Swapping out drives

[Ndorfinz]

I have a ReadyNAS RN31400 with 4x 3TB WD Red Stripe drives. I would like to increase the storage capacity.  Can I begin by swapping out 2 of the drives for 6TB drives, one at a time, or do I need to swap out all the drives with new ones of the same storage capacity (i.e. 4x 6TB drives)?

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@Ndorfinz wrote:

Would there be any problem with having 2x 3TB and 2x 6TB drives in the ReadyNAS or do all drives need to be the same capacity?

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That works fine - you'd end up with 12 TB of storage if you use the default XRAID.

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@Ndorfinz wrote:

Will 5400 rpm drives be sufficient to stream media over a wired network, or will I need 7200 rpm drives?

5400 rpm drives are fine for streaming.  They also have the benefit of running cool, and are quiet. 

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@Ndorfinz wrote:

Lastly, can I use WD Blue, WD Black or WD Red drives in the ReadyNAS?  Which other manufacturer's drives are recommended?

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With WDC I'd go with WD Red or WD Red Pro.  I'd pass on the Blue.  Blacks will work, but in my experience are quite noisy.  Red Pro are enterprise class, so I'd go with them over the black.

With Seagate, I'd go with Ironwolf or Enterprise Class NAS drives.  Ironwolf is similar to the WDC Red; Enterprise Class NAS drives are similar to the Pro's.

The HCL includes both the Reds and the Red Pros.  Not sure if it includes the Seagates. 

[StephenB]

Swapping out two 3 TB with 6 TB drives will increase your volume size by 3 TB (assuming the default single-redundancy XRAID).

As you noted in your post, you need to wait for the first replacement to fully resync before adding the second drive.

Partway through the second resync the NAS will likely prompt you to reboot it. That restart is should trigger the vertical expansion.

[Ndorfinz]

Thanks StephenB.

Would there be any problem with having 2x 3TB and 2x 6TB drives in the ReadyNAS or do all drives need to be the same capacity?

I use the ReadyNAS for both PC backups and media storage.  Will 5400 rpm drives be sufficient to stream media over a wired network, or will I need 7200 rpm drives?

Lastly, can I use WD Blue, WD Black or WD Red drives in the ReadyNAS?  Which other manufacturer's drives are recommended?

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@Ndorfinz wrote:

Would there be any problem with having 2x 3TB and 2x 6TB drives in the ReadyNAS or do all drives need to be the same capacity?

---

That works fine - you'd end up with 12 TB of storage if you use the default XRAID.

---

@Ndorfinz wrote:

Will 5400 rpm drives be sufficient to stream media over a wired network, or will I need 7200 rpm drives?

5400 rpm drives are fine for streaming.  They also have the benefit of running cool, and are quiet. 

---

@Ndorfinz wrote:

Lastly, can I use WD Blue, WD Black or WD Red drives in the ReadyNAS?  Which other manufacturer's drives are recommended?

---

With WDC I'd go with WD Red or WD Red Pro.  I'd pass on the Blue.  Blacks will work, but in my experience are quite noisy.  Red Pro are enterprise class, so I'd go with them over the black.

With Seagate, I'd go with Ironwolf or Enterprise Class NAS drives.  Ironwolf is similar to the WDC Red; Enterprise Class NAS drives are similar to the Pro's.

The HCL includes both the Reds and the Red Pros.  Not sure if it includes the Seagates.