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Forum Discussion
ReadyNAS ULTRA 6+ disk upgrade
I currently have 2 x 3TB disks in my Ultra 6. I looked at the drive compatibility list looking for a compatible 4TB drive. None of the ones listed are still available. About the closest “equivalent” I could find is the Seagate Iron Wolf series, specifically ST4000VNA08.
I removed one of the drives & installed the Iron Wolf. RAIDiator acknowledged the disk removal, but not the insertion of the new disk. The Drive number indicator on the front panel stayed on solid. RAIDiator status page still shows the old disk information & labels the disk DEAD with a flashing yellow dot.
So in the meantime I replaced the old drive & the volume is currently resyncing. Is the Iron Wolf not compatible with the Ultra 6? What are my options?
I removed one of the drives & installed the Iron Wolf. RAIDiator acknowledged the disk removal, but not the insertion of the new disk. The Drive number indicator on the front panel stayed on solid. RAIDiator status page still shows the old disk information & labels the disk DEAD with a flashing yellow dot.
So in the meantime I replaced the old drive & the volume is currently resyncing. Is the Iron Wolf not compatible with the Ultra 6? What are my options?
3 Replies
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atebit wrote:
I currently have 2 x 3TB disks in my Ultra 6. I looked at the drive compatibility list looking for a compatible 4TB drive. None of the ones listed are still available. About the closest “equivalent” I could find is the Seagate Iron Wolf series, specifically ST4000VNA08.They haven't updated the HCL for years (they stopped selling the Ultra-6 back in 2013). Any NAS-purposed (Ironwolf, WDC Red) or enterprise class drive will work.
atebit wrote:
What are my options?One option is to simply assume the disk was DOA, and exchange it with the seller.
Another is to connect it to a Windows PC (either with a USB adapter/dock or with SATA), and test it with Seatools. If it fails, then exchange it - if you do an RMA with Seagate you'll get a recertified replacement and lose most of the warranty.
atebit wrote:
I currently have 2 x 3TB disks in my Ultra 6. I looked at the drive compatibility list looking for a compatible 4TB drive. ... I removed one of the drives & installed the Iron WolfI am wondering why 4TB, and why replace the existing drive?
If you are concerned about disk health, then replacement does make sense, but it would be more cost-effective to use a larger drive if you want to expand your capacity. If the existing disks are healthy, then the most cost effective way to expand your storage is to add a disk, not replace one.
Your NAS can handle larger drives than 4 TB, as long as you keep the total volume size below 12 TB. The specs on capacity reflect the largest drives available when the datasheet was published - not the actual limitations of the NAS. There are two expansion limits with 4.2.x firmware:
- The volume can't expand over 16 TiB
- The volume can't expand more than 8 TiB from it's starting point (3 TB in this case).
Note the Ultra can be converted to run OS-6, which doesn't have these expansion limits. You'd lose Netgear support (likely not a major concern, since the NAS is long out of warranty), and you would need to backup your data before the conversion and restore it afterwards. One additional benefit of converting is that you'd get SMB 3 support.
- Thanks for the reply. The resync finished last night so I can try again today after make sure the disk is operational. It’s a brand new drive from Micro Center so if it is DOA getting a new one shouldn’t be an issue. Glad to hear that it oughta work.
To answer your other questions, yes I want to increase storage a bit. 3 TB has served us well for over 5 years; we’re running out now but the aggregate of adding another TB plus some reorganizing/housecleaning (probably on the order of freeing up another TB) should give us plenty of headroom for now.
I wasn’t aware of the ability to upgrade this platform to OS 6, will search for that and then plan on doing it.But do keep in mind that you'd have to replace both 3TB with a 4TB to just get an increate in 1TB storage space, while just adding one more 3TB will increase it by 3TB. Unlike some, you didn't buy a chassis with just enough space for your needs at the time, so take advantage of that excellent decision and add rather than replace.
Of course, if you are just worried about the age of the drives and potential failure, bumping available space just a tad while so doing does make sense.
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