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I am running RAIDiator-x86 4.2.27 on a ReadyNAS RNDP6000 with 3 x 1TB disks in XRAID2. (Currently 3 slots are empty)
Just to clarify, before I add new drives, what are my expansion limits for the unit (per drive slot and overall)?
May I add either 2TB or 3TB drives to the currently-empty slots? Will I eventually be able to still increase the capacity for the 3 drives that are currently in use?
There are 2 limitations to volume expansion that you need to be aware of on legacy systems (these limitations do not apply to ReadyNAS OS 6 devices):
Limitation # 1: The file system can not expand more than 8TB total in its lifetime. Some examples:
2TB->10TB expansion OK
2TB->8TB->10TB expansion OK
5TB->13TB expansion OK
2TB->11TB expansion NOT OK
2TB->8TB->10TB->12TB expansion NOT OK
5TB->14TB expansion NOT OK
Limitation # 2: No system can expand past 16TB. Systems already above 16TB may not expand further. Units must be factory defaulted (deletes all data) to assume full capacity if disk capacity is over 16TB.
In your situation, I suspect you are getting a little under 2TB usable capacity with your current configuration. You could add 3 x 3TB disks to the remaining slots (preferably one at a time and wait for expansion to complete before adding the next). When done you will have expanded by approximately 7TB to a little under 9TB usable capacity. This would bring you close to limitation # 1 above, meaning you would not be able to expand much further.
There are 2 limitations to volume expansion that you need to be aware of on legacy systems (these limitations do not apply to ReadyNAS OS 6 devices):
Limitation # 1: The file system can not expand more than 8TB total in its lifetime. Some examples:
2TB->10TB expansion OK
2TB->8TB->10TB expansion OK
5TB->13TB expansion OK
2TB->11TB expansion NOT OK
2TB->8TB->10TB->12TB expansion NOT OK
5TB->14TB expansion NOT OK
Limitation # 2: No system can expand past 16TB. Systems already above 16TB may not expand further. Units must be factory defaulted (deletes all data) to assume full capacity if disk capacity is over 16TB.
In your situation, I suspect you are getting a little under 2TB usable capacity with your current configuration. You could add 3 x 3TB disks to the remaining slots (preferably one at a time and wait for expansion to complete before adding the next). When done you will have expanded by approximately 7TB to a little under 9TB usable capacity. This would bring you close to limitation # 1 above, meaning you would not be able to expand much further.
And then, if I expanded as you suggest (3 x 3TB drives), I should eventually hot-swap the original 1TB drives (as they fail over time) with new drives of the same capacity as originals (1 TB)... not larger sized drives
And then, if I expanded as you suggest (3 x 3TB drives), I should eventually hot-swap the original 1TB drives (as they fail over time) with new drives of the same capacity as originals (1 TB)... not larger sized drives
Ideally yes. If you had expanded with 3 x 3TB drives and then encountered a failure of a 1TB drive, you could in theory replace with a 3TB drive however the volume would try to expand again and fail because it would have hit the 8TB expansion limit. This wouldn't cause any problems as such but you would see an "expansion failure" message every time the system booted.
By the way, if in the future you wanted to get the full capacity of 6 x 3TB drives, then you can always reset to factory defaults and copy your data on again from a backup.
