RAID 5 upgrade question

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ajt202
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RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by ajt202 »

Hi all,

I used to find really good support on the QNAP web site, but can't find it now. I've looked through the forums and people have asked the same questions as me, but the links in reply are now dead.

Anyway, QNAP TS-412 - 4.33.0238
I have one 3TB drive, and three 2TB drives all in good health in RAID 5. One by one, I want to replace them all with 4TB drives.

I am sure I can't just pull out one drive, insert the new ones and wait for a rebuild of RAID. I am sure there was more to it both before unplugging a drive, and after it's been replaced and booted. Could someone please confirm. Thanks.

PS .. I've found this link http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.1/Home/en/in ... gement.htm

Under RAID MANAGMENT I only have the ability to "Add Capacity". I can't do this, as I don't have capacity to increase. Add disk is greyed out as I'm using all four bays.
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fredtsai
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Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by fredtsai »

Hello ajt202,

Hopefully that I will be able to help you with this. In fact, I just did what you plan to do a while ago, and I am gradually replacing all 4 hard disks in my TS-451. Although I didn't take photos while I replaced my disks, but I still hope I can explain through my words.

You'll have to get to the function Replace Disks One by One.
Under Storage Manager, click to Storage Space page.
Then right click your storage pool (the one that you plan to replace your disks), select Manage.
The Storage Pool Management window will pop-out, and at the right bottom corner click the Manage again, and the function is right there, Replace Disks One by One.
Probably you can get the place via the below screenshot

Image

After select "Replace Disks One by One", you will be able to select the disk that you want to replace.
I think there may be some but here. I did not have problem replacing my disks, but I remember reading somewhere that if your disks fail to pass S.M.A.R.T test, then you won't be able to see the following options, and you'll probably have to submit a ticket to Qnap.

Check on the below screenshot, this is what you may see in the progress.

Image

Select the disk to replace, and then click on Expand Capacity.
The next instruction from web GUI is to let you remove that specific disk and re-insert the new disk.

After the remove/reinsert disks, the QTS actually recognized it as degraded mode and begin to rebuild by itself. In my case, I waited for over 2~3 days to finish rebuild one of the 10T Ironwolf. It took me another 2~3 days to finish the second disk.

The above should probably give you some confidence and guide like to complete the job I guess!

Again, hope I'm helping!

// edited the image link. The previous one seems to be broken though... hopefully this time I'm getting it right.
Last edited by fredtsai on Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
==============================================================
[list]TS-451 8GB Memory FW: 4.4.1.1216 Build 20200214 - As company data server
4 disks in Raid5 (Seagate Ironwolf 10T*4)
Services / OpenVPN server / Notes Station / Cloud Drive Sync / Unifi Controller /
==============================================================
[list]TS-653A 8GB Memory FW: 4.4.2.1262 Build 20200402 - As personal media server
6 disks in Raid6 (Seagate Ironwolf 4T*6)
Services / Notes Station / Plex Media Server / Backup Station / Cloud Drive Sync /
==============================================================
ajt202
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Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by ajt202 »

Thank you. I will let you know how I get on.
P3R
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Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by P3R »

fredtsai wrote:In fact, I just did what you plan to do a while ago, and I am gradually replacing all 4 hard disks in my TS-451.
TS-451 is a newish category 2 model but the TS-412 is an old category 1 model.

While the general idea for a RAID expansion is similar, the two models run different kinds of QTS firmware and use a very different Storage Manager so both terminology and actual things to do are different between them.
RAID have never ever been a replacement for backups. Without backups on a different system (preferably placed at another site), you will eventually lose data!

A non-RAID configuration (including RAID 0, which isn't really RAID) with a backup on a separate media protects your data far better than any RAID-volume without backup.

All data storage consists of both the primary storage and the backups. It's your money and your data, spend the storage budget wisely or pay with your data!
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fredtsai
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Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by fredtsai »

P3R wrote:
fredtsai wrote:In fact, I just did what you plan to do a while ago, and I am gradually replacing all 4 hard disks in my TS-451.
TS-451 is a newish category 2 model but the TS-412 is an old category 1 model.

While the general idea for a RAID expansion is similar, the two models run different kinds of QTS firmware and use a very different Storage Manager so both terminology and actual things to do are different between them.
Yes you're right. In fact I only have access to TS-451 and TS-653A in my life (so far), and I'm actually new to QNAP compare to most people here. I got the chance to play with these devices about a year ago. Didn't have too much experience though... Just trying to help people here. Somehow at the beginning it is very likely to feel frustrated.
==============================================================
[list]TS-451 8GB Memory FW: 4.4.1.1216 Build 20200214 - As company data server
4 disks in Raid5 (Seagate Ironwolf 10T*4)
Services / OpenVPN server / Notes Station / Cloud Drive Sync / Unifi Controller /
==============================================================
[list]TS-653A 8GB Memory FW: 4.4.2.1262 Build 20200402 - As personal media server
6 disks in Raid6 (Seagate Ironwolf 4T*6)
Services / Notes Station / Plex Media Server / Backup Station / Cloud Drive Sync /
==============================================================
P3R
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden (UTC+01:00)

Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by P3R »

ajt202 wrote:PS .. I've found this link http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.1/Home/en/in ... gement.htm
That's the documentation for QTS version 4.1, while you report using version 4.3.

Instead of trying random links found in the forum, please always go to the Qnap web site documentation (Support, NAS user manual) page and select the correct documentation for your NAS model and QTS version in use.

Currently this would be the documentation for your NAS running QTS 4.3. Follow the instructions under the heading Expanding Capacity (Online RAID Capacity Expansion), as that is what you've indicated you want to do.
RAID have never ever been a replacement for backups. Without backups on a different system (preferably placed at another site), you will eventually lose data!

A non-RAID configuration (including RAID 0, which isn't really RAID) with a backup on a separate media protects your data far better than any RAID-volume without backup.

All data storage consists of both the primary storage and the backups. It's your money and your data, spend the storage budget wisely or pay with your data!
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Toxic17
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Re: RE: Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by Toxic17 »

P3R wrote:
ajt202 wrote:PS .. I've found this link http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.1/Home/en/in ... gement.htm
That's the documentation for QTS version 4.1, while you report using version 4.3.

Instead of trying random links found in the forum, please always go to the Qnap web site documentation (Support, NAS user manual) page and select the correct documentation for your NAS model and QTS version in use.

Currently this would be the documentation for your NAS running QTS 4.3. Follow the instructions under the heading Expanding Capacity (Online RAID Capacity Expansion), as that is what you've indicated you want to do.
tbh I would suggest it would be faster just pulling all the drives and swapping them all at once and start afresh, then restore your data from a good backup but I am guessing you dont have backup strategy?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
Regards Simon

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ajt202
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Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by ajt202 »

Thanks all. The upgrade went well, except for one slight snag.

I understand your point about starting from scratch, but I'd rather do it this way for two reasons.

1) I don't want to have to transfer so much data over the net
2) I can't afford 4 new drives at once, so it's a gradual process.

Thanks.
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fredtsai
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Re: RAID 5 upgrade question

Post by fredtsai »

ajt202 wrote:Thanks all. The upgrade went well, except for one slight snag.

I understand your point about starting from scratch, but I'd rather do it this way for two reasons.

1) I don't want to have to transfer so much data over the net
2) I can't afford 4 new drives at once, so it's a gradual process.

Thanks.
True... large capacity disks are good, but still comes with a higher price though...

I did see significant difference in disk temperature and in performance.
Big difference in performance, I see maybe more than 20% boost, I guess due to RPM and cache.
However, trade off is that Ironwolf 10T is about 3~5 degrees C hotter than 4T disks (I guess because bump up from 5400rpm to 7200rpm).

In terms of price, Seagate Ironwolf 10T compare to 4T. Price is quite different, but with the limited 4Bay device I have to do the ultimate upgrade.
By the way, the price of Ironwolf 10T is about 3 times more than the Ironwolf 4T. That's market retail price here in Thailand. I too can't afford at one time and I actually have to do it slowly like one disk every one to two months. It takes a long time anyway...
==============================================================
[list]TS-451 8GB Memory FW: 4.4.1.1216 Build 20200214 - As company data server
4 disks in Raid5 (Seagate Ironwolf 10T*4)
Services / OpenVPN server / Notes Station / Cloud Drive Sync / Unifi Controller /
==============================================================
[list]TS-653A 8GB Memory FW: 4.4.2.1262 Build 20200402 - As personal media server
6 disks in Raid6 (Seagate Ironwolf 4T*6)
Services / Notes Station / Plex Media Server / Backup Station / Cloud Drive Sync /
==============================================================
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