How to expand ReadyNAS 628x capacity?

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sooje wrote:

Currently using X-raid configuration with 3 disks installed. I want to add 5 additional disks as capacity expansion is needed. Is there any problem with Raid if 5 disks are installed at once in a running NAS device?

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One aspect is that XRAID will automatically switch to RAID-6/dual redundancy if you fill all the slots - that will give you more protection but less volume capacity.  If that isn't desired you'd need to switch to FlexRAID.

Another aspect is the amount of time the process will take.  It will be faster to back up the data, and create a new volume with all disks installed.  Then recreate the shares, and restore from backup.  Note Netgear recommends making a backup before expanding anyway - the process does stress the disks already in the array, and if they fail you will lose your data.

If you want to preserve the existing volume, then you can put in multiple disks at the same time, but I don't recommend it.  The NAS will only add them one at a time anyway, and I think it is easier to diagnose any issues if you hot-insert one at a time (waiting for the resync to complete, and then add the next).

Not sure what size disks you are considering.  XRAID can handle unequal size disks, so you could price out adding fewer larger ones, and see if how the price compares.  You will need at least two disks of the larger size for RAID 5 (four with RAID-6/dual redundancy).

FWIW, I always recommend using NAS-purposed or enterprise-class disks.  Many desktop drives are now SMR, and they can cause issues in ReadyNAS.  Also, avoid the current WD Red disks, as they are all SMR.  The WD Red Plus and Red Pro disks are fine (as are Seagate Ironwolf and Ironwolf Pro).