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Forum Discussion
Western Digital RED 3TB Drive Problems
I have a ReadyNAS Pro 6 configured as follows.
Ch 1 : 1TB Seagate ST31000528AS [931 GB]
Ch 2 : 1TB WDC WD1003FBYX-01Y7B0 [931 GB]
Ch 3 : 1TB WDC WD1003FBYX-01Y7B0 [931 GB]
Ch 4 : 1TB WDC WD1003FBYX-01Y7B0 [931 GB]
Ch 5 : 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS [1863 GB]
Ch 6 : 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS [1863 GB]
RAID Level X-RAID2, 6 disks (with dual redundancy)
I am up to about 90% capacity so need to expand my volumes.
My current configuration gives 3643GB
With future expansion in mind I intend to use the WD30EFRX (RED Series) which is a 3TB disc. Obviously putting a single 3TB drive won't give me any extra expansion so initially I will go for 2No 3TB drives which will give about 5483GB. Eventually I would like to replace all my existing drives with 3TB drives but I have read that it is not advisable to use more then 5 of the WD30EFRX drives in a single NAS. Apparently it's something to do with vibration.
My questions are.
1. Has anyone heard or does anyone have any information about the problem of using more than 5 of the WD30EFRX drives in a single NAS or should I just go ahead and use the WD30EFRX throughout?
2. If I need to use another manufacturer for a 3TB drive, can anyone make some recommendations?
3. With regard to replacing my drives - which drives should I change first. The obvious choice is channel 1 and then channel 2 etc. However, I was thinking of starting from channel 6 and working down. I would replace drive 5 and drive 6 with 3TB discs and use the 2TB discs in channels 1 and 2. When I purchase another 3TB disc I will use that in channel 4 working down to channel 1. Are their any advantages in using this method or is their a better method that I should consider?
Happy New Year to all especially mdgm for all his assistance.
Ch 1 : 1TB Seagate ST31000528AS [931 GB]
Ch 2 : 1TB WDC WD1003FBYX-01Y7B0 [931 GB]
Ch 3 : 1TB WDC WD1003FBYX-01Y7B0 [931 GB]
Ch 4 : 1TB WDC WD1003FBYX-01Y7B0 [931 GB]
Ch 5 : 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS [1863 GB]
Ch 6 : 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS [1863 GB]
RAID Level X-RAID2, 6 disks (with dual redundancy)
I am up to about 90% capacity so need to expand my volumes.
My current configuration gives 3643GB
With future expansion in mind I intend to use the WD30EFRX (RED Series) which is a 3TB disc. Obviously putting a single 3TB drive won't give me any extra expansion so initially I will go for 2No 3TB drives which will give about 5483GB. Eventually I would like to replace all my existing drives with 3TB drives but I have read that it is not advisable to use more then 5 of the WD30EFRX drives in a single NAS. Apparently it's something to do with vibration.
My questions are.
1. Has anyone heard or does anyone have any information about the problem of using more than 5 of the WD30EFRX drives in a single NAS or should I just go ahead and use the WD30EFRX throughout?
2. If I need to use another manufacturer for a 3TB drive, can anyone make some recommendations?
3. With regard to replacing my drives - which drives should I change first. The obvious choice is channel 1 and then channel 2 etc. However, I was thinking of starting from channel 6 and working down. I would replace drive 5 and drive 6 with 3TB discs and use the 2TB discs in channels 1 and 2. When I purchase another 3TB disc I will use that in channel 4 working down to channel 1. Are their any advantages in using this method or is their a better method that I should consider?
Happy New Year to all especially mdgm for all his assistance.
3 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- 1. Go ahead and use them.
3. Replace disks in worst condition first. If all disks fine then order shouldn't matter. Replace one disk at a time, wait for resync etc. to complete then replace next disk. Singularity wrote:
1. Has anyone heard or does anyone have any information about the problem of using more than 5 of the WD30EFRX drives in a single NAS or should I just go ahead and use the WD30EFRX throughout?
It seems to me that the "problem of using more than 5 drives" is really just a misunderstanding of Western Digital's marketing literature. If WD advertised that a new drive was already certified by Dell, Synology, and Apple, would people assume that it was incompatible with equipment made by HP, Acer, Netgear, etc?Singularity wrote: 2. If I need to use another manufacturer for a 3TB drive, can anyone make some recommendations?
There are only two and a half other choices...Singularity wrote: 3. With regard to replacing my drives - which drives should I change first. The obvious choice is channel 1 and then channel 2 etc.
Yes. If you are starting with just two new 3TB drives, you must use them to replace two of your 1TB drives; if you don't, you won't get any expansion of your array.Singularity wrote: However, I was thinking of starting from channel 6 and working down. I would replace drive 5 and drive 6 with 3TB discs and use the 2TB discs in channels 1 and 2.
How is that different from simply replacing drives 1 and 2 with new 3TB drives? By replacing your 2TB drives with 3TB drives, then replacing two of your 1TB drives with your old 2TB drives, you're just making a lot more work for yourself... And that's assuming that your proposed method would work at all. I'm pretty sure that it won't; once you replace your 2TB drives with 3TB drives, you will no longer be able to replace your 1TB drives with anything smaller than a 3TB drive.- If you are planning to keep the 2 TB drives in the array for now, then just leave them alone. Reinserting them in a different slot is a bad idea. There is no reason to move them out of slots 5 and 6.
You are aware of the 8 TiB expansion limit? That is - if your initial installation was 3 TiB you can't expand the volume beyond 11 TiB?
You will reach this expansion ceiling at some point with your current plan, as you are going from a 6 TB volume to a 15 TB volume. I suspect you started with a smaller volume - if so, you will reach the ceiling sooner.
The recommended workaround from Netgear is to do a factory reset (which wipes all your data, and forces you to reinstall add-ons and rebuild the configuration). If you want to use that method, then you would install the first two 3 TB drives and then do a factory reset. Then you'd have a 9 TB starting point - allowing you to reach 15 TB without hitting the ceiling again.
There is also an off-line expansion procedure which can avoid the limitation. But it requires some knowledge/comfort with linux command lines, and carries some risk. And once you hit the limit, you'd need to continue using the off-line expansion method for each additional disk you upgrade.
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