Online RAID expansion N7700 (F/W 2.1.0.9) / RAID 5 - how to?

[unclebobuk]

Hi,
I've got an N7700 on F/W 2.1.0.9 with 5 x Hitachi Deskstar 1TB Sata II Drives (7K1000 / 16MB Cache) in RAID 5. I want to add another drive (same model) into the raid. I've reviewed the manual and am a little confused... (from the manual)...

Expanding a RAID
To expand a RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, or RAID 10 volume, follow the steps below:
1.
Replace one of the hard drives in the RAID volume and allow it to automatically rebuild.
2.
Once rebuilt, you can continue to replace any remaining disks in the RAID array.
3.
When you are done replacing hard drives, log on to Web Management. Navigate to Storage> RAID to open the RAID Configuration screen.
4.
On the RAID Information screen, and click Edit to open the RAID Configuration screen.
5.
On the RAID Configuration screen, click Expand.

---------

Is this saying to me i need to degrade my raid config by pulling a drive first and I have to do this before adding any more...? This makes no sense. Can someone confirm how you _add_ an additional device into the raid config? I THINK the above is for when you want to replace your drives with larger ones...


Any advice/experiences appreciated...

cheers.
Bob.

[peterfu]

This describes if You want to replace Your discs with bigger ones and then expand to the new allocated space.

Adding a new disc is raid migration.
1) insert the new disc
2) go to raid configuration and do a raid migration (raid5 -> raid5) - select all discs You want to have included
(be sure not to mark the new disc as spare)

After the raid migration is finished You mahave to do a raid expand to allocate the new space

br
Peter

[unclebobuk]

Thanks Peter... migration underway... albeit slowly.. fingers crossed for a sucessful completion!

cheers.
Bob.