RN102 hard disk compatible list

[rare66]

I am looking for new hard rives for my RN102.  I thought the max is 2 3 TB drives, but the compatablity list on the support page now shows up to 12 TB drives are compatable.  Is this so?  I don't want to get the wrong drives.

[StephenB]

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@rare66 wrote:

 the compatablity list on the support page now shows up to 12 TB drives are compatable.  Is this so?  

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Yes.  Technically there is no known size limit.  The RN102 resyncs pretty slowly, and the resync time does go up as the drives get bigger.  

Personally I've used 8 TB drives in the RN102 with no problem - though I was using jbod, not raid.

Many larger drives no longer have the side-center mount hole.  If you purchase a drive without them, then you will need to remove the plastic mounting brackets in the tray, and attach the drives using the screws that were shipped with your ReadyNAS.  Some of the bottom holes won't align with the tray either - but two screws are enough to hold the drive securely in the tray. 

There are instructions on how to remove the mounting brackets in the ReadyNAS hardware manual (page 171 here: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/ReadyNAS_%20OS6_Desktop_HM_EN.pdf ).  

(Note that newer ReadyNAS ship with mounting brackets that will accomodate high-capacity disks - but your RN102 predates that change).

[rare66]

Steven B.  Thank you for the information.  

I installed two Constellation ES.2 ST33000650NS 3 TB drives.  Now I'm having difficulty configuring. It doesn't "expand" storage.  It says RAID 1 @ 3TB storage.  When I first setup years ago, I could setuo to show two separate drives and then I cloned the data for redundency.  Even switching between X-RAID and Flex RAID, it no longer allows me to do it.  I understand RAID 1 is supposed to provide redundency, but if I simulate the loss of one drive by removing, I am unable to access the data on the other drive.  When I put the other drive back in, it starts to resynch and all data is lost.

I think it may be the new firmware (6.9.5).  Wondering if I revert to an earlier firmware, if I can change the configuration to show two drives?  Would I lose the stored data in the process?

[StephenB]

What you have to do is switch to flexraid and delete the current volume.  Then you can recreate two new jbod volumes.  FWIW, this hasn't changed, and is what you did years ago.

You do need to uninstall your apps and back up your data before you delete the volume. 

If you don't have a lot of users you might as well do a factory reset with one disk in place, then switch to flexraid/jbod and then add the other.