Does the RN214 come with trays to support mounting large drives?

---

BJB wrote:
Thanks for the pix. 

---

I posted a side-by-side of the old/new trays about a year ago - you can see it here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-for-ReadyNAS/Update-Disk-Trays-to-handle-newer-disks/idc-p/1168642/highlight/true#M697

The photos above suggest the new RN214s are in fact shipping with the new trays.  Though you might still get the old trays, depending on the age of the inventory.

---

BJB wrote:
I read that some of the newer drives mount from the bottom or something.

---

"or something"....  Overall, the issue is that the center mounts on the drives (both side and bottom) limit the interior space for the disk platters.  So manufacturers specified "alternative mounting" some years ago, so to eliminate this constraint.

If your drives have the center side hole, then you can use the normal tool-less mounting.  My 6 TB and 8 TB WDC Red drives do have the center side hole.  So do Streak2's Toshiba disks.  But the larger Ironwolf do not (and I suspect some WDC drives also will not).

If the disk doesn't have the center side holes, you remove the plastic inserts in the tray, and use the screws that are shipped with the units to mount the drives to the bottom of the tray.  There are instructions in the hardware manuals on how to do this (the inserts also need to be removed if you are using 2.5" SSDs).

If you look at the side-by-side photos I posted, you'll see that Netgear added a couple more mounting holes in the bottom of the new trays.  That's because many drives have also dropped the center mounting holes on the bottom of the disk also.  You can still attach these disks to the old trays, but only with two screws.  The newer trays should let you mount any drive with 4 screws.