ReadyNAS RND4000 v3 Possible to setup 2 sets of RAID 1 mirrored drives

[JerichoT]

Hi there

I was given an old NAS, the NetGear ReadyNAS RND4000 v3, and I have a few quick questions

- Does the NAS take 3TB drives? (I think the max is 2TB, but I'd like to confirm with you guys)

- The NAS is almost a decade old, does it still work with Win10?

- Is it possible to set up the drives as 2 sets of separate RAID 1 Mirror Drives?

For example, if I have 4 x 2TB drives, A, B, C, and D

Can A be mirrored with B (And is seen as one drive)

while C is mirrored with D (And is seen as a different drive)

Reason is I wanted a simple setup so in case one of the drive crashes I don't need to do a rebuild

Thanks for reading!!!

[StephenB]

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@JerichoT wrote:

- Does the NAS take 3TB drives? (I think the max is 2TB, but I'd like to confirm with you guys)

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Max is 2TB.  NAS-purposed drives are good choices (either WDC Red or Seagate IronWolf).  Ignore the hardware compatibility list, it hasn't been updated in years.

Do you know what firmware is installed on the NAS?  There were some firmware upgrades needed for 2 TB support.

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@JerichoT wrote:

- The NAS is almost a decade old, does it still work with Win10?

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The NV+ uses SMB version 1, which Microsoft is deprecating for security reasons.  You can still install SMB 1.0 in Windows 10, or possibly use NFS as your file sharing protocol (Windows 10 also has an NFS client you can optionally install).

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@JerichoT wrote:

- Is it possible to set up the drives as 2 sets of separate RAID 1 Mirror Drives?

Yes.  You'll need to put the NAS into FlexRAID mode.  That requires the use of RAIDar 4.3.8 (not the newer 6.x version).  https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads

I suggest doing the initial factory install using just two disks.  You'll have about 5-10 minutes from the time you start the install to trigger FlexRAID mode with RAIDar.  You then create a RAID-1 volume  (called C, no choice on the name).  After the setup is complete, you can hot-insert two more disks, and manually create a second RAID-1 volume (called D).  You'll put some shares on each volume.

Manuals, etc can be found here:  https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rnd4000v1_(readynas_nv_plus_v1).aspx

[JerichoT]

Thanks for your reply

Another question, I have a pair of drives from a Western Digital Duo External Raid setup. It is running the standard RAID mirror configuration, nothing proprietary.

Is it possible to pop in the 2 drives directly into the RND4000? And will it detect the raid immediately?

I haven't done anything yet, because I am afraid it will be reinitialized and all data wiped out.

Thanks

[StephenB]

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@JerichoT wrote:

I haven't done anything yet, because I am afraid it will be reinitialized and all data wiped out.

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Good decision. The NAS will reformat the drives from the WD enclosure.

If the disks are 2 TB or less, you can reuse them in the NV+.  But you can't migrate the data - you'll need to offload it first, and then restore it after you create the second RAID-1 volume on the NV+ (and create some shares on it).