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I am after some help / advice. I have a readynas 104 (uptodate software) with x4 4TB drives in XRaid – Raid 5 I believe. I am coming close to full on the available space and want to swap out the 4TB drives for 8TB drives. Can I (to save cash now) set it up with 3 8TB drives without losing any data? I under stand how to swap and let the drive rebuild but what if I done that for the first 3 and then just removed the 4th? Would it work itself out to being with 3 drives or should I swap out one at a time and build up to having 4 8TB drives over time always having 4 drives in?
I hope I am making sense here! And would appreciate any help anyone can give.
BTW, if you have snapshots enabled, you can free up some space in the short term by deleting some (start with the oldest). If you use the SMART setting, then consider switching to CUSTOM and set a retention limit. That will help over the long run - the monthly snapshots are never deleted using the SMART setting, and given enough time that will fill your NAS with snapshots.
Also, I am working on the assumption that the total capacity of the 104 is 32TB so 4 8TB drives is my limit – is this correct?
Netgear's published capacities are based on the largest available drives at the time the datasheet is published (so they often are too low).
The RN104 can handle larger drives than 8 TB (there is no known limit). But it is a slow entry-level NAS with limited CPU and memory. Resyncs (and scrubs, balances, defrags) will take more time on the RN104 then higher-end NAS, and performance will also degrade more while such tasks are running.
There is no hard rule here, but 8 TB is a reasonable choice. If you need to go much higher, then I suggest upgrading the NAS as part of the project (which obviously will cost more, but doesn't need to be done at the beginning of the project).
Also, make sure you include upgrading your backup plan as part of the project. RAID isn't enough to keep your data safe (and it is more at risk during disk replacements than at other times).
I am coming close to full on the available space and want to swap out the 4TB drives for 8TB drives. Can I (to save cash now) set it up with 3 8TB drives without losing any data?
You can actually upgrade just two drives to begin with (leaving the other two in place). That will increase your volume from 12 TB (10.0 TiB) to 16 TB (14.5 TiB).
The capacity rule is "sum the disks and subtract the largest".
but what if I done that for the first 3 and then just removed the 4th?
Don't do that. The volume would become degraded and you would lose RAID protection. If you upgrade 3 drives, then leave it as 3x8TB+4TB. You'd have a 20 TB volume (~18.2 TiB).
Thanks for the reply and knowledge! I will 100% go with the first part of your reply – I was 90% on the second not being a good idea anyway but always best, safer and much less expensive to check these things out!
Can I replace them one at a time then based on your answer? Say one 8TB hard drive this month, then another next or in a few to spread the cost?
Also, I am working on the assumption that the total capacity of the 104 is 32GB so 4 8TB drives is my limit – is this correct?
BTW, if you have snapshots enabled, you can free up some space in the short term by deleting some (start with the oldest). If you use the SMART setting, then consider switching to CUSTOM and set a retention limit. That will help over the long run - the monthly snapshots are never deleted using the SMART setting, and given enough time that will fill your NAS with snapshots.
Also, I am working on the assumption that the total capacity of the 104 is 32TB so 4 8TB drives is my limit – is this correct?
Netgear's published capacities are based on the largest available drives at the time the datasheet is published (so they often are too low).
The RN104 can handle larger drives than 8 TB (there is no known limit). But it is a slow entry-level NAS with limited CPU and memory. Resyncs (and scrubs, balances, defrags) will take more time on the RN104 then higher-end NAS, and performance will also degrade more while such tasks are running.
There is no hard rule here, but 8 TB is a reasonable choice. If you need to go much higher, then I suggest upgrading the NAS as part of the project (which obviously will cost more, but doesn't need to be done at the beginning of the project).
Also, make sure you include upgrading your backup plan as part of the project. RAID isn't enough to keep your data safe (and it is more at risk during disk replacements than at other times).
I agree I could do with getting a new NAS but costs are prohibitive at the moment so going for larger space with the hope of using the driving in the new unit when I get the funds together for the upgrade.
If I where to replace all the drives with 8TB as my plan now is would it be a big job moving to a newer NAS in a year or so? As nice as the thought is to just put the drives in the new unit, I assume it’s not that simple?
Thanks - you 100% answered my original question plus more and now I’m just chancing my arm as they say
If I where to replace all the drives with 8TB as my plan now is would it be a big job moving to a newer NAS in a year or so? As nice as the thought is to just put the drives in the new unit, I assume it’s not that simple?
If you don't use platform-specific apps (like plex) it is that simple.
If you do use platform-specific apps, then you need to uninstall them before you migrate, and reinstall them afterwards.
