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I'm using a Ready NAS424 populated with 4x WD 2tb SATA drives in X-RAID. I've brought the drives across from an older (discontinued) readynas originally built in 2011. The intention was, if any drive failed, i'd replace it with a new drive.
The newer NAS has the capacity to take larger sized drives. Can I remove one 2tb drive and replace it with say a 6tb drive and will I benefit from the increased storage the new drive gives or will the new drive only be used as a 2tb drive irrespective of it's size?
Can I remove one 2tb drive and replace it with say a 6tb drive and will I benefit from the increased storage the new drive gives or will the new drive only be used as a 2tb drive irrespective of it's size?
You need to upgrade two disks to the larger size in order to gain capacity. The capacity rule is "sum the disks and subtract the largest".
Note that the WD's Red Disk EFAX models between 2-6TB use SMR technology. While WD thinks they are fine for home NAS use, I personally wouldn't use them. So go with 8 TB or larger if you want to use WD Reds; and consider Seagate Ironwolf drives if you want 6 TB.
I don't recommend using desktop drives from either manufacturer.
Can I remove one 2tb drive and replace it with say a 6tb drive and will I benefit from the increased storage the new drive gives or will the new drive only be used as a 2tb drive irrespective of it's size?
You need to upgrade two disks to the larger size in order to gain capacity. The capacity rule is "sum the disks and subtract the largest".
Note that the WD's Red Disk EFAX models between 2-6TB use SMR technology. While WD thinks they are fine for home NAS use, I personally wouldn't use them. So go with 8 TB or larger if you want to use WD Reds; and consider Seagate Ironwolf drives if you want 6 TB.
I don't recommend using desktop drives from either manufacturer.
That's great thank you. Presumably, i'd need to migrate the data off the NAS, install the drives, create the RAID and then bring the data back as installing a singe 8 TB drive, allowing the NAS to be rebuilt, then another 8TB drive would just give be the same capacity - or would it see the second 8TB and increase the capacity?
I can add one 8TB and then add another later to get the increased capacity, but until I do, it will only be able to use 2tb of the new drive as the others are 2tb. Thank you, that is really helpful.
Thanks for the steer on the WD drives. It's a shame, I've always been a huge fan of theirs but less impressed if they are starting to cut corners. These WD drives have been in use since 2011 and they are still fine. They don't make 'em like they used to!
Thanks for the steer on the WD drives. It's a shame, I've always been a huge fan of theirs but less impressed if they are starting to cut corners.
Yes, it is a shame. Unfortunately they also didn't admit the switch to SMR until they were forced to, and that has [deservedly] done some damage to their reputation. Seagate also went down this path for their desktop drives, but not their NAS-purposed drives.
8 TB and larger are still using PMR though, and I think a lot of NAS owners were switching to the larger sizes anyway.
