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Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade

MikeDold
Aspirant

ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade

Hello
im am using a ReadyNAS Pro 4.
Im planning to upgrade the 4 HDDs. The RAIDiator Version is 4.2.31.
What is the maximum size of HDD, i can use in this (old) NAS?
One of the HDDs is broken, so i changed it with a WD RED 4TB - the funktion is ok, but the HDD is shown as 1863 GB HDD.
So i am in trouble to upgrade all of the HDDs and the NAS cant use more than 2TB...


thanks for your answers

Model: RNDP4420D|ReadyNAS Pro 4 8TB (4 x 2TB Desktop)
Message 1 of 6
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade

There are expansion limits to RAIDiator 4.2.x, though I know of no overall drive size limitation.  That's probably your issue.  What size drives do you currently have, and what did you start with (at the time of initial set-up or last factory default)?

 

There was a point at which one had to do a factory default to allow the use of advanced format drives, but I don't remember which OS version that was.  I think that's less likely to be it.

 

If you are replacing all drives, you may want to consider updating your NAS to OS6.  In addition to a lot of other good stuff, that eliminates the pesky expansion issue.  You do lose all data when you do so, so you must back it up and restore.  At least 2GB or RAM is also recommended.

Message 2 of 6
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade


@MikeDold wrote:

Hello
im am using a ReadyNAS Pro 4.
Im planning to upgrade the 4 HDDs. The RAIDiator Version is 4.2.31.
What is the maximum size of HDD, i can use in this (old) NAS?
One of the HDDs is broken, so i changed it with a WD RED 4TB - the funktion is ok, but the HDD is shown as 1863 GB HDD.
So i am in trouble to upgrade all of the HDDs and the NAS cant use more than 2TB...


thanks for your answers


4,2,31 systems can use larger disks than 2 TB.  But you need to install two larger disks to see any expansion.  The XRAID capacity rule is "sum the disks and subtract the largest".

 

There are two expansion limits with your firmware.

  • The NAS cannot expand to a volume size over 16 TiB
  • The NAS cannot expand more then 8 TiB from the volume's starting size.

If you started with 4x2TB drives in place, your NAS started with a 6 TB (5.4 TiB) volume.  Upgrading to 4x4TB would work in this case, since you'd end up at 12 TB - well under the 8 TiB expansion limit.

 

Buf if you started with just a single 2 TB disk in place, you'd have had an initial volume size of only 2 TB.  Your expansion would fail in that case.  If this is your situation, you'd need to do a factory default, and rebuild the NAS.  Then reconfigure it, and restore the files from a backup.  You should consider converting the NAS to run OS-6, as it doesn't have any known expansion limits.  However, that would also require rebuilding the NAS and restoring the files from backup.

 

If you aren't sure (likely it was some years ago), then you might as well try expanding it, and see if it fails at some point.  Then do the factory default.  I strongly recommend making a full backup first, as expanding all the disks does put some stress on the system.

 

Though you didn't ask for advice on disks, I do recommend NAS-purposed or enterprise class disks.  However I don't recommend using the WD40EFAX, as it uses SMR technology.  Either go with the Seagate Ironwolf, or see if you can get an older WD40EFRX model.

 

Note you could also get to 12 TB by upgrading two drives to 8 TB - which has a similar cost.  If you went that route, the WD80EFAX would be fine (it is not SMR). 

 

 

 

 

Message 3 of 6
MikeDold
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade

thaks for yous answer so far...

I think the factory default was 4x 1 TB
now it is at 4x 2TB but one of the HDDs is a 4TB HDD - only shown as 1,83...

where can i download the OS6 - at this modell only the version 4.2.x  is shown for download
and the other question - can the update to 6.x be done without data loss?

Message 4 of 6
MikeDold
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade

thanks for your detailed answer...
where can i get the OS 6 for this modell - there are only downloads available for Version 4.2.x

Message 5 of 6
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 - HDD Upgrade


@MikeDold wrote:

 can the update to 6.x be done without data loss?


No.


@MikeDold wrote:


where can i download the OS6 - at this modell only the version 4.2.x  is shown for download


The steps are

 

(Optionally) make sure the latest BIOS is installed before you do the conversion.  To do this you install  http://www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/BIOS_Update_Package_0.5-x86.bin as an add-on and reboot the NAS.  Do this after you backup the NAS.  This isn't necessary, but if you so want to update the bios it is easiest to do it prior to converion

 

Basic instructions for the conversion itself are

  1. BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP
  2. Upload PREPR4TOR6_0.1-x86.bin as an add-on using the ReadyNAS web gui, but do not reboot afterwards (avoids the need to do manual factory resets)
  3. Upload R4toR6_6.10.3.bin using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update
  4. After you upload the addon+firmware and reboot, it will update the firmware and start a factory default.
  5. Go through the setup process on the converted NAS 
  6. Update the NAS to the current OS 6 (check for updates will work).
  7. Restore files from the backup.

Netgear won't provide paid support on a converted NAS, so that is one consideration.  There is a small risk that the process could fail, and if that were to happen it might not be possible to get the NAS running again.

 

If you do decide to convert the Pro, then you should also consider increasing the RAM.  Shipping OS-6 NAS have at least 2 GB of RAM, your Pro only has 1 GB.  It will work, but it would be sensible to match the resources in the currently shipping NAS.  The upgrade is inexpensive, and is simple to do. 

 

 

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