Question how to transfer data from old nas disk to new nas disk

shadi shtaklef

Reputable
BANNED
Jul 26, 2015
123
8
4,595
i am currently using two 2tb wd red nas disks in my synology ds215j nas drive. i set the nas drive to mirroring (raid 1). i need to remove the two 2tb disks and put in two 4tb disks. i need to know exactly how i can transfer the data from an old disk to a new disk

i am guessing i can do it in one of these two ways:-
  1. i remove one 2tb nas disk from nas drive and i connect it to a computer and i also connect a blank 4tb nas disk to the computer. after that i run a cloning software and i make an exact copy of the 2tb nas disk onto the 4tb nas disk and then i do the same thing with the other 2tb nas disk and 4tb nas disk. when i finish cloning i put the two 4tb nas disks in the nas drive
  2. i remove one 2tb nas disk from the nas drive and i put in a blank 4tb nas disk. the nas drive will detect new disk and it will copy all the data from the 2tb nas disk to the 4tb nas disk. when the copying finishes i will remove the other 2tb nas disk and put in the other blank 4tb nas disk and the data will get copied from the first 4tb nas disk to the second 4tb nas disk
which way is the recommended way? i know that the first way will work if i do clone from a 2tb nas disk to another 2tb nas disk but will it work if i do clone from a 2tb nas disk to a 4tb nas disk? the cloning software should copy the os files of the nas drive but what about the raid settings? the 2tb raid settings are saved on the 2tb disk. if i do clone from 2tb nas disk to 4tb nas disk then i am guessing that the raid settings of the 2tb disk will get saved on the 4tb disk. that is wrong. there should be the 4tb raid settings on the 4tb nas disk. thus if i am to use the first way then i need to fist switch of mirroring so the 2tb raid settings get deleting and i switch the mirroring back on when i put in the two 4tb nas disks so the 4tb raid settings are saved?

also do i need to switch off mirroring if i want to use the second way? or no need and the raid settings will get configured automatically?

also can someone please tell me what the besting hard disk cloning software is?

also i need to know what are the tests that i can do to make sure that the new 4tb nas disks are ok. i need to do extensive health checks in the beginning
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Your option #2 is the way to do it.

Power OFF
Remove and replace 1 drive.
Let the array rebuild itself.
It will still be seen as a 2TB RAID 1.

Repeat with the other drive.
Let it rebuild.
It should now be seen as a 4TB RAID 1.

This is exactly the way I changed the 4 drive in my Qnap NAS box, RAID 5, from 3TB drives to 4TB drives.
Replace one at a time.

This is also a good test for what to do when (not if) one of your drives die.

Of course, you should have a full backup elsewhere, just in case things go wrong.