How do you add a second disk to My Cloud EX2 Ultra

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud EX2
1

Adding a second disk to a My Cloud EX2 Ultra shouldn’t be that hard, should it? And if it is hard, how come I cannot easily find instructions on how I am supposed to do it.

Summary: I have a 6TB drive from my PC that I want to put in my MCEX2U (version 5.24.108). Once the drive is in, it shows up under Storage → Disk Status:
Drive2 6TB 35C Good
But in Storage → RAID even though it says RAID Health: Healthy, it only shows the existing disk:
Volume_1 JBOD 4TB Good

I tried going to Settings → Utilities → Format Disk, but it only shows volume 1.
I also tried Settings → Utilities → System Diagnostics → Quick Test.

In the alerts there is this message:
Volume Failure
The data on volume 2 on the drive is not accessible.
Visit the Help Center for support.
Code: 4

I put the disk back in my PC and it is working fine. I used Computer Management → Storage → Disk Management and deleted the single volume (aka partition) just in case MCEX2U cannot format a disk that already has a partition (NTFS or exFAT). I have noticed drives that come out of the MCEX2U have several raw partitions.

I expect most people only put brand new disks in their MCEX2U, so don’t come across this problem. My hope is I need to make my 6TB disk look like it has just come from the factory, but I am unsure how to achieve this.

2

I found a way to get the added disk recognised and formatted, but it is not ideal.

I removed the existing volume 1 4TB disk from bay 1. I was then prompted to select a RAID mode for the 6TB disk in bay 2. When I chose JBOD it scanned the disk and formatted it and presented it as volume 1. I then put the 4TB back in bay 1, and it added it as volume 2. So I now have volume 1 on drive 2 and volume 2 on drive 1. But at least it is working.

3

Hi @duncanclay,

Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/ask

4

Hey for anyone having the same problem, I’ve resolved it as below:

  1. Install the new drive
  2. In “Storage”, Click “RAID” then “Change RAID Mode”, don’t be afraid it won’t wipe out anything.
  3. Choose “JBOD” tab and check “Create new Volume”, click “Next”
  4. The system will automatically start a self test, make sure only the new drive is listed (check size and bay #)
  5. Proceed to create the volume and you’re good to go.
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