Expanding the ReadyNAS Duo

[ReD-BaRoN]

I'm thinking I want a 2 drive NAS in order to pop in a second drive when the first drive becomes full.

I just want to make sure I understand the expansion situation with the ReadyNAS Duo. I can't configure the Duo as JBOD, so I won't be able to just pop in 2nd disk to expand, correct? If I want to have two disks in the Duo which would actually equal the total storage of the two disks (i.e. 2 x 1.5TB = 3TB), that would have to be RAID 0 and I'd have to do that at initial install, to leverage the RAID 0 across the two drives, correct?

Am I missing something here? Given what I believe the facts are above, it doesn't seem the Duo will fit my needs.

Thanks!

 

[thiggins]

Bessier says you can create two RAID 0 volumes, which I was unaware of.

 

[ReD-BaRoN]

I'm presuming that wouldn't look like a single disk anymore and would then be represented to the network as two different disks. The method described also soulds like it could potentially lose data (deleting the RAID 1 volume and converting to RAID 0).

Can the QNAP TS-219 or the Synology DS209 do what I'm looking for?

Tim, do you have plans to review the TS-219?

What does online RAID expansion mean?

 

[thiggins]

I'm presuming that wouldn't look like a single disk anymore and would then be represented to the network as two different disks. The method described also soulds like it could potentially lose data (deleting the RAID 1 volume and converting to RAID 0).

You would set the system to FlexRAID mode when you set it up. So no data loss is involved.

Can the QNAP TS-219 or the Synology DS209 do what I'm looking for?

The QNAP TS-219 manual says it supports RAID migration from single drive to RAID 1. JBOD volumes are also supported. But there is no mention of other options for adding a second drive. I need to ask QNAP. I'll also ask Synology.

Tim, do you have plans to review the TS-219?

No. TS-239 Pro is more likely.

What does online RAID expansion mean?

It means the ability to swap out one disk of a RAID array at a time, let the array rebuild, then repeat until all drives have been replaced with larger drives in order to expand storage capacity.

 

[beisser]

I'm presuming that wouldn't look like a single disk anymore and would then be represented to the network as two different disks. The method described also soulds like it could potentially lose data (deleting the RAID 1 volume and converting to RAID 0).

Can the QNAP TS-219 or the Synology DS209 do what I'm looking for?

Tim, do you have plans to review the TS-219?

What does online RAID expansion mean?

jbod will also lose data.. the data of the disk failing. if you configure it as two raid0 volumes, you will have 2 logical drives, which (as you guessed) dont show up as a single drive. if 1 drive fails, the other one will be fine.

you can also configure it as a true raid0 which will make it appear as a single big drive, but will in turn cost you all your data if one drive fails.

 

[ReD-BaRoN]

This is interesting.

I don't see a single disk NAS being sufficient given the largest HD size being 2TB at the moment, and those 2TB HDs not on many NAS approved lists yet.

So I see at least the need for a 2 disk NAS, but I wasn't looking to populate both disks at the same time. Reasoning is that 2TB will hold me for a while, and when I need more space, I would just pop another disk in. At that time disk sizes will also be larger. Therefore RAID 0 is out, but JBOD should support this correct? I.e. I start with a 2TB drive, add a 3TB drive, and now I have a single network share of 5TB.

Do most people with 2 drive NASs buy both disks to populate it at the same time and run RAID 0?

Thanks!