I have been running these machines for many years with the old pro6 as the primary and the newer 626x as the backup server.
At the moment both machines and my home network are on one subnet and there is a crossover cable between the two units on a different subnet used for backups.
I believe swapping the drives between the two chassis should "just work" but I am curious about the difference between the network hardware of the two versions. The pro6 has 2 ethernet ports while the 626x has 4 (2 1gbe and 2 10gbe)
Also, the disks are ordered differently, pro6 I think is numbered left to right and the 626x is top to bottom?
Working on solid backups outside the NASs prior to touching anything.
I am thinking using tb he newer hardware as primary is a good idea if for nothing else but being fully supported running 6.x.x series OS. Also considering a 10gbe switch😀 any thoughts here
Model: RN626X|ReadyNAS 626X – 6 Bays with Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core Server Processor, RNDP6000v2|ReadyNAS Pro 6 Chassis only
At the moment both machines and my home network are on one subnet and there is a crossover cable between the two units on a different subnet used for backups.
Just an aside here, but there is no need for crossover cables with gigabit or faster ethernet. A normal cable will work correctly.
I believe swapping the drives between the two chassis should "just work" but I am curious about the difference between the network hardware of the two versions. The pro6 has 2 ethernet ports while the 626x has 4 (2 1gbe and 2 10gbe)
Netgear hasn't said much about it, but OS-6 migration handles much bigger hardware differences - including direct migration from an Arm hardware platform to a Intel platform. That particular migration requires a (likely somewhat modified) OS reinstall. I don't know if the needed drivers for your migration are preloaded into the OS partition, installed from the flash image, or downloaded (like hot fixes). But it should just work.
I am thinking using the newer hardware as primary is a good idea if for nothing else but being fully supported running 6.x.x series OS.
Well, it is also newer hardware - hopefully less likely to have a component failure. Availability of support (including data recovery if needed) is perhaps another reason to make it primary.
I use my RN526x as primary, with a Pro-6 and an RN524x as secondary myself.
@BotanyBay wrote: Also considering a 10gbe switch😀 any thoughts here
This depends on how many 10G ports (or multigig ports) you need, and also whether you use PoE. Upgrading everything to 10G ports can be expensive.
For instance, an XS716T costs about $1200 on Amazon at the moment. The S3300-28X is about $500, and has 2 10GBase-T ports (one for the RN628x, and another for a second device - or a connection to another switch).
I have an XS708 combined with a GS728TP. One PC with a 10G card, the RN524x and the RN526x are connected to the XS708, most of my gigabit devices are connected to the GS728TPP.
