Zyxel NAS 542 - How to add 3rd and 4th HDD

bobster12345678

Hello,

I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to NAS, Raids, etc. - so I hope somebody can help me out.

Current Situation:
I have a NAS542 with only 2 HDDs (2 x 4TB) running in Raid 1 (mirrored) = Total of 4TB usable space in 1 Volume. Soon these 4 TB will be full, and I want to add 2 more HDDs (Raid 1). This time probably 2 x 8TB.

What is the easiest/best way to do this, without any risk of losing data on the current 4TB?
Do I first empty the NAS by pulling the 4TB on some other drives, then put in all 4 drives (2 x old 4TB and 2 x new 8TB), and reset it up from scratch? Or is there a way I can just add the 2 new drives without first having to move the 4TB and without risk of losing the 4TB in the process?

My preferred outcome would be if it ends up to be 1 Volume (with 12TB usable space in Raid 1). The second best option would be to have 2 Volumes (1x 4TB usable, 1x 8TB usable). Which is easier to set up, which is safer (or does it not make a difference)?

Thank you for your time and help!


#NAS_Jan_2020

Mijzelf

You can put the 2 new disks in the NAS and create a raid1 volume on them. No need to do anything with the old disks.

My preferred outcome would be if it ends up to be 1 Volume (with 12TB usable space in Raid 1).

I don't think that is possible. That would be a cascaded array, and I don't think the firmware supports that. And if it does, you should make sure you have a full backup before starting as the conversion is risky.

Mijzelf

You can put the 2 new disks in the NAS and create a raid1 volume on them. No need to do anything with the old disks.

My preferred outcome would be if it ends up to be 1 Volume (with 12TB usable space in Raid 1).

I don't think that is possible. That would be a cascaded array, and I don't think the firmware supports that. And if it does, you should make sure you have a full backup before starting as the conversion is risky.

bobster12345678

Hello Mijzelf,

thank you very much for the reply. I guess I will then go with the easy version of just putting in the 2 new drives and setting up a second 8TB Volume.

Thanks for the help!