Expanding RAID 1 on LaCie 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3

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Expanding RAID 1 on LaCie 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3

I have a LaCie 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3. It was originally 2 8TB drives in a RAID 1 configuration.

It has been working fine but I was running out of space.

I replaced each drive with 20TB drives, one at a time so the array can be rebuilt. This is now complete and LaCie RAID Manager shows the 2 20TB drives.

Disk Utility still shows 8TB so I still don't have any extra space.

Is there away to expand the array while keeping the data intact?

Interestingly, I asked Seagate support BEFORE I bought the new drives and they said it would all work automatically. After I bought and installed the drives they now tell me I have to reformat - although as Disk Utility only shows 8TB, reformatting will not make a difference.

Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023)

Posted on Oct 8, 2024 12:22 PM

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ATJ777 Author

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Oct 11, 2024 2:53 PM in response to ATJ777

I'll answer my own question. I found out the answer by accident.

I was going to give up on keeping the data. I have them elsewhere but just didn't want to have to copy 8TB of data.

I started to use LaCie RAID Manager to create a new RAID 1 array. I went through the process but because it is destructive, you have to confirm by pressing the power button on the back of the enclosure. The enclosure was in a spot where it is not easy to get to the back and by the time I finally pressed the power button, the process had timed out. Now pressing the power button put the device to sleep. When I brought it back, Disk Utility now saw it is a 20TB drive with an 8TB partition and 12TB free.

I had taken the drive offline previously (so that LaCie RAID Manager would recognise the new drives) but I guess it needed to be done twice.

Once Disk Utility saw the free space, I was able to resize the partition, but in a round about way. I couldn't just change it to 20TB. If I tried to drag the resize control, but that didn't move. Attempting to drag the resize control enable the size field and I was able to change it from 8 to 20TB and hit apply. It failed the first 2 times but worked on the third.

It resized the partition and First Aid indicated there were no issues and the data are all there.

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