Mixing brand model and size to upgrade storage space?

1. Yes
2. Assuming you stick with single-redundancy about 2.7TB more than you have now. If you elect to convert to dual-redundancy (should do this before adding first 2TB disk: http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19044/~/converting-and-xraid2-system-to-dual-redundancy) you'll get a bit under 1TB more space than what you have now.
3. Hitachi has a good reputation for reliability on the forum recently, I think.

Thank you mdgm,
I think i'm going to stick with single-redundancy to get twice my current space in buying 2 * 2TB Hitachi Desktar 7K3000 (HDS723020BLA642).

Any recommandation to add the new drives ?
Regards

Volpone

volpone - Those are not on the HCL. The 3TB version is. Check the prices of 3TB drives compared to 2TB. When I expanded my NVX units last summer the prices of 2TB were so close to 3TB that I instead skipped the 2TB and went for 3TB. I also went with the Hitachi drive (HDS5C3030ALA630) and have been very pleased with them. On Newegg in the U.S. they are listed with 3 different part numbers but the image of the decal on the drive shows them to all be the same model. Two are bare drives (0F03230 and 0F12460) and one is retail boxed (0F03228). Ironically, the retail boxed is currently the least expensive. These are 5400RPM Green drives.

Another drive that has a good reputation is the 2TB Samsung HD204UI but is a little more expensive than the Seagate/WD listings, at least in the U.S.

Just be sure to stick with drives that are on the HCL, and check some of the experiences in the Community Hardware Compatibility List.

Thank You PapaBear,
Sorry if i made an error reading it but Hitachi 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 (P/N:0F12115) is currently on the HCL for X86 Pro Pioneer.

However i'm interested in your recommendation about 3TB or 2TB "green" disks (reliability, low power and noise) like Hitachi HDS5C3030ALA630 or Samsung HD204UI.

I 'm pleased with the Western Digital Green and i only switch to other brand because of the LCC issue in some models (not in the 1TB 3 plates).

Regards
Volpone.

Sorry, I misread it. I was thinking of the HDS5C3020ALA632 which is the 2TB version of the 3TB drive green drive that is on the list. Mea Culpa.

PapaBear wrote:
Sorry, I misread it. I was thinking of the HDS5C3020ALA632 which is the 2TB version of the 3TB drive green drive that is on the list. Mea Culpa.

PapaBear,
However i'm still interested in 2TB Green SPINPOINT F4 HD204UI (on HCL) or 2TB DESKSTAR 5K3000 (amazingly not in HCL for the moment). Do you know if backup and factory reset is needed (4K alignment) using these 2x2TB disks to expand my X-Raid2 setup ?

Thank you.
Volpone

volpone wrote:

PapaBear wrote: Sorry, I misread it. I was thinking of the HDS5C3020ALA632 which is the 2TB version of the 3TB drive green drive that is on the list. Mea Culpa. PapaBear, However i'm still interested in 2TB Green SPINPOINT F4 HD204UI (on HCL) or 2TB DESKSTAR 5K3000 (amazingly not in HCL for the moment). Do you know if backup and factory reset is needed (4K alignment) using these 2x2TB disks to expand my X-Raid2 setup ? Thank you. Volpone

If your system has XRAID-2, then you shouldn't need to worry about 4K alignment - you should already have it.

Stephen, not necessarily. If the NAS was last factory reset on RAIDiator 4.2.11 or earlier the disks may not be 4k sector partition aligned.

Take a look at Why you might want to factory reset a x86 ReadyNAS

If disks are not 4k sector partition aligned you have two options as detailed there.

mdgm wrote:
Stephen, not necessarily. If the NAS was last factory reset on RAIDiator 4.2.11 or earlier the disks may not be 4k sector partition aligned. Take a look at Why you might want to factory reset a x86 ReadyNAS If disks are not 4k sector partition aligned you have two options as detailed there.

mdgm, according to inidrd.log my disks are not 4k sector partition aligned (see later).
I need to factory reset if expanding with 2x2TB or 2x3TB drives as planned, correct ?
Thank you.

Initrd.log

[2010/06/13 13:05:52] Factory default initiated due to new disks (no RAID, no partitions).
[2010/06/13 13:12:24] Updated from RAIDiator  to 4.2.11.
[2010/08/24 12:33:54] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.11 to 4.2.13.
[2010/09/21 21:13:13] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.13 to 4.2.14-T9.
[2010/09/29 22:14:09] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.14-T9 to 4.2.14-T13.
[2010/09/30 19:19:53] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.14-T13 to 4.2.14-T14.
[2011/05/25 17:07:27] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.14-T14 to 4.2.17.
[2011/10/31 21:42:04] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.19 to 4.2.19.

That's not the only option. Take a look at http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_x86_4_2_12_Notes

yoh-dah wrote:
Added support for 4K sector drives. If you have already installed 4K sector drives with 4.2.11 or earlier, you can replace each disk one by one, allowing it to complete resync, and all your disks will be 4K aligned, and your performance should be on par with similar 512-byte sector drives.

If any of your disks were added on 4.2.12 or later then they would be 4k sector partition aligned. But if they were all last added prior to RAIDiator 4.2.12 then none of them would be 4k sector partition aligned.

Check your partition.log. If you have the time or if most of your disks are not 4k sector aligned then it would be best to backup and do a factory reset but that is not the only option.