Adding a new disk drive to a Synology 2-bay drive

Question

I've got a Synology 2-bay NAS (DS213). Initially I added a single 3 TB disk. It was configured with SHR (with no data protection). I have some data in it too.

Now I've got a new disk, and have added it into the 2nd bay.

Is it possible to add this new drive into the same Volume?

My goal is to ensure that data protection can be enabled.

When I open the DSM Storage Manager application, the Manage button is disabled for the volume.

How can I add the new disk to the existing volume?

Answer 1

I guess it is not possible. I had to take backup of the data to a external USB drive, and then recreate the volume using both the harddisks. And then copy back the data into the new volume.
Now its working fine.

Answer 2

I know you found a solution, but in case others read this, they should know that it ought to be possible to expand the existing volume (or disk group) - see this Synology tutorial for the details: https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/storage_pool_expand_add_disk

In particular beware that the new disk you add to the volume has be at least the same size as the existing disk in your volume - otherwise you will not be allowed to expand your existing volume. From the Synology link:

• For SHR: The capacity of the hard drive you wish to add must be equal to or larger than the largest hard drive in the volume or disk group.
• For RAID 5 and RAID 6: The capacity of the hard drive you wish to add must be equal to or larger than the smallest hard drive in the volume or disk group.

Answer 3

I had exactly the same issue:

• Synology DS213 with a 3 TB hard drive
• I was adding another harddrive of at least 3 TB
• Raid of type SHR (Hybrid)

It is now very easy to add the drive (I have DSM 6.0.2 for what it matters)

1. Go to Storage Manager > Volume
2. Click on Manage
3. Select Expand size (I know, this is very misleading)
4. Select the new hard drive
5. Wait until the operation finishes: you can now see "with data protection of 1 disk fault-tolerance)

Note: you need to have at least the same size on the new drive and it's better to have similar model.

Cheers

Answer 4

The accepted answer didn't work for. At least in my case (DSM 6.1-15047 Update 2, Synology DS216+) I was able to add the new disk using the "Manage" function (Storage Manager -> Volume).

The Volume was already SHR, the second disk had the same size as the first.

Answer 5

I have Synology DS414, the 4-bay NAS with two 1TB disks installed and configured as one volume via SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID). Today I received two more 8TB drives. Here is what I did.

1. First of all DS414 supports hot-swapping, meaning I can add drives without turning off the NAS.
2. Having said that I installed one 8TB drive.
3. Waited, nothing changed. I can't see the drive in Storage Manager, and the "Manage" button is disabled. Very scared.
4. Decided to restart NAS.
5. After reboot => go to Storage Manager.
6. Now I see the "Manage" button is enabled.
7. Click on it and I see the "Choose an action" popup.
8. I choose "Expand the volume by adding hard disks". This is what I want, though there are other options.
9. In the next step it asks to "Choose disks". I choose the new drive which shows 7.28TB for its disk size.
10. Click "Next".
11. Click "Apply".
12. Now NAS starts expanding the volume by adding the new disk. But this process takes very long time, at least for my 8TB. It's been 24 minutes, and the process is only at 1.77% checking parity consistency.

I followed this help article from Synology https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/volume_diskgroup_expand_add_disk.