RN312 - Upgrading disk size

I do not know where you read about any drive incompatibilities.  Your NAS can handle at least 12TB drives with no issue.  Specs you see are based on the largest drive available at the time of release.  There may be a realistic point at which your NAS processor is too slow to handle bigger drives without a serious performance issue, but we aren't there yet and the actual OS limit is apparently well beyond what spinning hard drives are likely to ever achieve.  Many of the newer, larger drives have an alternate mounting hole pattern that will not match the tooless inserts of your NAS and only match two of the four screw holes, but two is really enough so long as you don't ship it with the drives installed or do something else that really shakes it.

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pjhunter wrote:

 

1. Does the 312 support NAS-ready 8TB drives (eg.WD Red).  I know it will support 6TB, but if I'm upgrading the marginal cost of 8 would seem a good option.

 

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It supports 8 (and larger) as Sandshark says.  I'd go with at least 8 TB.  When upgrading, I generally compute the cost per TB gained.  At current Amazon pricing (assuming WD Reds):

• 2x6TB gains 2 TB - about $155/TB gained
• 2x8TB gains 4 TB - about $112/TB gained
• 2x10TB gains 6 TB - about $95/TB gained
• 2x12TB gains 8 TB - about $86/TB gained
• 2x14TB gains 10 TB - about $92/TB gained

Of course the total cost (and budget) matter too.  But 2x8TB is definitely is more cost-effective.

Another factor is that the WD60EFAX uses SMR technology.  How well that works depends on the NAS workload.  WD Reds of 8 TB and larger use CMR.

BTW, if you do go with the WD 10TB Reds, the WD100EFAX uses less power than the newer WD101EFAX and has the same performance.  Therefore the older model will run cooler.  There are still some of the older models out there.

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pjhunter wrote:

1. Assuming I simply purchase new drives (6TB or 8TB) is there some documentation about how to upgrade the storage w/out dataloss?

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1. Back up the NAS.
2. Hot-swap the first drive, and wait for the resync to complete.  No expansion will occur.
3. Hot-swap the second drive.  It will resync the first 4TB, and then resync/expand to the fill the rest of the space.

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pjhunter wrote:

1. Given the age of the 312 (5 years, constant usage), would it be prudent to purchase a new unit?  I think the MTBF for the 312 is something like 53000hr, or close to 6 years.

 

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Where did you get that MBTF?  Not something I've seen before. Generally speaking, the power supply is the first thing to fail in most ReadyNAS.  In your case, it uses an external power brick that is easily replaced.  FWIW, I do recommend protecting the NAS with a UPS - that improves data safety, and will protect the NAS from power surges.

If your NAS were to fail, you can migrate your disks directly to a newer X86 OS-6 ReadyNAS (RN400 or better).  One caveat is that this assumes that the data volume wasn't damaged when the RN312 failed.  If you want to migrate (or upgrade), I'd suggest looking at NAS with more bays - leaving some empty initially.  Adding disks is a more cost-effective way to expand the array than replacing them.

If you have no backup plan in place, then one option would be to purchase a newer NAS, and re-purpose the RN312 as a backup.  But if you are doing backups, perhaps just let it ride for now.