NAS and all their data is safely stored on our storage system should anything go wrong - nothing has so far but it is better to be safe than sorry.