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New User RN214 - Help Required with Drive Upgrade
Hi Guys
Reaching out for some assistance as a total newbie. Recently purchased an RN214 for use with PLEX for my movie collection. Currently set up with x4 2tb drives set in RAID5. I am starting to get close to capacity so have decided to upgrade to 4tb drives.
I have had a read over the software guides and instrction manuals etc (which were baffling at best!) and had a browse around the forums but really looking for a simple idiots guide on replacing my drives.
My understanding of the principle of the 'hot swap' is that I can just power down my NAS, physically swap the first drive, power up and it should just rebuild reinstating content etc. I will need to replace the second drive before seeing the capacity increase but need to do one at a time.
Apprecaite it seems like really basic support but would be grateful for a newbie walkthrough if anyone is able and willing!
Is there anything to be aware of risk wise? Timescales - should I do overnight? Anything on the admin page I need to complete after the physical swap such as reinitializing etc?
Thanks in advance - despite being a newbie I have communcaity here to be very supportive (and undertsanding of newbie questions!).
Cheers
Ian
iancoleman wrote:
Currently set up with x4 2tb drives set in RAID5. I am starting to get close to capacity so have decided to upgrade to 4tb drives.
I just want to add that this might not be the most cost effective way to upgrade.
Four 4TB drives will cost about $400 USD at the moment (assuming WD "Red" or Seagate "Ironwolf" drives - which are NAS purposed drives). Upgrading all four will give you 6 TB more space.
Two 8 TB drives would give you the same 6 TB space increase for slightly more (about $425). The benefit of 2x8TB is that the next upgrade only requires you to replace a single 2 TB drive with an 8 TB drive. If you go with 4x4TB you'd need to upgrade at least two more drives the next time around.
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Welcome to the Community!
You don't have to actually power down your NAS when replacing the drives. Removing your old drive gets your NAS on Degraded mode but as soon as you insert the new one it will automatically start rebuilding, there is no data lost that will occur. You will have to replace/add drives one at a time. If you are planning to upgrade and add new drives as well make sure to let the resync/rebuild finish before adding a new one.
It is good practice to do a Full backup if possible before doing anything that involves your drives and data. and Yes, it is best doing it overnight or at times that you are not using or accessing the NAS.
HTH
Regards
Thanks Mark - thats great. I shall have a go and see how I get on!
Hi Again Mark
I have done the swap but following putting the new drive in it seems to stuck on 'degraded'. There is no sign of the rebuild starting:
I am getting a warning to 'remove inactive volumes to use the disk #2,3,4' - see pic attached
iancoleman wrote:
Currently set up with x4 2tb drives set in RAID5. I am starting to get close to capacity so have decided to upgrade to 4tb drives.
I just want to add that this might not be the most cost effective way to upgrade.
Four 4TB drives will cost about $400 USD at the moment (assuming WD "Red" or Seagate "Ironwolf" drives - which are NAS purposed drives). Upgrading all four will give you 6 TB more space.
Two 8 TB drives would give you the same 6 TB space increase for slightly more (about $425). The benefit of 2x8TB is that the next upgrade only requires you to replace a single 2 TB drive with an 8 TB drive. If you go with 4x4TB you'd need to upgrade at least two more drives the next time around.
Thanks Stephen - I have already purchased drives but will certainly keep this in mind for the inevitable next upgrade!! When I first bought my kit I assumed all drives had to be matched capacity wise so followed that plan. Knowing this for future upgrades will be a big help. Cheers.
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