Re: Adding two 12TB or 14TB drives to an RN424 - Compatibility List and process

BJB · ‎2019-01-23

Greetings,

I have an RN424 which is my second Readynas unit. I started it with two 10TB drives and now need to add capacity. I have been around the drive compatibility block a few times and once again, I am at a decision point where the largest capacity on the list is limited...or one.

I currently have 2 10TB Ironwolf drives in the unit and was looking to buy two 14 TB drives. However only the Ironwolf PRO version is listed and there is a significant price variance between that and the non-pro version which I am fine with.

Unless there is some direction that someone from Netgear can provide that the 14TB Ironwolf (ST1400VN008) (non PRO version) is close to being added to the list, it looks like my choice in that family is the 12TB version. I know others roll with drives not on the list, but I like that added comfort. But I don't like losing out on that added capacity.

Even some direction on when the next updated list might come out would be most welcome.

Second question is am I safe to do this the same as last time? Power off the unit, add the drive, bootup and let it grind away for a few days? Last time I did this it was another Readynas unit and the firmware was quite a bit older so just checking. I currently have 2 10TB Ironwolfs in there setup with the default readynas RAID for backup settings.

Thanks!
BJB

StephenB · ‎2019-01-24

@BJB wrote:

Unless there is some direction that someone from Netgear can provide that the 14TB Ironwolf (ST1400VN008) (non PRO version) is close to being added to the list,

I doubt you'll get that. When/if the testing completes successfully, they'll add it to the list. They are unlikely to anticipate successful completion, and in general their qualification process is quite slow.

So your strategy will limit your options, especially with recently announced drives.

@BJB wrote:

Second question is am I safe to do this the same as last time? Power off the unit, add the drive, bootup and let it grind away for a few days?

Hot insertion is better (adding the drive with the NAS running). You'll likely need to reboot the NAS after the second drive resyncs in order to trigger the vertical expansion.

BJB · ‎2019-01-24

So one drive at a time., insert the second one after the first one is done syncing. Let second drive sync and reboot. Got it!

Thanks,

BJB

BJB · ‎2019-01-25

Sorry, one more question.

I was using RAID calculators to calculate how much additional capacity I would get if I added 2 14TB drives to my 2 10TB drives vs. adding 2 12TB drives.

I use the default Netgear Readynas RAID mirroring format.

Some of the calculators I looked at said that there was no difference in useable capacity if I added two 14TB drives vs. two 12TB drives. Is that right?

I do not intend to repalce the two 10TB drives anytime soon as they are not that old.

Thanks,
BJB

StephenB · ‎2019-01-26

@BJB wrote:

I was using RAID calculators to calculate how much additional capacity I would get if I added 2 14TB drives to my 2 10TB drives vs. adding 2 12TB drives.

You might have been using calculators designed for RAID-5, not XRAID.

The capacity rule is "sum the drives and subtract the largest".

2x14+2x10 TB would give you a 34 TB volume (shown as ~31 TiB in the web UI).
2x12+2x10 TB would give you a 32 TB volume (shown as ~29 TiB in the web UI).