TS-873A - Migrate RAID 5 to RAID 6 plus expansion

[styoda]

Hi All,

Recently purchased a TS-873A with 3 x 14TB disks, and planning on getting another 3 x 14TB disks for RAID 6 and expanding the storage.
The 3 x 14TB disks are currently in a RAID 5 configuration.
Questions I have are:-

1. Is it best to add 1 disk and migrate the RAID 5 array into RAID 6, and then when finished migrating, add in another disk to expand it, and then the last disk to complete the expansion.
or
2. Expand the RAID 5 array by adding in 1 disk, then another disk to expand it, and then add the last disk to migrate it to RAID 6.

I'm guessing this will take some time to do, anyone have any ideas and would one be quicker than the other?

Thanks

[dolbyman]

1. I would convert to dual parity (RAID6) first, as each subsequent addition of disks is then 'protected' by a multiple disk failure tolerance (vs only single disk on RAID5)
2. see 1.

[a13antichrist]

FYI you can add all three disks and then tell the NAS to expand directly to the new 6-disk Rd-6.
That's how I went from 4D R5 to 6D R6. Worked a treat and only one stressy rebuild instead of two (or, in your case, 3).

[dolbyman]

I guess OP made a decision by now, after almost 3 months

[a13antichrist]

Sure. But someone searching later might find the topic.