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rn214 increase RAID 5 capacity by installing larger disks.
I have a RN214 that I got years ago, and I love it. It is loaded with 4, 8TB disks in a RAID 5 configuration which gives me 21.8 TB usable space. Unfortunately it is filling up.
I know that if I use differently sized disks, the RAID will be based on the smallest of them. But if I replace the 8TB disks with 14TB disks one at a time, allowing the unit to format the new disk and update the RAID, once I have replaced the 4th one, can I increase the RAID size without doing a backup, format, and reload?
OS version 6.10.1
Thanks!
Once again, I appreciate the insight. I'm afraid I always get Raid 0 and 1 confused. I always think Raid 1 is JBOD, just a bunch of disks concatenated together into a single virtual disk.
If I had the ability to back up 19 TBs I would. I'm just going to have to save the most important stuff and hope for the best.
As to why trust RAID 5, well, that's the point isn't it? I may well be able to afford $1800, but my money is still limited. RAID 5 or RAID 1, either can support a single disk failure. There's double the number of opportunities with RAID 5, but there's also 3/4th of the raw storage of the disks instead of 1/2. IronWolf drives have an MTBF of 1 million hours (114 years) so I don't think it's too much of a risk.
Anyway, I also have a RN104, which is currently stocked with four 4TB drives, or 10.6 TB space which is about 90% full. Because of what you told me, I think I'll copy as much of it as I can to the RN214, back up as much as I can of the rest, and then stick the new disks in it. Same space increase, less risk.
I will take it slow, put one disk in, run the re-sync, and let it stabilize for a week before putting in the next one. At least I can eliminate the intermediate RAID 1 step you mentioned, saving that until I am ready to make the new space into a RAID 5.
Thanks again for your help.
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ReadyNAS XRAID on OS6 units is even more versatile than that. If you replace just two 8TB's with 14TB's (one at a time), your volume will grow by 6TB. The additional 6TB of each of the two 14TB will be in RAID1 and concatenated with the existing volume. If you replace another with a 14TB, which could be months from now, it will convert the three extra 6TB partitions to RAID5 and it'll grow another 6TB. And a fourth will grow it yet another 6TB.
Each added drive needs to re-sync, so you have to wait before adding the next one. And from drive 2 on, it'll require two syncs -- one for the layer made of 8TB partitions and one for the additional 6TB.
I recommend you only grow the volume as you need to. That spreads the drive acquisitions over a period of time, making concurrent failure (including infant mortality) less likely. The price of 14TB drives will likely fall, too.
I really appreciate the thoughtful and informative reply.
But I don't want to depend on RAID 1. The reason I got the NAS was to have RAID 5 redundancy, to make sure I don't lose files.
I was prepared to buy a whole new RN424 and populate it with 12TB IronWolf drives, for about $1800, when I thought about upgrading my current unit instead of adding a new one.
if I follow you advice, adding one drive at a time and re-sync after each, will there be a way after I add the 4th drive to just increase the RAID 5 size?
Thanks again!P.S. I'd accept adding them as RAID 0, if it doesn't disturb my current RAID 5 set up.
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