ReadyNAS 51600 Vertical Expansion Question

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TomBlack wrote:

Firmware is 6.8.0

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That's currently the latest

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TomBlack wrote:

 

Currently running 6 x 4Tb on default X-Raid.  Looking to vertically expand the NAS with 6 x 10Tb drives.  According to the v6.5 OM, I need to replace 1 drive at a time until resyched x 2.  Plan to replace all drives this way.

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Yes. Using the default X-RAID you'd need to replace two disks (one at a time before moving onto replacing the next disk) before vertical expansion can take place. Expansion can only take place when redundant space can be added.

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TomBlack wrote:

 

Are there any issues I need to consider before doing this expansion?

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It's recommended to update your regular backup first. If any disks are failing (you can check SMART+ stats, smart_history.log) then you should start by replacing those disks first.

TomBlack wrote:

How stable is vertical expansion??

Very stable. md raid is mature. The greatest risk is that if a disk that you're not replacing fails during the resync.

TomBlack wrote:

Does one really need to do an external backup??

Well that's up to you. If your data is important you should run backups regularly anyway rather than storing your data on just the one device.

RAID is great, but there are a whole range of problems it cannot protect you against e.g. accidental file deletion, fire, flood, theft to name a few of these. Snapshots can provide some protection against accidental file deletion, but you shouldn't solely rely on that. Furthermore whilst RAID may provide protection against one/more disk failures, this protection is lost/reduced when you're replacing disks to expand an array. During the rebuild you're vulnerable to additional disk failures.