Hello all,I need to upgrade my X86 ReadyNas Pro Pioneer (4.2.19) X-RAID2 4 drives setup to 6 drives setup to get more storage space.The four installed drive models WD 1TB Green WD10EADS-00L5B1 (3 plates) are running 24/7 without problems since near 3 years despite they are not in the HCL. Unfortunately they are no more available. Replacement model WD WD10EADS-00M2B0 (2 plates) is currently not easily available in France but especially it's seems affected by LCC issue see WD10EADS WD Caviar Green not recommended for NAS by WD. So my questions are:1) Is it possible to mix brands, models and size in my NAS and install 2TB drives on the free 2 slots ?2) Amount of total X-RAID2 storage space available with (4*1TB + 2*2TB) vs my actual 2,7TO (4*1TB) ?2) Drive models and brand (Western Digital or others) recommended to complete my setup knowing i'm especially concerned in reliability (vs performances or price) ?Thank you in advance.Volpone

1. Yes2. 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 ?RegardsVolpone

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).RegardsVolpone.

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.

Mixing brand model and size to upgrade storage space?

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volpone

Aspirant

Feb 22, 2012

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

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

mdgm,
I've checked partition log. Seems all 4 disks are 512 sector.
So i'm afraid i will need to full backup and factory reset my NAS prior to expand my array.

I have an other "small" NAS and several external USB HDD, but i miss a single backup volume with sufficent space (2TB) .
Any pointer to a full data backup procedure (near 2TB needed) on several devices ?
Thank you

partition.log extract

***** partition output for sdd *****

Disk /dev/sdd: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 9BF39102-7D95-4343-ABFF-489B348716D5
Partition table holds up to 8 entries
First usable sector is 4, last usable sector is 1953525164
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 5101 sectors (2.5 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1               4         8388611   4.0 GiB     FD00  Linux RAID
   2         8388612         9437187   512.0 MiB   FD00  Linux RAID
   5         9437189      1953520064   927.0 GiB   FD00  Linux RAID

Disk /dev/sdd: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8257536 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1          0+ 121126- 121127- 976762583+  ee  EFI GPT
/dev/sdd2          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sdd3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sdd4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

mdgm-ntgr

NETGEAR Employee Retired

Feb 22, 2012

volpone wrote:

I've checked partition log. Seems all 4 disks are 512 sector.
So i'm afraid i will need to full backup and factory reset my NAS prior to expand my array.

volpone wrote:
I've checked partition log. Seems all 4 disks are 512 sector. So i'm afraid i will need to full backup and factory reset my NAS prior to expand my array.

Well you could replace two disks one at a time, hot-remove disk, wait say half a minute then hot-add again, disk will be wiped, then you need to wait for resync to complete then repeat for second disk. Then replace the other two disks one at a time with the higher capacity disks. If you go down this route I'd recommend running the "Test Disks" boot option. It is a good idea to check if a disk is failing. The hot-swap route is an option though I'd prefer the backup and factory default route.

volpone wrote:

I have an other "small" NAS and several external USB HDD, but i miss a single backup volume with sufficent space (2TB) .
Any pointer to a full data backup procedure (near 2TB needed) on several devices ?

volpone wrote:
I have an other "small" NAS and several external USB HDD, but i miss a single backup volume with sufficent space (2TB) . Any pointer to a full data backup procedure (near 2TB needed) on several devices ?

Well you could put one of the new 2TB drives in a USB enclosure and backup your data to that. Then do another backup of your most important data to your other NAS and external USB hard drives.

Then do a factory reset and hot-add (add while NAS is on) the 2TB disk you put in a USB enclosure to the NAS.

volpone

Aspirant

Feb 22, 2012

Thank you mdgm for your detailed instructions.

mdgm wrote:
Well you could replace two disks one at a time, hot-remove disk, wait say half a minute then hot-add again...

mdgm wrote:
Well you could replace two disks one at a time, hot-remove disk, wait say half a minute then hot-add again...

I'm not sure to understand the hot-plug / wipe procedure. In my idea (from my 4*1TB X-RAID2 current setup) it was sufficient to add the 2 new 2TB disks and then factory reset to wipe and rebuild completely the array (after a having done a full data backup obviously).Then reinstall add-ons and restore the data backup. Where i am wrong ?

Well you could put one of the new 2TB drives in a USB enclosure and backup your data to that. Then do another backup of your most important data to your other NAS and external USB hard drives.Then do a factory reset and hot-add (add while NAS is on) the 2TB disk you put in a USB enclosure to the NAS.

OK for external backup using one of the new drives, any pointer on an USB external enclosure supporting 3TB drives (i'm not sure if i'm going to buy 2 or 3 TB new disks) ?
Regards
Volpone

mdgm-ntgr

NETGEAR Employee Retired

Feb 22, 2012

volpone wrote:
Thank you mdgm for your detailed instructions.
mdgm wrote:
Well you could replace two disks one at a time, hot-remove disk, wait say half a minute then hot-add again...
I'm not sure to understand the hot-plug / wipe procedure. In my idea (from my 4*1TB X-RAID2 current setup) it was sufficient to add the 2 new 2TB disks and then factory reset to wipe and rebuild completely the array (after a having done a full data backup obviously).Then reinstall add-ons and restore the data backup. Where i am wrong ?

You're right. I was just mentioning the alternative where you don't do a factory reset but get 4k sector partition alignment. Hot in this case means do it while the NAS is running.

volpone wrote:

Well you could put one of the new 2TB drives in a USB enclosure and backup your data to that. Then do another backup of your most important data to your other NAS and external USB hard drives.Then do a factory reset and hot-add (add while NAS is on) the 2TB disk you put in a USB enclosure to the NAS.
OK for external backup using one of the new drives, any pointer on an USB external enclosure supporting 3TB drives (i'm not sure if i'm going to buy 2 or 3 TB new disks) ?

I'm not sure. Maybe someone else has some ideas. You might want to search the forum for suggestions.

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Mixing brand model and size to upgrade storage space?

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