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I currently have two 4TB drives in my NAS and would like to swap one of the drives for a new drive. What's the lowest risk way to achieve this? If I remove one of the two existing drives and replace it with the new drive, redundancy is impaired until the new drive is synced. If I introduce the new drive in addition to the two existing drives, wait for it to sync and then remove one of the original two, what will happen?
I currently have two 4TB drives in my NAS and would like to swap one of the drives for a new drive. What's the lowest risk way to achieve this?
Back up the data before you do it. You should have a backup plan anyway, as RAID just isn't enough to keep your data safe. The only way to do that is to have at least one copy on another device.
If I introduce the new drive in addition to the two existing drives, wait for it to sync and then remove one of the original two, what will happen?
Adding a new 4 TB drive will give you an 8 TB volume using RAID-5. Removing any drive after that will result in an 8 TB volume that is degraded (not redundant). Also, the volume would still be non-redundant while the volume is resyncing.
Hot-swapping one of the drives is the best way.
BTW, What size is the new drive? What is the reason for replacing it?
I currently have two 4TB drives in my NAS and would like to swap one of the drives for a new drive. What's the lowest risk way to achieve this?
Back up the data before you do it. You should have a backup plan anyway, as RAID just isn't enough to keep your data safe. The only way to do that is to have at least one copy on another device.
If I introduce the new drive in addition to the two existing drives, wait for it to sync and then remove one of the original two, what will happen?
Adding a new 4 TB drive will give you an 8 TB volume using RAID-5. Removing any drive after that will result in an 8 TB volume that is degraded (not redundant). Also, the volume would still be non-redundant while the volume is resyncing.
Hot-swapping one of the drives is the best way.
BTW, What size is the new drive? What is the reason for replacing it?
I currently have two 4TB drives in my NAS and would like to swap one of the drives for a new drive. What's the lowest risk way to achieve this?
Back up the data before you do it. You should have a backup plan anyway, as RAID just isn't enough to keep your data safe. The only way to do that is to have at least one copy on another device.
If I introduce the new drive in addition to the two existing drives, wait for it to sync and then remove one of the original two, what will happen?
Adding a new 4 TB drive will give you an 8 TB volume using RAID-5. Removing any drive after that will result in an 8 TB volume that is degraded (not redundant). Also, the volume would still be non-redundant while the volume is resyncing.
Hot-swapping one of the drives is the best way.
BTW, What size is the new drive? What is the reason for replacing it?
Thanks, this NAS is already synced with another NAS in another location plus I'll do a local backup immediately before this swap.
I'm replacing one of the two ST4000DM000 drives with a new ST4000VN008 prior to repurposing the ST4000DM000. I figured it was best to have the new and better drive in the more important application...
The DM series has been a bit problematic for some when used in a NAS. But mixing one "green" and one NAS-purposed drive may create new problems of it's own due to differences in spin-up times. I'd replace te other DM as soon as I had a chance, and maybe disable spin-down till then.
@geojay wrote: Is there a better disk for use in a NAS?
Lots of folks here did have problems with the DM models early on - particularly the ST3000DM000. However, if yours have been running well and and are healthy, then I wouldn't be worried.
It is a good idea to monitor the SMART stats regularly, and I suggest scheduling the disk test (and the other maintenance functions) via the volume settings wheel. I run each of them every three months (spacing them out).
The best options are NAS-purposed (e.g., WD Red or Seagate Ironwolf) or Enterprise Class. Your new 4 TB Ironwolf is a good choice. I haven't seen issues with them posted here.
@Sandshark: The ST4000DM000 and the ST4000NV008 have the same rotation speed (5900 rpm), so there won't be a mismatch.
