ReadyNAS NV+ USB drives for Backup?

[PCJB]

My ReadyNAS NV+ ( ARM) has 1MB RAM and 4*2TB drives in a RAID array. I have a 2TB external Hardrive for backups. The Backup drive has started to have problems and I have purchased a replacement 3TB standalone external hard drive and it is currently running a backup job to check it out.

When I first installed it, Frontview (V4.1.16) showed its size as 2048MB, even though its a 3TB drive. I presumed this was because the NV+ only supports drives upto 2TB in size. 

So I am wondering if I partitioned the 3TB drive into two partitions would the NV+ recognise them as two seperate USB drives like /USB_HDD_10 and /US_HDD_11?

I was thinking of making one 2TB and the other 1TB. My RAID storage array is currently about 2.1GB out of 3.6GB avaialble so it wont fit on the 2TB currently allocated.

TIA

Paul Bigwood

[Sandshark · Accepted solution]

No, you cannot.  MBR limits the full amount of the drive that's available, not just a single partition. 

[StephenB]

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@PCJB wrote:

My ReadyNAS NV+ ( ARM) ... Frontview (V4.1.16) s

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If you are running 4.1.16 firmware, then you have the original (Sparc-based) NV+, not the later ARM platform.

The original NV+ (v1) 

• says ReadyNAS NV+ on the front panel
• runs 4.1.x firmware
• uses a Sparc processor
• often has labels on the back or bottom that say v2 or v3.  These don't mean what you think they mean.  They just identfity minor hardware revisions.

The NV+ v2

• says ReadyNAS NV+ v2 on the front panel
• runs 5.x firmware
• uses a ARM processor

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@PCJB wrote:

When I first installed it, Frontview (V4.1.16) showed its size as 2048MB, even though its a 3TB drive. I presumed this was because the NV+ only supports drives upto 2TB in size. 

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4.1.x systems are limited to drives of 2 TB or less. If you install larger internal drives, the size will always end up 2 TB or less - the arithmetic that computes the volume size overflows, so it's a bit hard to predict. But normally you will end up with  about 746 GB per drive (volume size  for 4x3TB RAID array then ends up about 2 TB, instead of 12 TB).

USB drives are also limited to 2 TB

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@PCJB wrote:

So I am wondering if I partitioned the 3TB drive into two partitions would the NV+ recognise them as two separate USB drives like /USB_HDD_10 and /US_HDD_11?

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I don't think so, as the NAS only supports MBR formatting, which is limited to 2 TiB.

[PCJB]

Hi StephenB,

Thanks for the clarity. Its a while since I delved into the innards of my NV+. I knew it wasnt the X86 version!

You are of course right in that its the sparc version not the ARM one.

Do you know whether I can partition my USB drive into two partitions and whiether they would be mounted OK?

[StephenB]

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@PCJB wrote:

Do you know whether I can partition my USB drive into two partitions and whiether they would be mounted OK?

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As I said earlier, I don't think you will be able to access both partitions.

[Sandshark · Accepted solution]

No, you cannot.  MBR limits the full amount of the drive that's available, not just a single partition.