ioSafe R4 - page 42

P/N: 900-10004-00 REV 02 USER GUIDE, IOSAFE R4

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X-RAID HAS ONE DATA VOLUME

X-RAID devices only have one data volume. This volume encompasses one to four disks, utilizing

the capacity of the smallest disk from each disk. For instance, if you had one 80GB disk and two

250GB disks, only 80GB from each disk will be used in the volume. (The leftover space on the

250GB disks will be reclaimed only when the 80GB disk is replaced with a 250GB or greater

capacity disk. See “Replacing All Your Disks for Even More Capacity” below.)

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ADDING A 2

DISK FOR REDUNDANCY

A one-disk X-RAID device has no redundancy and provides no protection from a disk failure.

However, if and when you feel the need for redundancy, simply power down the device, add a new

disk with at least the capacity of the first disk, and power on. Depending on the size of the disk,

within a few hours, your data volume will be fully redundant. The process occurs in the

background, so access to the ioSafe R4 is not interrupted.

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ADDING A 3

AND 4

DISK FOR MORE CAPACITY

At a certain point, you will want more capacity. With typical RAID volumes, you will have to

backup your data to another system (with enough space), add a new disk, reformat your RAID

volume, and restore your data back to the new RAID volume.

Not so with X-RAID. Simply power down the device, add the 3

and perhaps 4

disk and power

on. The X-RAID device will initialize and scan the newly added disk(s) for bad sectors in the

background. You can continue working normally with the device during this process without any

lag in performance. When the process finishes, you will be alerted by email to reboot the device.

During the boot process, your data volume is expanded. This process typically takes about 15-30

minutes per disk, perhaps more, depending on the size of your disks. A 250GB disk takes

approximately 30 minutes. Access to the ioSafe R4 is not permitted during this time. You will be

notified by email when the process is complete.

After you receive your email, the ioSafe R4 will have been expanded with the capacity from your

new disk(s).

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REPLACING ALL YOUR DISKS FOR EVEN MORE CAPACITY

A couple years down the line, you find the need more disk space, and 1 TB disks are available at an

attractive price. Again, you can expand your volume capacity quite easily, although you will need to

power down several times to replace your old disks.

First, power down the ioSafe R4, replace the first disk with the larger capacity dis k, and boot. The

ioSafe R4 will detect that a new disk was put in place and will resync the disk with data from the

removed disk. This process will take several hours, depending on disk capacity. The disk will be

initialized and scanned for bad sectors first before the resync is started. The total time from the start

of initialization to the end of resync can be around 5 hours or more, depending on disk capacity.

You will be notified when this resync process is complete.

Upon completion, power down, replace the 2

disk with another larger capacity disk, and boot. The

process will be the same as the 1

disk. You will do this also for the 3

and 4

disk.