Frequently Asked Question

What is My Cloud RAID Roaming?

RAID roaming enables you to migrate hard drives from one My Cloud enclosure to another without losing your data. This is useful when facing hardware issues, upgrading to a new device, or expanding storage capacity. Note that you will have to reconfigure user and device settings upon migration.

What Enclosures Can I Migrate Between?

You can move drives between any multi-bay My Cloud enclosures, even from different product families (e.g., My Cloud Mirror to My Cloud EX2).

Precautions Before Proceeding:

1. Data Backup: Make sure to back up all data to an alternate location before starting the process.
2. Disk Health Check: Use the Scan Disk feature to assess and repair the file system on all volumes.
   
3. Third-Party Apps: If moving between architectures (e.g., ARM to Intel CPU), uninstall all third-party applications before proceeding.
   

Critical Considerations:

• Power off or hibernate the original enclosure before removing any drives to prevent RAID or volume damage.
• If any of the drives are failing, have bad sectors or I/O errors, or if the RAID array is degraded or the file system is corrupted, RAID Roaming will not be successful.

Step-by-Step Migration Guide

1. Preliminary Check:
   • If the new enclosure already has drives, connect it to the network, power it on, and proceed to the next step.
   • If the new enclosure is empty, skip to Step 3.
2. Firmware Check:
   • Go to the Settings/Firmware page on your new enclosure's dashboard.
   • Update the firmware if it's not up-to-date and ensure the unit is functioning well post-reboot.
3. Preparation:
   • Safely power off both the original and the new enclosure.
   • Remove the drives from both.
4. Drive Swapping:
   • Transfer the drives from your original enclosure to your new one, making sure to place them in the correct bays.
5. Power-Up:
   • Turn on the new enclosure and wait for it to boot.
   • The power LED will turn solid blue, and the drive LEDs will be red initially.
6. Dashboard Access:
   • Access the new enclosure's dashboard. A pop-up will notify you about incorporating a new RAID volume.
   
   
   
   
7. Accept RAID Volume:
   • Allow the enclosure to accept the RAID volume. Upon completion, the drive LEDs will turn blue.
8. RAID Health Check:
   • Go to Storage/RAID and confirm the RAID volume(s) are healthy.
9. Firmware Verification:
   • If you skipped Steps 1 and 2, verify and update the firmware now.
10. System Restore:
    • Perform a system-only restore if the device is not operating correctly post-migration.

By following these steps, you can successfully migrate your drives between My Cloud enclosures using RAID Roaming.