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Forum Discussion
ReadyNAS Pro 6 - Best Expansion Path
My ReadyNAS Pro 6 is currently configured as follows
Bay 1: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 2: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 3: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 4: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 5: 2Tb (1863 allocated)
Bay 6: 2Tb (1863 allocated)
I'm running RAIDiator 4.2.25 with RAID Level X-RAID2, 6 disks (with dual redundancy)
which gives a total usable space of 3683GB
I'm getting increasing errors on Disc 1 and it's likely that it will need to be replaced in the very near future. To take advantage of the situation I would like to install a larger disc and eventually would like to increase the size of all my drives. If I upgrade disc 1 to 2TB it will not give me any extra storage. However if I replace the 2No 1TB discs in the first 2 bays with 2TB discs my storage will increase to 5483GB. However I would like to think long term and as the price difference between the 2TB and 3TB discs is relatively small I'm considering using 3TB discs throughout.
So if I start off by swapping my drives in bays 1 and 2 with 3TB drives what can I expect and is that the best procedure? I will eventually swap all the discs with 3TB discs and if so what is the best procedure to adopt. I've heard of the 8TB and 16TB limits but not exactly sure what they are. Also will I need to do a factory reset at some time and if so should that be with the Pro 6 fully loaded with 3TB discs or can it be done in a peace-meal fashion. I accept that I will need to backup my data or use alternative storage prior to doing a factory reset as it will wipe all my data etc.
Bay 1: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 2: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 3: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 4: 1Tb (931 allocated)
Bay 5: 2Tb (1863 allocated)
Bay 6: 2Tb (1863 allocated)
I'm running RAIDiator 4.2.25 with RAID Level X-RAID2, 6 disks (with dual redundancy)
which gives a total usable space of 3683GB
I'm getting increasing errors on Disc 1 and it's likely that it will need to be replaced in the very near future. To take advantage of the situation I would like to install a larger disc and eventually would like to increase the size of all my drives. If I upgrade disc 1 to 2TB it will not give me any extra storage. However if I replace the 2No 1TB discs in the first 2 bays with 2TB discs my storage will increase to 5483GB. However I would like to think long term and as the price difference between the 2TB and 3TB discs is relatively small I'm considering using 3TB discs throughout.
So if I start off by swapping my drives in bays 1 and 2 with 3TB drives what can I expect and is that the best procedure? I will eventually swap all the discs with 3TB discs and if so what is the best procedure to adopt. I've heard of the 8TB and 16TB limits but not exactly sure what they are. Also will I need to do a factory reset at some time and if so should that be with the Pro 6 fully loaded with 3TB discs or can it be done in a peace-meal fashion. I accept that I will need to backup my data or use alternative storage prior to doing a factory reset as it will wipe all my data etc.
11 Replies
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- Would be best to do a factory default with the new disks in place.
Say your current disks were installed when you last did a factory default you can't expand past 3683 GB + 8TB. You also can't expand past a hard limit of 16TB. - So regardless of the disc sizes I use, I cannot exceed 16TB. In other words I could install 6No 4TB discs which is 24TB but only 16TB would be usable. Does the 16TB include for dual redundancy.
i.e. How much of that 16TB would be usable storage for me? - With 6x4TB using dual-redundancy your volume capacity would be <16TB.
However using single-redundancy you could have a volume larger than 16TB provided you do a factory default with the disks in place. - To clarify: You cannot EXPAND a volume that is less than 16 TiB to a size >16 TiB. However, you can CREATE a volume that is bigger than 16 TiB by doing the factory default with all disks in place.
StephenB wrote: To clarify: You cannot EXPAND a volume that is less than 16 TiB to a size >16 TiB. However, you can CREATE a volume that is bigger than 16 TiB by doing the factory default with all disks in place. mdgm wrote: With 6x4TB using dual-redundancy your volume capacity would be <16TB.
However using single-redundancy you could have a volume larger than 16TB provided you do a factory default with the disks in place.
This is still not clear enough as I with 16.46TB redundant space cant get The volume up via à factory default.
With 4x4 plus 2x3TB drives and single redundancy it stops at 6x3TB minus redundancy. Then
cant do online expand since The volume would become bigger Than 16...
Readynas shit is what it is...- 4x4 plus 2x3TB should give you about 16.4 TiB with single redundancy. Is what what you are seeing?
- No, i get The equivalent of 6x3 13.something? And it fails to add The last 1x4 parts of The 4 4Tb disks
I wish i had The 16,4 and that à reset would get me that,
bought a new Nas just to backup my files (that I was to sell within a week), now the "old" pro 6 stands empty with a half built partition and I'm working on a solution with the dealer who apperently don't like netgear anymore, not a product in stock (Scandinavians biggest electronics store) (komplett)(.se/.no etc)
They took two weeks just to send me a BS note that it's not their concern...making up some standard NAS rules.
Right now net gear and the dealer are low on my list... - Doing a factory default with 4x4TB and 2x3TB disks in place would give you a volume using 6x3TB then it would attempt to expand to use the remaining space on the 4TB disks. However if you hit the 16 TB limit expansion will fail.
You could switch to Flex-RAID and create multiple volumes or try ReadyNAS OS 6 which does not have the 16 TB limit. - How and where is this 16Tb limit explained, its not appearant that this limit is supposed to be there, is it in the manual? (did i get a manual with the nas?)
because it was not on the store page when i bought the unit.. and now its causing me much more hassle than i was prepared to put in a Ready...NAS product.. might aswell have spent the 1k dollars on a homebuilt nas.
fml - I don't think it's in the manual. The manuals have been updated over time and are available at support.netgear.com
It is mentioned in a number of Release Notes.
Some expansion problems can't be foreseen or even if they are there may not be a possible workaround other than a factory reset. The original Pro was released back in 2008, years before the 16TB limit would become a problem.
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