NAS Question buying TS-131k or 231k or 230

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mabel
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NAS Question buying TS-131k or 231k or 230

Post by mabel »

Hello,

I'm looking for an extra QNAP NAS for home.
I’m not too sure about the terminology.

I already have a TS-119p+ with 2TB + 4TB eSat External Drive

It's currently backed up to a portable HDD which lives off-site (in my office)
So, if the house burns down or I’m burgled I will still have my data.

I want to copy all its 5TB contents to another NAS drive (at home) and have
some space left over and then use this NAS as my main NAS.

So i will in effect have two copies of my files availble on two different NAS drives,
as well as the off-site backup.

my TS-119 is getting near capacity.

I don't need raid, I just want extra storage.

Just for easily accessible storage on the home network (music, photos, docs).
I wish to access the files from any of the computers, tables, phones, sonos.

Backup is taken care of by a separate off-site drive.

I’m considering one of the following;

TS-131k (single bay) (with one 8TB WD RED PLUS drive)

TS-230 is marked as entry level on the QNAP website (with two 4TB WD RED PLUS drives)

TS-231k is marked as middle range on the QNAP website (with two 4TB WD RED PLUS drives)

but comparing them on the QNAP website shows that the TS-230 has more memory and is 64 bit
so it would look like the TS-230 is a better drive but is classed as entry level wheras the 231k is classed as middle range.

Q1
What am I missing here?

Q2
Can I use a two bay drive and have both 4TB drives "added together" to give me 8TB of storage?
Is this called RAID 0 or maybe single?

I see in the specs under STORAGE MANAGEMENT there is something called SINGLE.

Q3
Is this what I want?
Does SINGLE mean that both 4TB drives are considered as one big 8TB drive and all 8TB
are available (less the system overheads that get taken etc.).

Q4
If so, is single and RAID 0 the same thing or is there some subtle difference, if so which is best?

Q5
Can I use a 2 bay drive with only one 8TB HDD and then add another 8TB HDD in the future for 16 TB of storage?


Thank you for any advice.

Mabel
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QNAP TS-119P+ (with 2 TB Drive) & 4TB eSata Expansion Drive
Windows 10 proffessional (64 bit)
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OneCD
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Re: NAS Question buying TS-131k or 231k or 230

Post by OneCD »

  • The TS-230 is definitely the better NAS model. QNAP's model numbering system is a little odd.
  • RAID 0 will stripe your data across both 4TB drives. They will effectively be seen as one large drive with a total capacity of both drives added together. However, the failure of either drive will result in the total loss of all data on both drives, as there's no redundancy available. This risk is something you have to consider.
  • Single drive is different. Each single drive is seen as a distinct and separate storage area. If a single drive fails, you'll only lose the data on that drive. A bit safer than RAID 0, but still no redundancy.
  • Yes, you can start with a single 8TB drive, then add another single 8TB drive later for a total of 16TB. However, you'll need to manage your share size allocations per drive.
  • You can't create a RAID 0 with existing single drives, unless you format them and start again.

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dolbyman
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Re: NAS Question buying TS-131k or 231k or 230

Post by dolbyman »

There is several ways to combine disks to a single volume (all will result in total loss of data on single failure .. but .. yada yada)

- RAID0 (RAID level striping)
- Spanning JBOD (Linear disk array)
- Pooled Single drives (volume is pooled on LVM level)

So a few ways for the same thing (single volume out of multiple disks)
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OneCD
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Re: NAS Question buying TS-131k or 231k or 230

Post by OneCD »

I've just confirmed it's possible to create a storage pool on a single drive, create a single thick volume, then expand that pool with another single drive later and resize the existing volume. Works fine (despite the QTS user-manual saying it's not possible to expand a storage pool with single drives. :roll: )

So, @dolbyman's suggestion to use pooled single drives is another way to configure your datastore. Image

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mabel
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Re: NAS Question buying TS-131k or 231k or 230

Post by mabel »

Thank you both for the information.

So if I have understood correctly from the above, and from the videos I have watched.

I can get a TS-230 and
One 8TB Ironwolf or WD REd Plus HDD (CMR)

install the single HDD

configure the storage pool for, say 20TB
allocate the installed 8TB as one single thick volume
and I'm off to the races.

then if I ever fill up the 8TB and I can slot in another 8TB or 12TB at some point in the future.
and expand the volume as descriebed by OneCD above.

Happy Days.

thank you for the help.

so that's what i will be doing on the bank holiday. :D
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QNAP TS-119P+ (with 2 TB Drive) & 4TB eSata Expansion Drive
Windows 10 proffessional (64 bit)
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