NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
RNDU6000 Disk Upgrade
I have a ReadyNAS RND6000 using RaidAir 4.2.13 which up until recently comprised of 6 x 2 TB HDD. It is configured using X-RAID2 with a single volume. All has been working fine, however I recently replaced one of the HDD with a Western Digital WD40EFRX 4 TB which is approved on the HDD compatibility list. The hotswap disk exchange worked exactly how one expected and there were no errors shown in the log files, however, whilst the disk displays correctly in the RAID Disk list under ‘RAID Configuration’ it only shows 1858 GB as being allocated which is the same as the other 5 x 2 GB HDD. (ie per below)
Ch 5 : WDC WD40EFRX-68N32N0 [3726 GB]
1858 GB allocated
This is contrary to the NetGear documentation and support articles online as shown below:
_________________________________________________________________________
How do I expand an existing X-RAID volume with larger disks
Replace one disk at a time with a larger disk, letting it finish initializing and syncing after each replacement (this process can take several hours depending on disk capacity, but you can continue access to the ReadyNAS), and after the last disk has been replaced, reboot the ReadyNAS. The expansion will occur at boot time. The expansion time will depend on your existing volume size, the ending volume size, and the number of files in your volume. Typically, it'll take anywhere from an hour to several hours. You will be notified by email at each step of the process.
Keep in mind that when your replace your disks, with ReadyNAS that supports drive hot-swapping, you do not need to shutdown the box before replacing the disks. Simply pull out the disk, wait at least 10 secs, and then add the replacement disk.
Last Updated:11/28/2016 | Article ID: 21415
___________________________________________________________________________
Can anybody provide some guidance on resolving this issue.
geodav1952 wrote:
I have a ReadyNAS RND6000 using RaidAir 4.2.13 which up until recently comprised of 6 x 2 TB HDD. It is configured using X-RAID2 with a single volume. All has been working fine, however I recently replaced one of the HDD with a Western Digital WD40EFRX 4 TB ... it only shows 1858 GB as being allocated which is the same as the other 5 x 2 GB HDD. (ie per below)
Do you mean Raidiator 4.2.31? If you are still running 4.2.13, then you should update the firmware to 4.2.31 (which is the final firmware for OS 4.2).
The capacity rule for single redundancy XRAID is "sum the disks and subtract the largest". That means that you need to upgrade at least two drives to increase your space. It's not possible to maintain RAID redundancy unless the two biggest drives are the same size.
Also with OS 4.2, there are two limits to expansion that aren't well documented.
- A volume can't expand over 16 TiB.
- A volume can't expand more than 8 TiB from it's starting size.
You aren't at the first limit, but it is possible that you are at the second. If you initially installed one 2 TB drive, then your starting size would have been 2 TB, and your growth so far be 8 TB. But if you initially installed all 6 drives, then your starting size is 10 TB - so only the first limit would apply to your system (because you'd reach it before you hit the second limit).
If you initially installed 2x6TB (starting size 10 TB), then if you upgrade a second drive your volume will expand by 2 TB to 12 TB. The NAS reports TiB, not TB, so it would show a ~10.9 TiB size. You could upgrade two more disks (4x4TB+2x2TB) without reaching the 16 TiB ceiling. If you tried to upgrade to 5x4TB+1x2TB, you'd exceed the 16 TiB ceiling, and the expansion would fail.
When you do upgrade the second disk, the system will first resync the existing volume. When that completes, the system will need to reboot before expands the volume. Often that reboot needs to be done manually. That reboot won't be needed when you upgrade a third disk or fourth disk.
But if you initially installed 1x2TB (starting size 2 TB), you'd need to back up your data, do a factory reset with all drives in place, and then restore the data from backup in order to be able to expand to 4x4TB+2x2TB.
A variant is to convert your NAS to OS 6 as part of the factory reset - it doesn't have either of the two expansion limits described above.
10 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
geodav1952 wrote:
I have a ReadyNAS RND6000 using RaidAir 4.2.13 which up until recently comprised of 6 x 2 TB HDD. It is configured using X-RAID2 with a single volume. All has been working fine, however I recently replaced one of the HDD with a Western Digital WD40EFRX 4 TB ... it only shows 1858 GB as being allocated which is the same as the other 5 x 2 GB HDD. (ie per below)
Do you mean Raidiator 4.2.31? If you are still running 4.2.13, then you should update the firmware to 4.2.31 (which is the final firmware for OS 4.2).
The capacity rule for single redundancy XRAID is "sum the disks and subtract the largest". That means that you need to upgrade at least two drives to increase your space. It's not possible to maintain RAID redundancy unless the two biggest drives are the same size.
Also with OS 4.2, there are two limits to expansion that aren't well documented.
- A volume can't expand over 16 TiB.
- A volume can't expand more than 8 TiB from it's starting size.
You aren't at the first limit, but it is possible that you are at the second. If you initially installed one 2 TB drive, then your starting size would have been 2 TB, and your growth so far be 8 TB. But if you initially installed all 6 drives, then your starting size is 10 TB - so only the first limit would apply to your system (because you'd reach it before you hit the second limit).
If you initially installed 2x6TB (starting size 10 TB), then if you upgrade a second drive your volume will expand by 2 TB to 12 TB. The NAS reports TiB, not TB, so it would show a ~10.9 TiB size. You could upgrade two more disks (4x4TB+2x2TB) without reaching the 16 TiB ceiling. If you tried to upgrade to 5x4TB+1x2TB, you'd exceed the 16 TiB ceiling, and the expansion would fail.
When you do upgrade the second disk, the system will first resync the existing volume. When that completes, the system will need to reboot before expands the volume. Often that reboot needs to be done manually. That reboot won't be needed when you upgrade a third disk or fourth disk.
But if you initially installed 1x2TB (starting size 2 TB), you'd need to back up your data, do a factory reset with all drives in place, and then restore the data from backup in order to be able to expand to 4x4TB+2x2TB.
A variant is to convert your NAS to OS 6 as part of the factory reset - it doesn't have either of the two expansion limits described above.
Thanks Paul, you have certainly given me a wealth of inofrmation that does seem to documented elsewhere and if it is, it is hard to find. In regards to Raidiator, I am at Ver 4.2.31 - a typo on my behalf!! Fortunately, when I initially put my system together some years back I went all the way and set it up with 6 x 2 TB HDD so I can, if I understand correctly what you have said, upgrade another 3 x 2 TB HDD to 4 x TB HDD. To that end I will now swap a second 2 TB for a 4 TB drive which I have at hand but was holoding off on doing until I better understood the situatiion which you have explained very well. Thanks again and I will post the outcome in the next day or so.
Hi Paul, further to my last, my ReadyNAS is in the process of syncing the 2nd 4 TB HDD and will likely take till tomorrow to finish, however, I am intersted in the propect of upgrading to OS 6 as you mentioned earlier, a course of action that I did not realize was possible with this system. This will not be a hasty process as I first need to back up all of the data that I have on the system which is a task in itself, however, before I venture down this track can you offer advice on the advantages of using OS 6 over my current setup as I would need to weigh up the pros and cons - ie it may be best just to let sleeping dogs lie. Also, are you able to point me towards any available documentation on the upgarde process. Thanks in advance.
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
