Hello, I had a previous topic on a server that had an unreliable Ethernet connection. Could reboot and it would work for awhile, then die. Seemed like hardware but it was suggested it might need a rebuild.
OK...so after a long wait, I have decided to go forward. I am going to put in two new drives as I wanted to upgrade anyway and then do a new build. Question is, should I use whatever old firmware it has, then upgrade, or leave it old, or. do I start the build with a new firmware, and how do I do that? Thumbdrive?
I was just able to fire it up and it connected. Says it is running 6.5.0 and wants me to upgrade to 6.9.5. Is that suggested? Better and no issues?
If I take the system down, put in a new drive, and boot it back up, won't it be forced to do a new install? And then could put in the other drives. Does it matter that 4 of the six will be from the prevous build?
And then could put in the other drives. Does it matter that 4 of the six will be from the prevous build?
If the drives are formatted, then you will need to format them to add them to the array. Also, you can only put in the other drives if they are the same size or larger than the initial drive.
One additional consideration is that you will be rebuilding the RAID array 5 times if you insert one drive first and then add the others.
With all this in mind, I suggest hot inserting all the remaining drives after the initial factory install, and then doing a "Perform Factory Default" via the web ui (system->settings). That will avoid the concerns above (and build the RAID array only once).
Because I am old and senile, let me make sure I get this right. First, the initial config is 2ea 4TB, 3TB, and 2TB. I was going to pull the two 2's and replace them with 8's. Based on what I am understanding is I should do a new install on one drive, a 3tb. Then hot install the remaining 5 drives? 3 being from the current install?
You could do that, but it's not what he is suggesting. The NAS will add the additional drives to the volume one at a time, going through multiple re-syncs. It will be long and a lot of work for the drives.
You best bet is to put any of the drives in and let it create a new volume. Then update the OS. Then power off, install the remaining drives, and do a "Factory Default". That will build the 6-drive volume in one sync. Way faster. Of course, you lose all data on the drives doing that, but I think you already know that.
Per an earlier message, I had already done the firmware update.
I pulled all of the drives and left in a 3TB to do a "new" build on. Although I did a factory reset, it retained my old volume information. I thought a factory default would erase my configuration and start me fresh?
I pulled all of the drives and left in a 3TB to do a "new" build on. Although I did a factory reset, it retained my old volume information. I thought a factory default would erase my configuration and start me fresh?
It sounds like you didn't do a factory reset. Is is possible you did an OS reinstall?
if you pulled the old drives, then updated with a separate new drives, then put the old drives back in, then the old drives would boot up with the same old system.
so unless you want to keep using that old system and data, then you need to do a factory default.
- the OS is stored ON the array, so the os goes wherever the disks go
- if you are starting fresh even with old disks, they will still need wiped or factory defaulted to clear and reinitialize
- the fastest way is to start with ALL the disks you plan to use so the raid is built and synced ONE time
- if you have mixed size disks, then your volume size will be dependent on the smaller disk sizes and quantity in relation to the other disks.
- it is NOT recommended to have 3 different size disks, otherwise there will likely be space that is unavailable until the smaller disks are upgraded.
OK....went through all the gyrations and I ended up with a one drive with the new firmware and with all the past info forgotten.
That brings up the issue of storage and mixed drive sizes.
I started with all 2s, added a couple 3s, added a couple 4s. My volume was 9.2TB, about what 2+3+4 would be, so it was like having a mirror, have the space wasted.
How I am trying to do the next step up, the 2s out, 8s in....now the system reports it will be 10.9 when done? I was cautioned not to mix sizes, but it hadn't hurt me like this case. Half would be 15TB, not 11TB. I was really looking forward to a substantial space gain plus I am hoping to solve the connectivity problem.
Not sure what you mean, by bulkier, but raid6 simply means that there is dual redundancy (you lose TWO disks worth of space, but you gain TWO disks worth of failure reliability).
raid 5 = 1 disk fails = still ok = 2 disk fails = data gone
raid6 = 2 disk fails = still ok = 3 disk fails = data gone
I personally run raid6 with any array of 6 or more disks, the extra safety margin of dual redundancy is peace of mind during rebuilds/resyncs/upgrades.
When you lose or replace disk with raid 5, there is always a chance for OTHER disk(s) to fail, and nothing sucks more than losing ALL your data during a rebuild.
besides the loss of 2 disks of space, the other 2 pitfalls means you need to minimum 4 disks to create a raid6. additionally, when you want to upgrade you must replace a minium of 4 disks (instead of replacing 2 to upgrade with raid 5).
so, raid 6 costs more in number of disks, costs more in less usable space, and costs more when you want to upgrade your space.
All that said, raid 6 is worth it for me.
How much is your data worth to you? and do you keep current backups on some other device?
Hello, You wouldn't know it, but theoretically I have three copies of my data, unfortunately, all local. 1. I have expansions drives on my main PC, seven of them, 42TB, and then I have a SuperMicro 12 drive server with everything redundant. I just don't have it fully stocked up with drives yet, but since it is 12 bay, it can be my dumping ground for older, smaller drives. Because the NAS has been offline since July due to the Ethernet issue, I have been in a more precarious situation.
I also wanted to ask, is RAID 6 bulkier than RAID 5. I think I was RAID 5 before.
Your config is 2x8 + 2x4 + 2x3, correct?
With mixed drive sizes, you don't have pure RAID-5. You have multiple RAID groups that are concatenated into a single volume. With your setup (with single reduncancy), you'd have 3 RAID groups.
6x3 TB RAID-5 that spans all disks
4x1 TB RAID-5 that spans the 4 TB and 8 TB disks
2x4 TB RAID-1 that spans the 8 TB disks.
You can visualize this as a wedding cake (multiple tiers, getting smaller at the top).
With single redundancy, the capacity rule is "sum the disks and subtract the largest". So that adds to 22 TB (~20 TiB). Note that with this rule, you waste space if the two largest drives aren't the same size. Since you have two 8 TB disks, that's not a problem.
With RAID-6 / dual redundancy, to avoid wasted space you need the four largest drives to be the same. With your configuration, you'd end up with a 14 TB (~12.7 TiB) volume size. If you (hypothetically) had 4x4TB + 2x3TB you'd end up with the same space. The RAID layers would look like this
6x3 TB RAID-6 that spans all disks
4x1 TB RAID-6 that spans the 4 TB and 8 TB disks
4 TB on each 8 TB disk is unused.
Since you are well-backed up, I think XRAID single redundancy is the best option for you.
Well, turns out my expected space jumped up when I went to RAID5, and then I noticed it somehow was in Flex-Raid mode. Chose X-RAID and the expected space jumped up to 19.99 so you were right on. Not ideal, but it is what I have available right now to allocate to the NAS.
Now I have the next problem...
I can't connect to my shares. I can use the NAS dashboard, indicating I can "see" the NAS, and the NAS shows up as a Computer in Explorer (win7), but when trying to see my shares, I get the "Windows cannot access \\PB2" and the ox80070035 error. So that is what I am working on now. No good to get it up if I can't connect to it. I used the same server name, same name for the volume, same names for the shares. Was that a mistake?
Trying to use my manual, but my manual is for RAIDiator 4.2.17, far from what the server is running. Just not getting why my PC won't connect to it...would the fact it is still re-syncing matter?
Don't know which of several changes made a difference, but suddenly I can see the NAS and map my shares....saved you guys from having to figure that one out....thanks so much...
