Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

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praveenvj
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Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by praveenvj »

Hi

I am interested in buying TS-453Be. I wanted to know if I can mix different capacity drives in the NAS in RAID 5 combination.

I currently have a WD My Cloud EX2 with 2 drives of 4 TB capacity. I am planning to buy TS-453Be and then add 2 drives of 6 TB capacity along with existing 4 TB drives and create a RAID 5 NAS. I want to know if this is a supported configuration.

Also can we upgrade the hard drive capacity in future by replacing the 4 Tb drives with 6 TB drives.
P3R
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Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by P3R »

praveenvj wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:40 am I am interested in buying TS-453Be. I wanted to know if I can mix different capacity drives in the NAS in RAID 5 combination.
Yes you can.
I currently have a WD My Cloud EX2 with 2 drives of 4 TB capacity. I am planning to buy TS-453Be and then add 2 drives of 6 TB capacity along with existing 4 TB drives and create a RAID 5 NAS. I want to know if this is a supported configuration.
It is but as RAID 5 is limited to using only the capacity of the smallest disk in the array so it will appear as being 4*4 TB.
Also can we upgrade the hard drive capacity in future by replacing the 4 Tb drives with 6 TB drives.
Yes and when all disks are 6 TB it will be possible to expand the RAID 5 array to 6*4 TB.
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!
praveenvj
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Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by praveenvj »

Thanks for your reply
praveenvj
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Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by praveenvj »

P3R wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:59 am
praveenvj wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:40 am I am interested in buying TS-453Be. I wanted to know if I can mix different capacity drives in the NAS in RAID 5 combination.
Yes you can.
I currently have a WD My Cloud EX2 with 2 drives of 4 TB capacity. I am planning to buy TS-453Be and then add 2 drives of 6 TB capacity along with existing 4 TB drives and create a RAID 5 NAS. I want to know if this is a supported configuration.
It is but as RAID 5 is limited to using only the capacity of the smallest disk in the array so it will appear as being 4*4 TB.
Also can we upgrade the hard drive capacity in future by replacing the 4 Tb drives with 6 TB drives.
Yes and when all disks are 6 TB it will be possible to expand the RAID 5 array to 6*4 TB.
Is there an option to create 2 RAID 1 arrays, one with 4x2 and other with 6x2 and then at a later date change to Raid 5 with all 6 TB drives. And will this result in loss of data?
P3R
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Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by P3R »

praveenvj wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2019 4:45 am Is there an option to create 2 RAID 1 arrays, one with 4x2 and other with 6x2 and then at a later date change to Raid 5 with all 6 TB drives.
Possible but I see no point with doing that. It would give you 4+6 TB usable data storage while a RAID 5 using the same disks would give you 12 TB usable storage and better performance.

When you've replaced both 4 TB disks with 6 TB you would have 18 TB storage.
And will this result in loss of data?
Yes, at least some of it.
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!
praveenvj
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Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:31 am

Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by praveenvj »

Thanks for your responses. Is there a way to access the unused space on the RAID 5 array (i.e. from the 2 disks of 6 TB capacity)?

Does QNAP have something like SHR?
P3R
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Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by P3R »

No Qnap doesn't have a proprietary RAID solution.
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!
praveenvj
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Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:31 am

Re: Mixed size HDD in TS-453Be

Post by praveenvj »

Thanks for your responses
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