HI, I have a ReadyNAS 314 with 3x 2TB Drives using Raid-5. Firmware is 6.10.2.
1. Can I upsize to 4 x 4TB or 8TB drives by inserting one first, then when replicated, replace the next one, and so on?
Yes, though if you aren't running XRAID, then switch to that first. XRAID is enabled if you see a green stripe on the XRAID control on the volume page.
FWIW, the disks aren't being replicated. The content of the disk you replace is being regenerated from the remaining three. When you upgrade the second drive, the capacity is also expanded.
2. Once the original three disks are out - can I insert them into my old ReadyNAS NV+ as a backup of my data?
You can't migrate them, as the disk formatting and platforms are completely different. But you can do a factory reset with all the disks in place (which reformats them), and then back up the shares of the RN314 using rsync backup jobs.
Re: Upsizing disks by swapping them out one at a time
Ah. Makes sense.
However, if I just kept these three 2TB disks safe, I would effectively have a backup of the current data. Is that correct? I could if needed replace these three drives in the 314 and have access to what was on them before I upsized?
However, if I just kept these three 2TB disks safe, I would effectively have a backup of the current data. Is that correct?
Actually it's not correct - the three disks would be out of sync, so the volume wouldn't mount if you put them back into the RN314.
I suggest making sure you have a backup of the current data before you expand it - the process does stress the disks and the volume isn't protected during the resyncs - so if one were to fail during the expansion process you would lose the data. More broadly, RAID just isn't enough to protect your data from loss, you do need a backup plan in place to do that.
Then afterwards if you wish you can use the rsync backup jobs to copy the files to the old NV+ to give you a secondary backup of at least some of the shares. I use my own NV+ that way.
