Move from 6x2TB to 6x3TB

If you are running RAIDiator 4.2.16 or later you can upgrade to 3TB drives. Best to be running the latest firmware though.

What disks were installed when you last did a factory default (e.g. 6x2TB)?

Are you using X-RAID2 single-redundancy or dual-redundancy?

Oh okay, so since I'm on 4.2.19 I should be fine?

Well, the disks I started off with in this Pro Pioneer was 3x2TB WD2002FYPS-01U1B0. I later bought a 4th one (01U1B1) and finally the two last ones (02W3B0). I don't remember what firmware I was running at the beginning or when expanding though.

I have X-RAID2 single redundancy.

I found this in the volume.log:
/dev/md0 ext3
and
/dev/c/c ext4

Am I guessing right that the system in the NAS is still running on ext3, but the volume with all my files has been converted to ext4 and there's no (practical) limit to the size of the volume anymore there?

InterClaw wrote:
Oh okay, so since I'm on 4.2.19 I should be fine?

Yes, but I'd still update to the latest firmware (currently 4.2.21) before adding 3TB disks.

InterClaw wrote:
Well, the disks I started off with in this Pro Pioneer was 3x2TB WD2002FYPS-01U1B0. I later bought a 4th one (01U1B1) and finally the two last ones (02W3B0). I don't remember what firmware I was running at the beginning or when expanding though.

O.K. So let's say your volume was originally 3.6TB. There is an 8TB online expansion limit so you could expand to 11.6TB. You could add some 3TB disks but you're going to hit this limit before you replace all the disks with 3TB disks. Another limit is that you can't expand past 16TB. If you wanted a volume larger than 16TB (e.g. using currently unsupported 4TB disks using X-RAID2 single-redundancy) you'd need to do a factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything) with those disks in place.

If you download your logs (Status > Logs > Download all logs) and look at initrd.log it'll let you know what firmware you were on when you last did a factory default and the firmware updates you've done since.

InterClaw wrote:
I have X-RAID2 single redundancy. I found this in the volume.log: /dev/md0 ext3 and /dev/c/c ext4 Am I guessing right that the system in the NAS is still running on ext3, but the volume with all my files has been converted to ext4 and there's no (practical) limit to the size of the volume anymore there?

The volume is mounted as EXT4. Depending on what firmware was on your system when you last did a factory default it may/may not be native EXT4.

Okay, let's see...

[2009/11/26 20:20:35] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.7 to 4.2.8.
[2010/02/21 17:04:46] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.8 to 4.2.9.
[2010/07/05 23:32:16] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.9 to 4.2.11.
[2010/10/11 11:09:41] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.11 to 4.2.13.
[2010/10/21 07:34:09] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.13 to 4.2.15.
[2011/04/22 15:04:52] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.15 to 4.2.16.
[2011/06/13 20:43:49] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.16 to 4.2.17.
[2011/09/19 22:10:16] Updated from RAIDiator 4.2.17 to 4.2.19.

So since I started with 3x2TB in XRAID-2 when I got this unit that means I must have gotten it as 4.2.7 and I've never done a factory default reset during the time I've had it. Does that mean I'm toast or can I expand to 3TB drives as it sits now?

Best option would be to backup your data and do a factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything) with the new drives in place and restore from backup. A factory default would give you a clean setup on the firmware you're running. It would also give you the opportunity to move to X-RAID2 dual-redundancy (you can select this option via RAIDar when doing a factory default) which I'd really recommend.

Your current volume would be EXT3 mounted as EXT4.

mdgm wrote:
Your current volume would be EXT3 mounted as EXT4.

So this means it can't be expanded past 16TB I guess?

Looks like it's time to get the Pro 6 RNDP6000-200, get some disks, and just migrate over and sell off the old one. :) Unless there are plans for any future "more than 6 disks" units?

InterClaw wrote:
So this means it can't be expanded past 16TB I guess?

Whether it's EXT3 or EXT4 is irrelevant to that limitation. While EXT4 supports volumes greater than 16TB, the expansion utilities used with EXT4 do not.

InterClaw wrote:
Looks like it's time to get the Pro 6 RNDP6000-200, get some disks, and just migrate over and sell off the old one. :)

That would be a good option.

InterClaw wrote:
Unless there are plans for any future "more than 6 disks" units?

Clouded the future is. The Pro 6 is a great NAS. As for what NetGear releases in the future we'll have to wait and see.

InterClaw wrote:
Unless there are plans for any future "more than 6 disks" units?

Personally I'd rather have fewer high capacity disks. The more disks you have installed, the higher your downstream disk replacement costs. Vibration also becomes an issue.

Though one approach would be to sell an expansion bay module. That would give folks more options when they run out of slots.

mdgm wrote:
Clouded the future is.

Predict the future no one can. Sounding like Yoh-dah you are. :D

Grateful for help I am.

InterClaw - about two weeks ago while responding to a members post, I looked at a Pro 6 listing and they had a super deal. I have basically set it up with a spare 1TB drive and discovered it was running 4.2.15 so I updated and it is a sweet machine. (I think they were rotating their stock).

It sounds as if you already have the drives (WD30EFRX drives are hard to get right now) so if you have the resources to purchase the Pro 6 I would do so, and use your Pro as a backup unit. Normal backups with a very large array (your current array is 10TB gross) and with 3TB drives and single redundancy it would be 15TB gross. It will take a lot of external drives and a days to back up that size volume. Instead, you can set up a backup job using NFS to copy all the data over to the Pro 6 (after a factory default with all drives present) and then convert to rsync to verify the backup. You can then update the Pro, perform a factory default and then set up the backup jobs on the Pro 6 to copy the files back for backup purposes.

I currently have in operation two NVX units (two years old) and every night my primary automatically rsyncs all the files to the backup unit. Now that I have the Pro 6, I will have to use the two NVX units as backups, each backing up part of the Pro 6. It is a great comfort, knowing that if something goes wrong on my primary, my data is still secure. (My critical financial and important files such as photos and videos that are not replicated elsewhere is copied periodically to an external drive and stored offsite (in case a disaster takes the house).