I currently have a Ultra 6 with six 3TB drives that is almost full. I'm considering whether to replace the 3TB drives with 4TB drives or upgrading to an RB316 with six 4TB drives.
I've seen a few things about OS6 not supporting disk spin down, which is important to me. Does the current version of OS6 for a RN316 support disk spin down or not? My NAS is lightly used but on for many hours per day. Disk spin down is important to me for energy efficiency, disk lifespan and heat generation.
Does OS6 have the volume expansion issues of the x86 ReadyNAS boxes?
With the other consideration of upgrading to 4TB drives in my Ultra 6, will I have problems with the 8TB or 16TB expansion limits? I haven't gotten my head completely around the issues with these expansion limits. I have dual redundancy with the Ultra 6 giving me a current volume that is just under 11TB in size. When I installed the six 3TB drives into the Ultra 6 I installed them all at the same time and did a factory default reset. My understanding is that means I can expand this volume by 8TB before I hit the limit. My understanding of the 8TB and 16TB limits is that with dual redundancy I could expand my current volume by adding one 4TB at a time until all six drives were replaced. Six 4TB drives with dual redundancy should add just under 4TB to the volume. Six 4TB drives with dual redundancy should have a total volume size just under 16TB. Am I correct? Or will I have problems if I try to expand my current volume?
If I've got to backup, reset and restore my current Ultra 6 to add six 4TB drives it suddenly makes the expense of the RN316 a lot more justifiable :). Copying everything over from the Ultra 6 to RN316 is a lot less painful than restoring everything from multiple backup external drives.
Re: Upgrading to RN316 and Disk Spin Down Question
applebyter wrote:
Does the current version of OS6 for a RN316 support disk spin down or not?
No. It is not supported at this time.
applebyter wrote:
Does OS6 have the volume expansion issues of the x86 ReadyNAS boxes?
No.
applebyter wrote:
With the other consideration of upgrading to 4TB drives in my Ultra 6, will I have problems with the 8TB or 16TB expansion limits? I haven't gotten my head completely around the issues with these expansion limits. I have dual redundancy with the Ultra 6 giving me a current volume that is just under 11TB in size. When I installed the six 3TB drives into the Ultra 6 I installed them all at the same time and did a factory default reset. My understanding is that means I can expand this volume by 8TB before I hit the limit. My understanding of the 8TB and 16TB limits is that with dual redundancy I could expand my current volume by adding one 4TB at a time until all six drives were replaced. Six 4TB drives with dual redundancy should add just under 4TB to the volume. Six 4TB drives with dual redundancy should have a total volume size just under 16TB. Am I correct? Or will I have problems if I try to expand my current volume?
You should be able to expand it, I think. Though best to make sure your backup is up to date just in case.
applebyter wrote:
If I've got to backup, reset and restore my current Ultra 6 to add six 4TB drives it suddenly makes the expense of the RN316 a lot more justifiable :). Copying everything over from the Ultra 6 to RN316 is a lot less painful than restoring everything from multiple backup external drives.
Sounds like getting a RN316 is a good idea. Means you can keep on using your 3TB drives and use the Ultra 6 as a backup unit for most of the data on the RN316.
Re: Upgrading to RN316 and Disk Spin Down Question
Thanks for the quick reply. I do have current backups, so a restore is possible if necessary. For a long time I've tried to maintain backups of at least the most important data off site. (Of course, being in Australia that means I'm still doing sneaker net as I can't push TB of data over the Internet each month.) I am tempted by the RN316 but the expense is a bit more than I'd like to fork out at the moment. And, as I said, spin down is important to me. If Netgear had spin down implemented correctly in OS6 I'd probably just jump and get the RN316.
