NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.

Forum Discussion

Bourbonbill's avatar
Bourbonbill
Aspirant
Dec 02, 2015
Solved

Available hard disk memory. Only half showing available.

I just bouht a ReadyNas 102 2-bay system.  It has 2-2 GB HDs in each bay.

 

When I look at the overview on the admin page only 1.8 GB is availble.  Likewise when I look at the system at ReadyCLOUD home page I see only 1.8 GB available.

 

When I look at the volume and perfomance page, I can see both HDs with 2 GBs each for a total of 4 GBs.

 

Did I set this up wrong or is there something else I need to do as part of the set-up.

 

I've just taken in out of the box and set it up per instrucions without changing any settings so I'm just not sure I'm looking at this right.

  • StephenB's avatar
    StephenB
    Dec 03, 2015

    Bourbonbill wrote:
     

    But I will be keeping all my photos and music on the NAS and I'm concerned if I should back up the NAS as well.


    The short answer is "yes you should".  The RAID mirror is NOT a backup.

     

    Some common scenarios -

    -There is an unexpected power failure that brings down the NAS.  The file system ends up in a corrupted state and your volume is lost.  Mirroring doesn't help- the disks are synced, so both copies end up corrupted in the same way.

     

    -You make mistake and accidentally delete some precious photos.  Oops.

     

    -Both disks fail in rapid succession (which sounds rare, but does happen).

     

    -You have a fire, flood, nearby lightning strike, or theft.

     

    -a hacker or malware hijacks your data (e.g., something like Cryptolocker)

     


    Bourbonbill wrote:

    Seems like a third copy would be redundant.

     


    By definition backups are redundant.  Hopefully the info above will explain why I don't count RAID as one of the copies.  Also, I'm using RAID-5, not RAID-1 - which works very differently, and is not creating a mirror.

     

    I started backups long before I had a NAS - and unfortunately have had to use them from time to time.  I learned the hard way that sometimes the backup wasn't readable.  I've never lost data once I began the "3-copy" policy.  So I continue to keep least 3 local copies (including the original) of everything, all on different devices.  Though it costs some money up front, it is far cheaper and more certain than data recovery later on (not to mention the family fallout from losing the photos).  Today my main NAS is a Pro-6, and I back it up to other NASes.

     

    I also use cloud backup (CrashPlan) for disaster recovery - for ~$60 per year, it was a no-brainer.  Though there have been some bumps in the road with them over the past few months, I still think its a good deal.  I don't yet trust cloud backup enough to cut back from three local copies to two.  

     

    It probably doesn't make sense to run CrashPlan on an RN102, but you could potentially run it on a PC or a Mac (and there are some tricks that will let you back up the NAS from the PC/MAC).

     

9 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
    • StephenB's avatar
      StephenB
      Guru - Experienced User

      You have RAID-1.  That gives you redundancy (so you can replace a failed disk w/o downtime, and without losing data).  That is the default (and is what most users want).

       

      You can switch to JBOD, which would give you two 2TB volumes.  To do that, uninstall any apps, and switch to flexraid.  Then delete the existing volume, and create two new ones.  After that, reinstall the apps.  Read the the chapter in the OS6 manual on volume configuration first - http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/readynas_os_6_4_o_09.pdf.

       

       

      As far as 1.8 (vs 2) goes - the NAS (like Windows) reports storage in TiB, the drive manufacturers use TB.

       

      2 TB = 2 * (1000/1024)*(1000/1024)*(1000/1024)*(1000/1024) = ~1.8 TiB.

       

       

      • Bourbonbill's avatar
        Bourbonbill
        Aspirant

        Thanks.  That helps.  I guess the second disk is syncing or backing up data from the first.

         

        Is this automatic?

         

        Looks like I need to do further reading on Backup and Syncing?

NETGEAR Academy

Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology! 

Join Us!

ProSupport for Business

Comprehensive support plans for maximum network uptime and business peace of mind.

 

Learn More