ReadyNAS NV+ v1 and 2TB Drives - Help Please

eggman wrote:
1. How important is it to use the 4k block size?

You need the 16k block size

eggman wrote:
2. Do I need 4k sector alignment?

Yes. Your new disks are 4k sector disks. Don't confuse 4k sector partition alignment with the block size of the volume.

eggman wrote:
3. How can I tell if I have 4k sector alignment?

The article I linked to explains how. However considering the block size of your volume is 4096 that means you last did a factory default on RAIDiator 3.x so your partitions would not currently be 4k sector partition aligned. You will need to backup your data and do a factory default.

eggman wrote:
4. Any recommendations on the best way to perform a backup process for this? I don't have an unlimited supply of data storage :)

Backup to another NAS, USB disks, drives connected to your PC or some place else. It depends what suits you which method you would use.

eggman wrote:
I have a drive connected to the USB interface and back up critical data regularly, but I don't want to go through a full 2.7TB backup -> factory reset -> data restore process unnecessarily, or more than once.

Only need to do the backup and factory reset once.