ReadyNAS Pro 4 Harddrive size

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kionbo2 wrote:

Hi I have a ReadyNAS Pro 4 running v6.10.10 of the ReadyNAS software. It's currently got 2Tb drives but I'm running out space. What's the largest size drives people have installed?

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FWIW, OS-6 has no known limit.  I've seen posts here from folks using 18 TB drives in a Pro-6, and there is no reason to think you couldn't use that size in a Pro 4 if you wanted to.

It's best to get NAS-purposed drives (Seagate Ironwolf, WD Red Plus) or Enterprise class drives.  Be careful to avoid drives that use SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording), they don't work well in ReadyNAS systems.  Most desktop drives in the 2-8 TB range are SMR.

You'll need to upgrade two drives to a larger size to increase capacity.  Later on you can upgrade one of the remaining drives to get another boost.  The capacity rule for XRAID is "sum the drives and subtract the largest".  When replacing or upgrading a drive, you either want to match the size of the drive you are replacing, or get one that is at least as large as the biggest drive you already have in the NAS.

I suggest getting 8 TB or perhaps larger.  Two 8 TB Ironwolf drives would cost about $300 total (US) and would double your capacity.  Smaller drives tend to be more expensive per TB of storage gained.  For example

• 2x10TB - cost for Seagate Ironwolf is ~$380 USB, volume increase is 8 TB.  $47.50/TB gained.
• 2x8TB - cost is ~$300 USD, volume increase is 6 TB.  $50/TB gained
• 2x4TB - cost is ~$200 USD, volume increase is 2 TB.  $100/TB gained

These numbers assume that you have 4x2TB installed now. 

FWIW, Netgear recommends having an up to date backup before replacing/upgrading disks.  I agree (and would add that you should always have an up to date backup, as RAID isn't enough to keep data safe).