Re: ReadyNAS Pro 4 [X-RAID2] - Capacity Expansion by HDD-Change

der_ger · ‎2017-10-30

I intend to enhance the capacity of mx ReadyNAS Pro 4 by changing an thereby renewing the Hard disks (4x 2 TB right now). As I marked my last thread "ReadyNAS Pro 4 [X-RAID2] looses connection to LAN repeatedly maby cause update to RAIDiator 4.2.31" with "solved", I can't post further messages any more, so I simply start a new thread. With X-RAID2 from Netgear the ReadyNAS Pro 4 is limited to 16 TiB: There are two limits to expansion - one is that a volume can't go over 16 TiB, the other is that a volume can't grow by more than 8 TiB. The first limit sets the max to 4x5TB if all disks are of equal size. (Info from StephenB Superuser Guru) So with 4x 5 TB Disks the capacity of the ReadyNAS Pro 4 seems to be exhausted. * Is it correct that X-RAID 2 from Netgear is limited to one volume? * With Flex-Raid more than one volume can be created, so with a Maximum of 16 TiB per volume with OS 4.2, the diskspace of 4 HDD larger than 4 TB may be used by creating more volumes.

Are my assumptions correct?

Best regards

Sandshark · ‎2017-10-30

You can create a volume greater than 16TiB, you just can't expand one to larger than that (including expanding one already larger) in 4.2.x. You have to factory default with the drives in place.

Given that you will need to factory default, you may want to consider moving to OS6.x, which will eliminate the future expansion issue (at least for the forseable future). With several reported problems in OS6.9.0, I recommend you stick with 6.8.1 for now.

StephenB · ‎2017-10-31

@der_ger wrote:

Is it correct that X-RAID 2 from Netgear is limited to one volume?

Yes.

@der_ger wrote:

With Flex-Raid more than one volume can be created, so with a Maximum of 16 TiB per volume with OS 4.2, the diskspace of 4 HDD larger than 4 TB may be used by creating more volumes.

Yes again. Though switching to flexraid requires a factory reset (which will destroy your data). So if you go this route, you might consider converting to OS-6 while you are at it (as suggested by @Sandshark. Then you won't have either of these expansion limits.

@Sandshark wrote:

You can create a volume greater than 16TiB, you just can't expand one to larger than that (including expanding one already larger) in 4.2.x

You can create a volume > 16 TiB if all disks are of equal size. If they aren't the same size, creating the volume requires an expansion step which fails.

der_ger · ‎2017-11-02

@Sandshark wrote:
Given that you will need to factory default, you may want to consider moving to OS6.x, which will eliminate the future expansion issue (at least for the forseable future). With several reported problems in OS6.9.0, I recommend you stick with 6.8.1 for now.

Thanks for your Advice!

OS6.x does not seem to be supported by Netgear for a RNDP4000 as found on https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads, but according to Your advice it seems to work anyway, doesn't it?
Which version should be chosen: arm or x86_64 - I guess it is the arm-Version?
arm (Version 6.8.1) for RN102 / RN104 / RN202 / RN204 / RN212 / RN214 / RN2120
x86_64 (Version 6.8.1) for RN312 / RN314 / RN316 / RN422 / RN424 / RN426 / RN428 / RN516 / RN524X / RN526X / RN528X / RN626X / RN628X / RN716X / RR2304 / RR2312 / RN3130 / RN3138 / RN3220 / RR3312 / RN4220 / RR4312X / RR4312S / RR4360X / RR4360S
So with OS6.x X-RAID2 may still be used with all its advantages, but for a volume size even larger than 16 TiB?

Regards, Gerald

der_ger · ‎2017-11-02

Thank you very much for Your advice again!

The official support of Netgear seems to end with 16 TB for a ReadyNas Pro 4.

On one hand OS 6.x for a ReadyNAS RNDP4000 is officially not supported by Netgar as found on https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads and
on the other hand no HDD larger than 4 TB ist found on the HDD compatibiliy list for the RNDP4000.

So by going beyond 16 TB I will leave the range supported by Netgear anyway.

Once updated to OS 6.x ist there any way to get back to OS 4.2.31 again?

Regards, Gerald

StephenB · ‎2017-11-02

@der_ger wrote:

So by going beyond 16 TB I will leave the range supported by Netgear anyway.

Once updated to OS 6.x ist there any way to get back to OS 4.2.31 again?

The HCL for the legacy NAS hasn't been updated for a long time. Disks larger than 4 TB are known to work with OS 4.2 systems, as long as the limits of XRAID expansion aren't exceeded.

OS 6 on your legacy NAS isn't officially supported by Netgear, so you won't be able to use paid support (other than the data recovery service, which I have been told is an exception).

If the system is still covered by the hardware warranty (increasingly unlikely) you could run into issues with warranty. Hardware warranty is 5 years from purchase for the original purchaser. The warranty is not transferrable, so if you have a used system it is not covered by warranty at all (and you would also be denied any paid support).

You can revert back to OS 4.2.31. The process is destructive in both directions, so you'd need to to restore data from backup.

Sandshark · ‎2017-11-02

You can't just download an update for a system already running OS6 and load it to an NAS running 4.2.x. See this thread for the specific packages you need: OS6-now-works-on-x86-Legacy-WARNING-NO-NTGR-SUPPORT. Note that the package is updated to the latest OS6 version when a new one comes out, but the link may say otherwise. Also note that many of the comments in that chain are no longer applicable. Just look at the first few messages that tell you how to do the conversion. And, as is posted there, you can go back to 4.2.x if you don't like OS6.

der_ger · ‎2017-11-25

Thanks for Your advice.

As the problem of the NAS loosing connection on transfer of larger data amount still occurs and could not be fixed by a "Factory Reset" i will not change to an unsupported mode before the problem is solved, as I guess that I will be in need of the Netgear support ...

Regards

Gerald