Expanding a RAID 1 hard drive

[qPlayer]

Model Name TS-451+
BIOS Version QW37AR41
Total RAM 8 GB (7 GB usable)
Memory Slots 2 (4 GB / 4 GB)
Firmware Version QTS 5.2.9.3499 Build 20260514

Hello Community,

Here’s the setup:
3x HDD in RAID 5 [DATA] (Seagate - ST4000VN008-2DR166 - 3.64 TB (4 TB))

• sda (bay 1)
• sdb (bay 2)
• sdd (bay 3) No idea why this became sdD…

1x SSD in RAID 1 [SYSTEM] (Samsung - 870 QVO 1TB - 931.51 GB (1 TB))

• sdc (bay 4)

The SSD (sdc) was previously a Crucial 250GB, which was full, and I cloned it to the 1TB SSD using DD.
Now, 750 GB is just hanging in limbo and I can’t expand the SSD with the usual methods.

When setting up, I didn’t do anything fancy.
RAID 5 = 8 TB, no partitions, data / videos / photos, etc.
The SSD was forced to RAID 1 = also no partitions, apps

What the wizard made out of this is a mystery to me.
If I’m interpreting the mdstat output correctly, I would need to expand the partition md1 / sdc3. But sdc5, sdc4, and sdc3 are in the way:
md1 : active raid1 sdc3[0] - 227216384 blocks
md321 : active raid1 sdc5[0] - 6702656 blocks
md13 : active raid1 sdb4[0] sdc4[32] sdd4[2] sda4[1] - 458880 blocks
md9 : active raid1 sdb1[0] sdc1[3] sdd1[2] sda1[1] - 530048 blocks

Losing data on md321, md13, and md9 would be acceptable for me.
But md1 contains the Multimedia Console data (thumbnails, face recognition) which I’d prefer not to have to regenerate.
On a Celeron, that takes weeks or months, and since the NAS is in the living room, there would be constant HDD noise.

For md13 and md9, it should be enough if I temporarily remove them from RAID1 and then add them back. (RAID across ALL drives)

I have no idea where md321 points to, maybe overprovisioning.

But now there’s also vg., lv., drbd., mapper, and cachedev. coming into play, which is where I’m pretty lost.

Can anyone offer some help with this issue?
Maybe some alternative approaches?

Thanks and regards,
Alexander

[dolbyman]

Always the issue with single drives—if you use RAID1 (2 drives), it’s not a problem. Not to mention the risk of failure.

Is it a static volume or a pool?

[qPlayer]

Thanks for the feedback.

Data loss was anticipated—the SSD was meant to serve as a “turbo”.

Static volume (both RAID 5 and the single one)

[dolbyman]

See if these steps help

Steps to expand a stuck sized static volume (disks were swapped)

This is a repost from the old forum here ======================================== I have seen this topic several times, and finally somebody has documented the steps* that QNAP support executes WARNING: Use these at your own risk! Commands with explanation (as far as I can make them out) list drb devices, storage volumes will be listed (note down the one with the missing size e.g. drbd1 and vg288) [~] # pvs PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree /dev/drbd1 vg288 lvm2 a-- 7.27t 3.6…

[qPlayer]

thanks, I found that too, plus this:

Resize

log in to the NAS via SSH (ssh -l admin <IP, mine is 10.5.0.11>)
stop running services (/etc/init.d/services.sh stop)
unmount volumes (umount /dev/md1)

expand RAID (mdadm --grow /dev/md1 --size=max)
check filesystem (e2fsck -f /dev/md1)

expand filesystem (resize2fs /dev/md1)

start RAID/remount (storage_boot_init 2)

start running services (/etc/init.d/services.sh start)

for safety, completely reboot the NAS

But there are too many unknowns for me in that process.

First, I need to make sure I back up the data from the RAID 5.
But with current hard drive prices, even a single one is quite an investment.

[dolbyman]

But you should always have backups (not just before things like this happen).

[qPlayer]

They do exist, but they’re located in different places, so they’re not immediately accessible.

[SteveKo]

Bei der Verwendung von DD zum Klonen werden auch die Partitionen mitkopiert, weshalb eine Erweiterung in diesem Fall nicht möglich ist. Wir werden unser internes Team bitten, mögliche Lösungen zu untersuchen, was jedoch einige Zeit in Anspruch nehmen kann — vielen Dank für Ihre Geduld.

In der Zwischenzeit können Sie, falls Sie bereit sind und Ihr Gerät es erlaubt, versuchen, alle Ihre Daten zu sichern und eine Neuinstallation durchzuführen. Danke!

(Übersetzt mit KI)

[qPlayer]

Thanks SteveKo for the confirmation and verification of possible solutions, which I appreciate much!

Indeed I am already in preparation for transfering the data, but im considering to move to a linux distro to bypass QTS.

Nevertheless is it possible to backup media console data so I can import them after fresh install?

[dolbyman]

Warum in English?

[qPlayer]

because the email notification was in English and the post says it was translated by the AI

[dolbyman]

This forum AI is getting on my nerves… but Steve replied in German

[qPlayer]

That’s strange—on my end, his post appears in German, with a note about the AI translation.
But yours is still in English.
It’s the same in your screenshot too.

Well, that’s off topic anyway.

[dolbyman]

Yeah, the forum has a totally confusing AI translator (it only reads, doesn’t write). I’ve complained about it several times already, but unfortunately nothing’s changed so far.

[qPlayer]

@Dolbyman can you elaborate further:

Always the problem with single drives, with RAID1 (2 drives), that’s not an issue

and how this question

Is it a static volume or a pool?

is related?

If my understanding is correct, the following should be possible.
Remove all three HDDs so that absolutely no accidental changes can happen to them.

I still have the original 250 GB SSD (untouched since removal)
If I completely wipe the 1 TB SSD, I should be able to add it to the software RAID 1 from the 250.
Then I’d have two drives in RAID 1… But how does it work with expanding?
Is that done in the QTS GUI when adding the drive to RAID 1?

That almost sounds too simple…

If that works, I’ll remove the 250 GB from RAID 1,
put the three HDDs back in, and that’s it.

I just realized, if I can backup the app data from the SSD cleanly via the QNAP app/script, I could also dissolve/delete and recreate RAID 1.
Once the apps are reinstalled, it only needs the restoration of the data from the backup.

[dolbyman]

I asked about the static volume because of the linked guide. But if SSH is too risky, then there’s no way (all methods require SSH access).

[qPlayer]

SSH is totally fine, but as far as I interpret the guide, it doesn’t really fit my environment.

I was just hoping that with two drives in RAID 1, some magic would happen

[dolbyman]

I would try increasing md1 as described in the guide.

RAID1 would have worked before cloning with dd, but not afterwards.

[qPlayer]

RAID1 would have worked before the dd cloning, not after

But I can recreate that state…
That’s what I meant by that

I still have the original 250 GB SSD (unchanged since removal)
If I completely wipe the 1 TB SSD, I can add it to the software RAID 1 set from the 250 GB one, right?

[dolbyman]

@qPlayer

If I completely erase the 1 TB SSD, I should be able to add it to the 250 GB’s software RAID 1, right?

Yes, that’s possible, and then you can expand the RAID (if necessary, you can remove the smaller drive once, erase it, and add it back to the RAID 1).