Jetpac Posted October 2, 2016 Share #1 Posted October 2, 2016 Hi folks, I've just discovered cosmology and it sounds awesome and I would love to put it on my n54l microserver. I think the install process should be fine but my issue will probably be transition. Currently it is running windows 10 in the following config: 1x 250gb os system 2x 2tb in raid 1 that holds media 1x 1tb general storage including photos. I'm going To assume these are all NTFS... Not going to lie, my knowledge of storage structures and systems is rudimentary at best. (and the server is currently unplugged¡) Now I don't have any extra drives that I can shift data on to to reformat and install ( I'm hoping the fact the 2tb in raid 1 can help here.) What would be my best drive setup for the most storage and security incase of failure (without buying more drives) and how would I go about doing it? I'm a pretty hands on learner, but in this case I kind of can't afford to screw up and lose the data! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berwhale Posted October 2, 2016 Share #2 Posted October 2, 2016 I went through a similar transition on an N36L a few years ago. There are some things that you need to bare in mind... Firstly, if the data is important to you and you can't afford to lose it, you should have it backed up. RAID is not a backup solution, it's designed to make your data available in the event of drive failure. It's even more important to have a backup when migrating your server operating system because of the increased risk of data loss. Secondly, the disk formats used in Windows and DSM are not compatible. The disks will need to be wiped when you move them from Windows to DSM which is another reason to have a backup. Lastly, there may be a way of 'juggling' your disks to gradually migrate between Windows and DSM. This is the approach I took, but I also had a complete copy of my data on another drive - with a 3rd copy on another drive for the really important stuff. I think the cheapest approach you could take to move to DSM safely and have a proper backup is: 1. Buy a 3TB external HDD, copy all of your data to it and keep it somewhere safe whilst you... 2. Rebuild your server with DSM. Create an SHR array using the 1TB and both 2TB drives - this will give you approx. a 3TB volume. There's no point using the 250GB drive, you might as well keep a bay free for later upgrades - this also means your current Windows installation is preserved, should you decide to go back to it. 3. Copy all your data from the external drive to the new data volume. 4. Setup DSM to backup your data to the 3TB external drive on a regular basis. Note that there are still risks with the above process. There are several times where you only have one copy of your data - if you make a mistake, you could lose everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetpac Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share #3 Posted October 2, 2016 I went through a similar transition on an N36L a few years ago. There are some things that you need to bare in mind... Firstly, if the data is important to you and you can't afford to lose it, you should have it backed up. RAID is not a backup solution, it's designed to make your data available in the event of drive failure. It's even more important to have a backup when migrating your server operating system because of the increased risk of data loss. Secondly, the disk formats used in Windows and DSM are not compatible. The disks will need to be wiped when you move them from Windows to DSM which is another reason to have a backup. Lastly, there may be a way of 'juggling' your disks to gradually migrate between Windows and DSM. This is the approach I took, but I also had a complete copy of my data on another drive - with a 3rd copy on another drive for the really important stuff. I think the cheapest approach you could take to move to DSM safely and have a proper backup is: 1. Buy a 3TB external HDD, copy all of your data to it and keep it somewhere safe whilst you... 2. Rebuild your server with DSM. Create an SHR array using the 1TB and both 2TB drives - this will give you approx. a 3TB volume. There's no point using the 250GB drive, you might as well keep a bay free for later upgrades - this also means your current Windows installation is preserved, should you decide to go back to it. 3. Copy all your data from the external drive to the new data volume. 4. Setup DSM to backup your data to the 3TB external drive on a regular basis. Note that there are still risks with the above process. There are several times where you only have one copy of your data - if you make a mistake, you could lose everything. Thanks for this. The important stuff is on the 1tb drive and is only really the photos which are in the cloud too. Is it possible to take 1 of the 2tb drives out of the array, leave one in the server and format that, then put the other drive in a windows machine, transfer the data back to the xpenology server then add that 2tb drive back into the server? Since the 2tb drives are in raid 1 so mirrored. Or does it not work like that? (Forgive my ignorance here! Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berwhale Posted October 2, 2016 Share #4 Posted October 2, 2016 Is it possible to take 1 of the 2tb drives out of the array, leave one in the server and format that, then put the other drive in a windows machine, transfer the data back to the xpenology server then add that 2tb drive back into the server? Since the 2tb drives are in raid 1 so mirrored. That is an option - you could keep one half of the broken mirror as the 'backup'. Bear in mind that once you've accessed either disk independently, they won't be mirrored anymore and you'll have to re-mirror (i.e. re-write all of the data to one of the disks) if you change your mind. However, if possible, I would still recommend building the new array with all the disks present at the start... Firstly, if you start with a single disk and then add another, you have to wait for the data to be re-striped across both disks (this can take a day or two). If you add a third, you have to wait again. Secondly, you can only add drives that are the same size or larger than those already in the array. This means that you will not be able to add the 1TB drive after either of the 2TBs are in the array. This is why I suggested buying another drive for the backup and starting the new array with all three drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetpac Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share #5 Posted October 2, 2016 Okie doke! Unfortunately money at the moment doesn't stretch to new hardware unfortunately [DISAPPOINTED FACE]. On the plus side i dont mind waiting to restripe the drive pair and have the 1tb independent as i do currently. So if it is possible we might have a winner! Sent from my Mi-4c using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts