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Best way to swap drives ReadyNAS nv+ v2
I know that my ReadyNAS nv+ v2 is no longer supported, however I would like to use it as a place to store data that can easily be reproduced. I've had it fitted from day 1 with two 3 TB Western Digit...
- Create a backup of the existing data on one of the Hitachi DK7SAD300 drives (done).
- Remove existing two Western Digital WD30EFRX drives from my ReadyNAS. Install three of the four Hitachi DK7SAD300 drives in my ReadyNAS; perform a factory reset and install using RaidAR version 4.3.8; my plan is to use X-raid2 again, so will end up with a single volume.
- Copy the data back from the backup created under (1).
- Finally, insert the final Hitachi DK7SAD300 drive in the ReadyNAS (destroying the backup on there).
That will work, and one advantage is that you can reinsert the WD drives (NAS powered down) if something goes wrong. (With your procedure I suggest powering down the NAS before replacing all the drives).
Though if the drives are healthy, you could also
- hot insert one of the Hitachi drives to slot 3 and wait for the resync to complete
- hot insert a second Hitachi drive to slot 4 and wait for the resync to complete
At that point you will also that a 9 TB volume. You could then save the remaining Hitachi drives until you have a failure.
If you don't think the WD drives are reliable, then a variation is to
- hot-swap one of the Hitachi drives with one of the WD drives, and wait for resync to complete.
- hot-swap again. Note both WD drives also serve as backups, since RAID-1 mirrors both drives.
- hot insert the third drive into slot 3
- hot insert the fourth drive into slot 4.
Although both WD drives serve as backups, they might not be synced with each other (since something might get written to the NAS during step 1). But you can boot with either disk installed (other slots empty), and still have full access to your data.
I got hold of four 3 TB Hitachi DK7SAD300 drives;
These are old models. I am wondering if you are paying too much attention to the compatibility list? It hasn't been updated in a very long time and is best ignored.
Seagate Ironwolf, WD Red Plus, and Toshiba N300 are all NAS-purposed drives that will work well in your NAS. Pro models (or enterprise-class drives) will also work well. Avoid desktop class, as they are almost all using SMR technology that isn't well suited to RAID.
If you go forward with the Hitachi drives, then make sure to test them in a PC before using them. I suggest a full non-destructive test, followed by a full write test. Hitachi's disk business was acquired by Western Digital in 2012, so you can try WD's KitFox utility in a Windows PC:
And should I use or 4.3.8 of RaidAR software? I also came across 6.5.0.
Either will work with X-RAID. If you were to go with FlexRAID you'd need to use 4.3.8.
Great thanks for the feedback. Good to know that with my approach, I can always fallback to the WD drives if something goes wrong.
The WD drives have always worked flawlessly (and still do today). My aim though here has been to setup the ReadyNAS from scratch, I have had each of the Hitachi drives in a PC to verify them using CrystalDiskInfo. All reported good health, should I still run some tests using the WD Kitfox tooling?
And no, I did not pay attention to the hardware compatibility list. I figured the Hitachi's will work fine in a NAS, as they're old models they must be CMR (SMR had yet to be invented). Not sure though if they were specifically designed for NAS or Desktops, I got them through someone who was selling 8 of them from his previous NAS though. Let me know your thoughts though.
Ultimately, the Hitachi's will either work or not; if they don't I will simply put the WD drives back in the NAS.
should I still run some tests using the WD Kitfox tooling?
Up to you, but I always run both a full non-destructive read test and a full write-zeros test before I put a disk in the NAS.
My aim though here has been to setup the ReadyNAS from scratch
Is there a reason you need to do that? Full OS partition, or something similar?
If not, I'd just expand by adding two of the Hitachi disks.
If you do start over, you will need to use a browser that still supports TLS 1.0. For instance, FireFox with the security.tls.version.min set to 1 (browse to about:config and search for the setting).
After it is set up again, you'd want to install the add-on that adds TLS 1.2 support. The add-on link is:
- https://github.com/rdynsxtrs/r5bin/blob/master/apache2/Apache2_2.2.34-arm-0.0.1.bin
Let me try WD Kitfox on one of the Hitachi drives.
I've seen performance degrade over the years somehow. So I prefer to start from scratch. Having said that, while creating my backup over 1 Gbps ethernet and SMBv1 I was able to reach 550 Mbps using robocopy for large files.
Good points about TLS support, can definitely handle that. Will look into adding TLS 1.2 support once setup, I doubt there's any tricks to add SMBv2/v3 support?
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