Maximum disk size for ReadyNAS NV+ V2

You should make sure you have an up-to-date backup, as your volume is degraded.

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alimbada wrote:

 but the maximum volume capacity is 12TB,

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No, it's not.  Generally Netgear's datasheets use the largest size compatible disks when computing the capacity, and they don't revise the datasheets as larger disks become available.  Back in 2011 when the NV+ v2 was launched, the largest disks available were 3 TB (giving you the 12 TB volume size).

There are two limitations on volume size in your NAS.

• the maximum volume size is 16 TiB
• a volume cannot grow more than 8 TiB from it's initial size.

Assuming you started with 3x2TB.... Your volume is 4 TB (3.63 TiB), so you can expand it to 12 TB.  The actual ceiling is 11.63 TiB (12.7 TB), but of course disks come in TB increments now. 

So in your case, you can expand to 12 TB. But you can go larger if you do a factory reset with the bigger disks in place, and then restore the data from a backup.  For instance, 3x8TB.

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alimbada wrote:

 

Also I'd appreciate any tips on the best way to go about upgrading. I plan to replace the failed drive with a 4TB drive and also fill the empty slot with another 4TB drive. Slots 1 and 2 will retain their current 2TB drives.

 

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That will increase your volume size to 8 TB, and cost you about $220 USD.  

Many desktop drives (and unfortunately some NAS-purposed models) have shifted to SMR technology - which isn't a great choice for RAID.   I recommend either Seagate Ironwolf modes or WD EFRX models in the 2-6 TB size range.  Avoid the newer WD EFAX drives in this size range - they are all SMR.

Another option is to fully expand your NAS volume now by going with two 8 TB drives.  That would cost about $400 USD.  If you want to go with the full 16 TB later, you'd then just need to get one more 8 TB (and do a factory reset with just those three drives in place).  WD EFAX and Seagate Ironwolf are both good choices in this size range.  

To expand, you hot-insert the first drive in slot three, and wait fo the volume to complete resyncing.  Then hot-insert the second drive.

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alimbada wrote:

Also I'd appreciate any tips on the best way to go about upgrading.

 

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One other aspect to consider is the age of your NAS.  Netgear stopped manufacturing them in 2013, and no longer provide firmware updates.  It doesn't support SMB 3, and the version of TLS used to reach the web dashboard is also in the process of being deprecated by the browser community.  So you should be thinking about when to replace it.  A current ReadyNAS wouldn't have these limitations (and also has no known limits to volume size).  It also has higher performance and some additional features.

What I've done myself is repurposed my legacy ReadyNAS as backups.