Disk Refresh Strategy RN314

[edecanus]

Hi,  I see a lot of threads on disk type/size use but non on refreshing the disks. 

I have a single degraded disk that I am replacing with one very similar excpept for disk firmware versions to quickly fix it before it becomes and issue.  All of these 4x 4TB disks were mounted a the same time so I fear all will fail soon.

I see there is suggested support for up to 10TB disks now.  Does anyone see a problem with my replacing/refreshing the disks in sequence from 1-4 over a period of 8 weeks.  Specifically I would update/replace the disks with 6TB 256 MB cache disks every two weeks over an 8 week period.  Any "disk 1", coexisting mixed disks size/speed or other concerns I should address to move forward with this plan?

Thanks,

Adrian

[edecanus · Accepted solution]

X-RAID is the current RN314 configuration for 4x 4 TB disks.

[jak0lantash]

If any disk is showing errors, you should replace it in priority. You should also have an external backup prior to start replacing drives, just in case. Rebuilding a new drive puts strain on all the other drives.

Other than that, replace the drives one by one and wait for the resync to complete between each.

You can also check the official compatibility list: https://kb.netgear.com/20641/ReadyNAS-Hard-Disk-Compatibility-List

If you're in X-RAID mode, the NAS will start expanding your volume when the second drive is upgraded, by creating a secondary RAID array and concatenating both RAID arrays in a single BTRFS volume. After upgrading all four drives, you will have two RAID5 arrays into the single BTRFS volume.

If you're in Flex-RAID mode, the NAS will expand your volume when the fourth drive is upgraded, by extending the unique RAID array and resizing the BTRFS volume onto it.

[edecanus]

I would do the following steps

Backup NAS data

- replace disk 2 (degraded hdd) with similar 4 TB HDD (pull the live disk and insert the new disk waiting for the sync to complelte)
- 2 weeks replace disk 1 with 6 TB disk ((on compatibility list)

- 2 more weeks replace disk 3 with 6 TB disk

- 2 more weeks replace disk 4 with 6 TB disk

- 2 more weeks replace disk 2 with 6 TB disk 

The new disks will be setup automoatically by the RN314 as I understand?

Thanks,

Adrian

[jak0lantash]

Your steps are correct.
The ReadyNAS will indeed set up the disks automatically following the behavior explained in my previous message.

[edecanus · Accepted solution]

X-RAID is the current RN314 configuration for 4x 4 TB disks.