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Increasing Capacity of RN314
I am about to upgrade my RN314. It came with 4 3TB drives and is getting full. I have searched around on the Netgear support and this community and did not see any clear instructions so I wanted to ...
Note that the WDC Red WD60EFRX does have side mounting holes, so it is compatible with your current tray. Specs are similar to the 6 TB Ironwolf. So part of the story here is your desire to use the Ironwolf.
JustKJ wrote:
Is this all correct?
Will it increase my capacity if I do it one drive at a time?
Have I missed anyting?
The process will work, though it will need to do a full resync after each drive insertion. The resync time will grow as the volume increases.
Capacity will begin to increase when you upgrade the second drive (growing 3 TB per disk at that point). You likely will need to reboot after the second resync completes in order to trigger the vertical expansion. After that, you shouldn't need to reboot.
If you can back up the NAS, you might instead do a factory reset with the new drives in place, reconfigure it, and then restore the data from backup. The data will of course be temporarily unavailable, but the overall process will be quicker (avoiding the repeated resyncs).
JustKJ wrote:
The desk, looking at my tray picture, said there are no newer trays, that the tray I have is current.
There are new trays, and they are shipping with the new NAS (RN400, RN52x, RN62x). The new ones fit your RN314, and they probably didn't switch over on the RN300 since they stopped manufacturing it when they launched the RN400 series.
I'm sure many users will want trays that accomodate the alternative mounting points - not great that Netgear refuses to sell replacement trays for their ReadyNAS.
Stephen, you rock. Thank you for taking the time to help us less knowledgeable users.
Note that the WDC Red WD60EFRX does have side mounting holes, so it is compatible with your current tray. Specs are similar to the 6 TB Ironwolf. So part of the story here is your desire to use the Ironwolf.
I was not tied to it, but researching price and compatibility lead me to it. Had I known to look for physical compatibility I would have. I have opened the drive, so I will have to see if Amazon will take it back at no cost. If they won't then I will proceed with what I have.
Capacity will begin to increase when you upgrade the second drive (growing 3 TB per disk at that point). You likely will need to reboot after the second resync completes in order to trigger the vertical expansion. After that, you shouldn't need to reboot.
Wow, I was hoping to wait a few months before buying my second drive. I thought from what I read, that there would be increase. But if I must replace a minimum of two, then I'll have to bite the bullet.
If you can back up the NAS, you might instead do a factory reset with the new drives in place, reconfigure it, and then restore the data from backup. The data will of course be temporarily unavailable, but the overall process will be quicker (avoiding the repeated resyncs).
I have a USB external hard drive that is 4TB, but the NAS only recognizes 3TB of it. So while I can safeguard most of my data, its the TimeMachine backups and another share that contains VM backups would necessitate me buying 2 more of those, and that gets too expensive. So as my time is free to me, the resync, while it could take a day or longer, is my best option and the data and drives are still accessable. What I risk is a drive failure during the resync, and that would be a rare occurance.
Also, I can only afford to upgrade 1 drive at time, so do replacing two (on at a time) to get the capacity add is my only real option as I cant do all 4 at once.
The only thing I can add is that if you do go with the Ironwolf and two screws, I would recommend not transporting the unit with the drives installed. That is the one time that the lack of additional lateral support could be an issue and result in damaging the SATA backplane.
Sandshark wrote:The only thing I can add is that if you do go with the Ironwolf and two screws, I would recommend not transporting the unit with the drives installed. That is the one time that the lack of additional lateral support could be an issue and result in damaging the SATA backplane.
Thank you, That is a good warning. I have not plans to move it. I also responded one last time to my help desk ticket to with the proof of the new drive trays. Hoping they will send/sell me some and I can then replace the tray(s) after the installation.
The data sheet for the new NASes lists the exact same part number for the drive trays as the old ones. That could certainly be why the tech didn't realize they are different. I have seen the trays for sale for around $50 each, but there is no way to tell if they are the newer version since the part number is the same. That's certainly a lot more than I'd want to spend for new trays, especially since the old ones can be made to work.
A couple dabs of silicone glue near the front in where the inserts normally go might help. It holds well but can be pretty easily removed if needed (and there's not too much). If you use the kind that's not for electronics, just make sure it fully cures and no longer smells of acetic acid before you install the drives. Just filling the gap a bit could help.
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