I have unused 1TB plus 2x1.5TB disks at home I'd like to make use of for storage, backup and streaming. A four disk NAS feels like the best way and I am considering a good deal on Ultra 4 + 1x2GB disk. (An alternative could be Synology DS411j.)
Q re disk usage with setup as per above = 1x1TB, 2x1.5TB and 1x2TB, is this well usable with the X-RAID2 setup? I guess I'd loose 0.5TB and have 1.5TB reserved for redundancy leaving an effective "4TB" to play with? What real speed could I expect when connected to a Netgear CG3100 and configuring jumbo frames?
The Ultra 4 will accept 3TB drives and 4TB when they are released onto the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). Keep in mind that not many 4TB drives have entered the retail chain at this point and they are very expensive. Use of drives larger than 2TB requires updating the OS to version 4.2.16 or higher before they will be properly recognized.
If this "good" is a used unit from an individual, work with him to notify Netgear so the remainder of the warranty can be transferred to you.
Thanks for the replies. It is a new retail unit I am considering. How good could it be hosting a PLEX server when I stream to idevices which means need for realtime transcoding? Atom processor good enough?
X-RAID2 "explained" animation has at one time three different sizes installed, 4x1TB, 1x1.5TB and 1x0.5TB. It did not say fail..so where are the hard facts for this?
Looks more carefully at that step. A 500 GB drive is replaced with a 1.5 TB drive, but the available space only goes up 500 GB. The remaining 500 GB on the drive is wasted until a second 1.5 TB drive is added. So yes, you can put in three sizes, however there is always wasted space when you do.
IF you start with the 500GB as the first drive, and then add the two 1.5GB drives (or initially start with all three) you would have 2TB of volume. (One of the 1.5TB drives would be used for redundancy) and you would have a 500GB layer across the 500GB and 1.5TB drives and a second layer of the remaining 1TB of the 1.5TB drives. (X-Raid2 uses two layers with dissimilar sizes). Then when you add the 2TB, since there is not a second 2TB to provide redundancy, it will be treated as a third 1.5TB. This will give you a volume of 3.5TB. Again, the one 500GB layer across three drives (1.5TB) and a 2TB volume across 2 drives (2TB). But replacing the 500GB drive with the 2TB drive only gives you 3TB gross. A single layer across the two 1.5TB drives with the 2TB drive providing redundancy.
When you take the opportunity to replace the 500GB drive with another 2TB, then the volume will be 5TB (gross) consisting of 1 layer of 1.5TB across 3 drives (4.5TB) and a 500GB layer across the remaining 500 GB volume of one 2TB drive (remember the one 2TB provides all the redundancy) and this gives you the 5TB (gross) volume. (Since overhead takes approximately 10 percent of the volume for the 1000/1024 conversion and the OS) and the front panel would display 4.5TB net.
This is the volume I have with 2x3TB and 2x1TB drives. My volume started with 1TB drives and I skipped the 2TB drives and went straight to 3TB.
While you can actually put four different sizes of drives in a ReadyNAS, X-Raid (found on the old sparc platform) can only use the size of the smallest drive across all 4 and X-Raid2 can use the size of the two smallest drives.
To avoid the 8TB expansion limit (for a long while), I would add the drives one at a time starting with the 500GB. I would even include the 2TB for the full 4 disk array. Once the volume has been established, I would then do a factory default before you do any configuration changes or add any data. This would establish the initial volume at 4.5TB net. Then with the 8TB expansion added to that would mean that your net would have to exceed 12.5TB net and even with 4x4TB drives you would only have a net volume of 10.8TB which would not hit the expansion limit. (I will not say never hit it, for as soon as the 4TB drives become common they will start working on the 5s.)
To avoid the 8TB expansion limit (for a long while), I would add the drives one at a time starting with the 500GB. I would even include the 2TB for the full 4 disk array. Once the volume has been established, I would then do a factory default before you do any configuration changes or add any data. This would establish the initial volume at 4.5TB...
You can do that, but it will take a lot of time restriping the drives over and over. I would start with all drives inserted on the original power up.
On the plex server - The transcoding capabilities of the Ultra are more limited than the Pro. Some posters here have found the ultra to be good enough for their media, others have found that they needed a pro. I would price them both, and then decide if the faster CPU, ethernet teaming, and the longer warranty are worth the higher cost to you.
Thanks for your replies! I will probably buy an extra 2TB to start with 2x1.5TB+2x2TB in the Ultra 4 and let Plex server run on a Mac Mini accessing the NAS for now. I hope the performance will be satisfying enough for a good while.
