Increased disk capacity

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CiscoNas
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Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

Hi everyone,
I apologize in advance for the blunders that I will surely make below, since I wrote the text in Italian and then translated it with Google Translate.

I would like to replace the two 4TB drives (WD40EFRX) in Raid 1 of my NAS (TS-253E) with two other 8TB drives from Western Digital. Among the available models, I singled out the WD80EFZX and the WD80EFZZ, the latter at a very affordable price. Not being an expert, I compared the spec sheets and found no significant differences between the two, so I'd be leaning towards the WD80EFZZ. However, in the compatibility table this disc appears with the code WD80EFZZ-68BTXN0.

If I search online for this code to buy it, I find much higher prices. I wonder if any of you can explain the difference between WD80EFZZ and WD80EFZZ-68BTXN0 and if I can install the WD80EFZZ without problems.

Also, I would like to know if it is enough to replace the 4TB disks, one at a time, with 8TB ones, to finally obtain a double storage pool without doing other operations or if some other procedure is needed to expand it. If so, which one?

Thanks to anyone who wants to respond.
Francesco
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dolbyman
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by dolbyman »

Not sure what the difference is, but if they are NAS rated CMR drives, they are good to go

You replace the drives and follow the pool expansion procedure (see manual) and then you can use the extra pool space for snapshots,increase volume size, ISCSI, etc.
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

Hi dolbyman. It is a pleasure to communicate with you again, we have already exchanged some messages on the forum. I followed all your advice.

The discs are CMR, at least that's how it is indicated.
So, if I replace the disks, will I still have a storage pool of about 4TB as now, unless I do the expansion procedure?

I have never taken snapshots, I don't know what they are for, how they are used and how much space they occupy (if you can explain it to me, I would be grateful) and I don't know if I will need them, because I bought the TR-002 (in which I will install the 4TB disks that I recover from the NAS after replacement) to make a backup that, in the event of a NAS failure, is readable with Windows.
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dolbyman
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by dolbyman »

CiscoNas wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:40 am So, if I replace the disks, will I still have a storage pool of about 4TB as now, unless I do the expansion procedure?
Correct, but expanding is just a couple of button presses away at that point
CiscoNas wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:40 am I have never taken snapshots, I don't know what they are for, how they are used and how much space they occupy (if you can explain it to me, I would be grateful) and I don't know if I will need them, because I bought the TR-002 (in which I will install the 4TB disks that I recover from the NAS after replacement) to make a backup that, in the event of a NAS failure, is readable with Windows.
Snapshots:
https://www.qnap.com/en/software/snapshots

Make sure you run the TR002 in external storage mode and not as additional pool, if you use it for backups
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

Make sure you run the TR002 in external storage mode and not as additional pool, if you use it for backups
How you do it? I've read the whole manual, but I don't understand.
Do I have to set the TR-002 as Individual or can I also use a different configuration?

QNAP guides and manuals, in my opinion, are not clear at all, or it depends on my poor deductive skills.

Based on the manual page, reachable from the link below, I interpret that External Storage mode is possible with all configurations, am I wrong?
https://download.qnap.com/TechnicalDocu ... -en-us.pdf

If that's the way I understand it, then I can use any of the selector settings, but then again, can I read the data with windows?

Thanks for your patience
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dolbyman
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by dolbyman »

I was talking about the target configuration of the TT unit (external vs. pool extension) not the disk config (single,spanning jbod,RAID1,RAID0)
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

So if I understand correctly: if I don't add the storage capacity of the TR-002 to the NAS by creating a storage pool or static volume, I can use the TR-002 as an external drive with any switch setting. Right?
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by dolbyman »

Correct, but external storage mode is a dedicated mode the TR can run in
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

Hi dolbyman,
I would like to connect the TR-002 to the NAS and schedule simple weekly or daily backups, so that I can access the data from the Windows computer in case the NAS fails.
Please dolbyman, can you advise me which configuration is the best - considering that I will have the NAS with two 8TB disks and the TR-002 with two 4TB disks - and the steps to do step by step? (I'm torn between JBOD, RAID 0 and Individual)

Can I do the above with Hybrid Backup Sync?
Thank you
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dolbyman
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by dolbyman »

hmm

I always think "Murphy's Law" When you HAVE to rely on that Backup and you have both disks in spanning JBOD or RAID0 ..do you trust it not to fail during data offload?

But if you need the full space of both drives, just put it into RAID0
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

..do you trust it not to fail during data offload?
Yes, of course, but it must happen that the NAS fails and the backup disks fail at the same time, I know that Marphy's law has no limits, but let's hope he's kind to me. Then later I'll try to set up other types of backup as well.

Thanks again dolbyman
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

Hi Dolbyman,
I followed the record replacement procedure one by one to increase the capacity of my NAS TS-253E 4TB to 8TB.
The discs are WD80EFzz and the NAS is configured in RAID 1. The disc n.1 has been successfully replaced, while after inserting the disc n.2 the NAS showed the message "Disco Non present" and "degraded raid".
I tried to remove and reintegrate the disc n.2, but nothing has changed. So I turned off the NAS (is it normal for the lights to remain on the extinguished Nas?) And I rekindled it with the button, but it did not start. Only the green light at the top and the flashing yellow light are turned on. Then I removed the disc n.2 and I tried to start the NAS thinking that it was the disc n.2 to prevent its start, but the situation has not changed. The NAS does not start, only the green lights at the top and the yellow flashes. At that point I turned off the NAS with the button and also removed the disc n.1 and I turned on the nas without discs. I tried to look for it with qfinder, but it is not detected.
What happened?
What should I do?

I also opened a tyket with QNAP, but I am also interested in your opinion.
Thank you
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dolbyman
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by dolbyman »

Did you make sure that the rebuild was fully done before swapping the second disk?

That the NAS seems dead now, seems rather strange though, not sure what could have happened.
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

I'm sure because the disk rebuild finished at night and only in the morning around 6:30 in the morning I inserted the second one.
Furthermore, in the archiving and snapshot window, hovering over disk one, which was indicated as good, a message appeared that said something like "files can be accessed"
Also when the raid is rebuilding it is not possible to select disks and press the change button.
CiscoNas
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Re: Increased disk capacity

Post by CiscoNas »

Hi dolbyman,
Now I unplugged the power to the NAS, waited a few minutes then turned it on without the disks, this time I was able to locate it with QFinder.

What do you advise me to do?
Do I shut down the NAS, insert disk one, which should be good, and try to power it up with only one disk? Or what else?
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