replace HD 2TB to 4Tb

My Cloud OS 5 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud EX Series
1

Hi, I need help from the community. I have a My Cloud EX2 Ultra with 2 2TB hard drives, connected in raid 1, mirroring the data in the 2 hard drives.
I have no more space and will replace it with 2 4tb hard drives. How to proceed with this replacement?
I don’t want to lose any configuration of what I have, like users and everything. Should I save the data externally and then overwrite from the hard drives?
I have no idea how to go about copying the data back to the new hard drives. Thanks.

2

Hi @mliell,

Please contact the WD Technical Support team for best assistance and troubleshooting:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/ask

3

Short Answer, I can’t be done (your 4TB drive will only show 2TB).
Long Answer, yes, it can be done, but if you have to ask, see Short Answer.

Oh, and don’t waste your time contacting WD.

4

There is DEFINATELY a procedure to do this.

  1. Get an external 2TB USB drive and backup the NAS. Seriously.
  2. Replace disk #2. . . .you will get a message to “rebuild raid”. Do it.
  3. Wait a day. . .it takes time
  4. Replace disk #1 . . . you will get a message to “Rebuild raid”. Do it.
  5. Wait a day. At this point. . . the NAS is going to show 2TB nas.
  6. Do a “Expand volume”. This will convert the system to 4TB.

I never did this myself. . .so user beware.
When I ran out of space. . .I just bought another NAS :slight_smile:

Edit:
Oh. . .my procedure works. . but there is an easier way:
Follow this procedure: My Cloud: Upgrade the Drives on a Device (RAID Expansion)

This is basically executing the same steps in a script.

1 Like
5

Thank you for that link

I have been through this twice on a 2 unit and a 4 unit WD NAS

and will add two things.

ONE: The backup and reload is faster unless you skip the backup - BUT you better not.
if you have been backup up anyway a sync backup can double check you are ready.
Keep the old removed disks around for a safety net.

TWO: Aim a fan at the NAS as the disks are going to get hot more so with the EX2 NAS
and during this process i this is a good time to use a UPS.

6

Thanks for this day, I will backup for safety and perform the procedure. Then I’ll come back here for a return.

7

The procedure went all right. Thank you so much for your personal help.