My Cloud Mirror, Raid 0 erweitern

The WD My Cloud Mirror is a user-friendly NAS solution designed specifically for home or small office use. It offers RAID functionality to optimize performance or redundancy. RAID 0, also known as "striping," is used for maximum speed and storage utilization. Unlike RAID 1 (mirroring), RAID 0 offers no data protection, as all data is lost if one drive fails. If you want to expand the storage space in a RAID 0 array, there are a few important aspects to consider.

📌 What does RAID 0 mean on the My Cloud Mirror?

RAID 0 distributes data across two hard drives simultaneously to increase read/write speed.

The total capacity corresponds to the sum of both hard drives (e.g. 2x 2 TB = 4 TB of usable storage).

There is no redundancy – if one hard drive fails, all data is lost.

⚠️ Why isn't an extension that easy?

RAID 0 cannot be dynamically expanded, like a JBOD or SHR volume (like Synology). This is due to the way data is distributed (striped) across both disks. There are only two ways to expand storage space:

🔄 Option 1: Dissolve RAID 0 and recreate it with larger hard drives

Steps:

Create backup

Since RAID 0 does not provide redundancy, all data must be backed up beforehand (e.g. on an external hard drive or cloud storage).

Replace hard drives with larger ones

Replace both existing drives with larger models (e.g. 2x 4 TB).

Reset system

After installation, the My Cloud Mirror starts in "Not Configured" mode.

Recreate RAID 0

Log in to the dashboard and go to Storage > RAID > Create RAID. Select RAID 0 and format the drives.

Restore data

Transfer your backup to the new RAID 0 volume.

✅ Advantage: Maximum storage space with new volume

❌ Disadvantage: Time-consuming and risky if no security is provided

🔁 Option 2: USB storage for expansion

If you don't want to swap internal drives, you can connect an external drive via the My Cloud Mirror's USB ports.

External drives appear as a separate volume (e.g. USB1).

These can be used on the network, but they are not part of the RAID array.

✅ Advantage: Fast and without data loss

❌ Disadvantage: No real RAID upgrade

🧠 Alternative: Switch to RAID 1 or JBOD?

If data security is more important to you than capacity, RAID 1 may be more appropriate. Alternatively, JBOD offers the option of using the two drives independently, which can be more flexible in certain scenarios.

📝 Conclusion

Directly expanding RAID 0 in My Cloud Mirror isn't possible without deleting the data. The only way is to install larger drives and reconfigure the RAID 0. Alternatively, you can connect external drives via USB, but these only expand the storage space outside the RAID array. A backup is essential in any case before making any changes to a RAID 0.