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ReadyNAS RN426 displaying less free space than expected for 3x4TB WD Red Pro HDDs

terry2000
Aspirant

ReadyNAS RN426 displaying less free space than expected for 3x4TB WD Red Pro HDDs

Hi, I took the plunge and bought the ReRN426 and installed 3 new 4TB WD RedPro hard drives.  When installing and configuing the RN426, it automatically configured it using X-RAID 5.  When looking at the System tab under the Admin page, it indicates all three NAS drives as being healthy.  I am expecting to see total free storage space around 11.8TB ( 3 x 3.6TB) but only see 7.27TB of free space.   

 

I am running a disk test to see if there is a problem with one of the disks.  The odd thing that happened during the initial setup was a prompt to update the firmware, which I clicked and said yes while the XRAID was being set up.  Hoping I don't need to reformat / rebuild but at least I have not yet backed up anything.

 

Thanks.

Model: RN426|ReadyNAS 426 – High-performance Business Data Storage - 6-Bays
Message 1 of 3
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS RN426 displaying less free space than expected for 3x4TB WD Red Pro HDDs

With single redundancy XRAID, the capacity of the volume is computed by summing the disks and subtracting the largest.  In your case that is 12 TB - 4 TB -> 8 TB.  That is the same as ~7.27 TiB.

 

So it's your expectations that are wrong.

 

Single Redundancy protects your data against a routine disk failure.  It also allows you to expand the data volume without losing the data on it.  That requires dedicating some space for RAID parity blocks (4 TB in your case).

 

You could destroy the volume and create one using RAID-0.  That would give you a single 12 TB volume.  But when any of the disks fail, you will lose all the data in the volume.  So if you want to maximize space, it is better to create three volumes - one for each disk.  Then if a disk fails, you only lose the data on that disk.

 

Personally I'd stick with XRAID and simply purchase a 4th drive.

 

Note that RAID protection (though helpful) isn't enough to keep your data safe.  No matter what RAID mode you choose, you need to back up your data to a different device to keep it safe.

 

 

 

Message 2 of 3
terry2000
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS RN426 displaying less free space than expected for 3x4TB WD Red Pro HDDs

Thanks for calrifying StephenB.  I am new to the NAS and RAID configuration, and will get another 4TB HDD when it goes on sale again as the current capacity is more than I need to create backup my data.

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