× NETGEAR will be terminating ReadyCLOUD service by July 1st, 2023. For more details click here.
Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
Reply

Disk Configuration

brendanitpartne
Aspirant

Disk Configuration

hi i have an older nv+ v2, went out of firmware support in 2013

i am trying to understand the flexiraid setup

configuration is

2 x 2tb drives - understand this should mirror = 2tb total - bay 1, bay 2

2 x 4tb drives - i understand this should extend = 10tb total - bay 3, bay 4

 

BUT i only get 6TB. and when i had 2 x2tb and 1 x 4tb, only got 4tb in storage total

 

what gives? i have reset to factory and used RAIDar but seem to be hitting a wall . . .

 

Model: ReadyNAS-4200v2|ReadyNAS 4200v2
Message 1 of 6

Accepted Solutions
StephenB
Guru

Re: Disk Configuration

The capacity rule for single redundancy RAID volume is "sum the disks and subtract the largest".  It's not possible to get a larger capacity and maintain redundancy.

 

Applying this rule to 2x2TB + 2x4TB gives 12TB-4TB=8TB (not 10).  2x2TB + 1x4TB would give you 4TB (2 TB of the 4 TB drive can't be used).  You'd get this storage capacity if you were using XRAID (ignoring the FlexRAID option).

 

But if you are using FlexRAID, then the system is likely using RAID-5 - which doesn't handle unequal size disks.  In that case, the system is using a 4x2TB array, which will give you 6 TB of storage.  I don't think you can do better than that with an NV+ v2 NAS.

 

Anyway, if you just do a factory default with all disks in place (using the default XRAID), you should end up with an 8 TB volume.  The NAS reports space in TiB, so it should report ~7.27.

 


@brendanitpartne wrote:

i have an older nv+ v2, went out of firmware support in 2013

 


5.3.13 (the final firmware) was released in May of 2017.  If you aren't running that, you should upgrade.

View solution in original post

Message 2 of 6

All Replies
StephenB
Guru

Re: Disk Configuration

The capacity rule for single redundancy RAID volume is "sum the disks and subtract the largest".  It's not possible to get a larger capacity and maintain redundancy.

 

Applying this rule to 2x2TB + 2x4TB gives 12TB-4TB=8TB (not 10).  2x2TB + 1x4TB would give you 4TB (2 TB of the 4 TB drive can't be used).  You'd get this storage capacity if you were using XRAID (ignoring the FlexRAID option).

 

But if you are using FlexRAID, then the system is likely using RAID-5 - which doesn't handle unequal size disks.  In that case, the system is using a 4x2TB array, which will give you 6 TB of storage.  I don't think you can do better than that with an NV+ v2 NAS.

 

Anyway, if you just do a factory default with all disks in place (using the default XRAID), you should end up with an 8 TB volume.  The NAS reports space in TiB, so it should report ~7.27.

 


@brendanitpartne wrote:

i have an older nv+ v2, went out of firmware support in 2013

 


5.3.13 (the final firmware) was released in May of 2017.  If you aren't running that, you should upgrade.

Message 2 of 6
brendanitpartne
Aspirant

Re: Disk Configuration

i am running latest firmware thank you

i have found a netgear raid configurator page and playing with this, seems 8tb is most i can get if i choose any raid

i may end up setting as JBOD still exploring

the NAS is stubbornly refusng to change the volume so have just tried erasing the disks as the factory reset left it intact at 6tb

Message 3 of 6
StephenB
Guru

Re: Disk Configuration


@brendanitpartne wrote:

i am running latest firmware thank you


It'd be helpful to know exactly what that is (for instance, is it 5.3.13?)

Message 4 of 6
brendanitpartne
Aspirant

Re: Disk Configuration

yes it is thanks

 

Message 5 of 6
StephenB
Guru

Re: Disk Configuration

And doing a factory reset with all disks in place didn't give you an 8 TB volume?

 

Did you wait until the volume was fully built?  The system would first create a 6 TB volume, but should then expand it.  If the volume is fully synced, you might need to reboot the NAS to trigger the expansion.

 

I wanted to confirm that you were running 5.3.x because many folks are confused about whether they have the original NV+ or the NV+ v2.  The labeling is quite confusing.  You do have the v2 - I don't, so I don't have hands-on experience with it.  Others here do, and hopefully will also chime in.

Message 6 of 6
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
  • 5 replies
  • 1280 views
  • 0 kudos
  • 2 in conversation
Announcements