RAID expansion

[Bernhard.Wuest]

Hello,
I want to exchange 5 8TB disc with 5 14TB discs and did a mistake at the beginning.
I removed one 8 TB, inserted a 14TB and did repair RAID instead of "Online RAID Capacity Expansion".
I thought this to be the reason I am not seeing more space to add.
I removed the disc, formated it using my PC and re-added now with the correct Expansion option.
Instead of 10-12 hours for the configuration it was finished in one minute. I think that cant be correct as any change in the disc setting to those 10+ hours to configure the system.
I used a brandnew disc and now the system is taking its time to add.
Is the NAS sort of remembering the disc by serial number or other identifier? How can I reset the disc completely or delete whatever information the NAS has to "forget" the disc?
Would it be enough to use it in a different slot?
Lastly, how many disc to I have to add before I see any additional space that I can add to show up.
Would appreciate any help on this

[TMzethar]

Hi.
The formatting of the PC is not enough, the RAID information will still remain on it.
We need to know your current situation to decide on a recommendation.
How many 8Ts and how many 14Ts is the current RAID5 composed of?
Is the repair sync complete now?

[Bernhard.Wuest]

Hello,
the plan is to have all 8TB exchanged by the 14TB discs.
Configuration at the moment.
Slot 1: 8TB
Slot 2: 8TB
Slot 3: 14TB Correctly integrated with capacity expansion
Slot 4: 14TB at 20% repair sync using the capacity expansion
Slot 5: 14TB but added as repair and not capacity expansion

3 removed 8TB
1 removed 14TB that was used in slot 3 with the repair instead of the expansion function. With this one I tried to delete the volumes and formated it without success

I am also available by phone if needed

[TMzethar]

Hi.
You don't need to format your discs.
Please continue to replace all the 8T with 14T with capacity expansion step by step.
If the expansion fails at the end, you can try this instruction to expand it manually: The storage pool has been expanded, but the volume cannot be expanded？

[Bernhard.Wuest]

But what about the two 14TB discs that been already in the system.
When I re-added them "after" formatting the repair to only 1 minute on an empty disc.
That cant be correct!!
What do I need to do with the already used discs that are empty but not new to the system?
I am worried that I loose data.
How can I make sure when I add those empty used discs that the repair sync after adding them correctly as described earlier of working

[Bernhard.Wuest]

That last point troubles me.
Is it normal that an empty "formatted" disc that was already used in the RAID is only taking some seconds to repair sync on a system that has 20TB data on a 29TB RAID 5 ((this is the current size from the 5x8TB RAID5)
I also looked at the commands to modify the system manually. Not sure if I feel comfortable doing that with my little knowledge.
Would appreciate some help perhaps.
Again not sure what to do with the two 14TB discs that been used with the removed volumes as they are not behaving "normally" when I add them correctly.
How can I remove the RAID information from those discs?

[TMzethar]

Now I know that you want to stick to your solution.
To remove the RAID information of disc, you can erase the entire hard drive with PC hard drive like HD turn and DiskGenius.
Although you can use commands to delete raid information, we are worried that you will misuse it, so please be patient and wait for the PC hard drive tool to finish erasing the hard drive.
Please wait for the current synchronization to complete before operating.

[Bernhard.Wuest]

Not sure if missed your point.
What I did so far was the following
I found a description to bring the disc back to new
I used DISKPART on my Windows PC and the function CLEAN to erase the RAID info.
Status at the moment.
Slot1: 8TB
Slot2: 8TB
Slot3: 14TB processed with capacity expansion
Slot4: 14TB processed with capacity expansion
Slot5: 14TB currently processing with capacity expansion

After the second 14TB disc been finished the Volume didnt show any additional space so far (max greyed out)
Well I believe I do not really understand what is going on underneath but been wondering when the system will offer additional space to add or if I have to used those commands from earlier in the post I am not comfortable with. It will take two more days before all discs are exchanged then I will see and probably come back for help.
Any additional info on how this whole RAID expansion thing is working underneath would be great to know. Like to learn

[Hardfecx]

Take the disks and plug them on your Pc. Go to Diskmanagment and create one partition of the full capacity of the disk. Then The Nas has to be reconize your complete Diskspace.

[Bernhard.Wuest]

I am sorry but the idea is NOT to create a new partition it is on expand the existing one without loosing data.