Max disk size for NVX

There is only one hardware version of the NVX.

What version of RAIDiator are you running?

You need to be running 4.2.16 or later before you can install disks with greater capacity than 2TB.

Use disks from the Compatibility List

What model and capacity disks and how many were in your NAS when you last did a factory default?

I thought there was another version....Pioneer I think it was.

Anyway, using 4.2.23 but will update to 24 when I rectify the problem at hand. What is the max capacity after .16?

All disks are Seagate and from the compatibility list. Two disks are 500GB and two are 1TB (with one of them dead).

I've always had all four bays populated when I first purchased it. I can't for the life of me remember when I last did a factory reset.

The growth limit for 4.2.x systems is 8 TiB more than the last factory reset or a total size 16 TiB, whichever is smaller. Factory reset with all drives in place is Netgear's recommended way to overcome these limits.

Ok, great.

What is the recommended procedure/steps I should follow in order to upgrade/expand my system using 2-3TB drives? I'm going to purchase them today.

Your array is currently not redundant, correct?

So step 1 would be to replace the dead drive. Hot swap (or insertion) is the recommended way. After resync you would have redundancy, but no more space.

After resync, I'd hot-swap the other 1 TB drive. That should resync and expand, giving you about 4 TB of total space. You could try hot-swapping one of the 500GB drives, though it isn't completely clear to me how well xraid-2 handles 3 different sizes. So personally I'd avoid that, and not worry about the extra 500 gb.

Currently yes I am running a redundant array (x-raid2). So although one disk is dead (#3) my data is still intact. Unless you are referring to the current status which is yes it is not redundant (says on the LCD screen volume C is not protected). Hopefully I'm making sense (it's Friday :P)

Right now, from memory, #1 & 2 slots have 500GB and 3 & 4 have 1TB. I plan on buying 2 x 2TB drives (WD Red series). So replace #3 & 4 with the 2TB drives? Maybe I'll grab another 1TB so I can keep the current good 1TB, swap out a 500GB and the dead 1TB with the two 2TB and the other 500GB with the new 1TB. Therefore it'd be 1=1TB, 2=2TB, 3=2TB, 4=1TB (current good one). Can the NVX handle that organization or should the same capacity drives be next to each other? If they need to be would it be a problem swapping the drives around after they have successfully resynced?

Also I don't need to do a factory reset?

-not redundant means that if a disk fails you will lose your data. So your current array is not redundant. (It was initially, but you lost it when the 1 TB drive failed).

-you need to begin by inserting replacing the bad drive (perhaps already removed). Removing any other drive will result in all your data being deleted.
Also, once you install a 2 TB drive you will not be able to upgrade 500GB to 1 TB. So you will need to install the 1 TB drives first, then the 2TB ones. That is, (1) replace the bad 1 TB drive with another 1 TB drive, (2) replace a 500 GB drive with a 2 TB drive, (3) replace the second 500 GB drive with a 2 TB drive.

-Every drive you replace will require completely rebuilding the array. That will stress the drives, and a failure of one of the old drives during that time will result in all your data being lost. So you should have a backup before you begin.

If your 500GB drives have reallocated sectors or are suspect, then do the reset. Otherwise, its a judgement call. Doing a reset followed by a data restore could be slightly quicker, though your data wouldn't be available for a bit.

That's what I thought hence the rambling :D

I do have a backup of the important files of the system via a NV+ so that should be ok.

I don't know what I was thinking earlier but my plan is to replace the failed 1TB drive with another one, let the system rebuild itself and then replace the other two 500GB drives with 2TB drives one at a time. Hopefully everything will turn out ok.

Should I do a reboot of the system after all the new drives have been installed and rebuilt?

tcc wrote:
Should I do a reboot of the system after all the new drives have been installed and rebuilt?

It would do no harm, and it is nice to confirm that it does start up normally.

You'll likely need to reboot at least once, and maybe twice during the expansion process. Your approach will expand twice, once after each 500 GB replacement.

Great, thanks.

Appreciate all the advice/help :thumbsup: