ReadyNAS Ultra 6 space upgrade

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jtrosky wrote:

My apologies - I am already running 6.10.4 Hotfix 1 on my Ultra 6.  So I don't have to worry about any expanion "limits" since I'm on 6.10.4.1?  

 

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Correct.  Those limits only apply to 4.2.x firmware.

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jtrosky wrote:

 

I didn't realize that anything over 4TB disks were supported with this old unit.  Compatibility charts only show up to 4TB disks.  So 8TB disks should work?

 

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The HCL for legacy NAS hasn't been updated in years (back when 4 TB was the largest disk size on the market).  There is no known ceiling for the disk size in systems running OS 6 - including legacy NAS.  So 16 TB should also work.  Though sync times will obviously get longer, and you will eventually run out of memory.  If you are still running the stock 1 GB of RAM you should consider upgrading.  2x2GB is reasonably available and affordable.  2x4GB is possible - but compatible 4 GB modules are hard to find and expensive. 2x2GB will match the RAM in the RN526, so it is certainly enough.

My own Pro-6 running OS-6 is currently has 2x8TB+4x3TB (20 TB volume)

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jtrosky wrote:

While it would be nice to replace the disks with (3) 8TB disks, that would require a factory reset and I don't have another copy of the data anywehre - nor do I have anywhere to copy it to.  :-)  It's mainly movies and TV shows - nothing critical, but a large collection.  

 

So I would be able to replace the (6) 2TB disks with (6) 4TB disks, one at a time until each finishes the rebuild, in order to double my capacity?  I realize that it's a long process, but no data loss that way. 

 

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Large USB drives for backup are actually pretty affordable.  You might want to look into that - even though your media isn't critical, it still would take time and effort to replace it.  Even if you avoid the factory reset, there is some risk when replacing disks or expanding the array.  There is no RAID redundancy during the process, so if an existing disk fails you will lose the volume.

You can certainly upgrade one disk at a time, but there is no need to upgrade all six. XRAID will handle unequal size disks - the capacity rule is "sum the disks and subtract the smallest". 

3x8TB + 3x2TB would give you 22 TB for about the same money as 6x4TB (current US amazon pricing is about $600 for three 8 TB Seagate Ironwolf or WD Red Plus drives).  Plus expansion is much faster, since there are only three resyncs needed.  Also, you can further increase storage later by just upgrading one other 2 TB drive to 8 TB.

Similarly, 2x10TB + 4x2TB would give you 18 TB for about $520, and you could increase storage by upgrading one more 2 TB drive to 10 TB later on.

One limitation of XRAID - when upgrading storage, the replacement drive generally needs to be at least as large as the biggest drive in the array.  Though if a 2 TB drive fails, you can replace it with another 2 TB drive.