Synology DS220J change from 2 SSD to 2 HDD

[Nesalex]

Hello. I have a Synology DS220J. There are 2 SSDs inside RAID1. I would like to exchange it for 2x HDD so that I can use the SSD somewhere else. I read that the NAS cannot work with 1x SSD and 1x HDD. My first plan was to replace 1 disk and then the other. I don't want to lose the data stored on the disks. Can anyone advise how it could be done other than copying the data to an external drive and reinstalling and setting up the system? Well thank you

 

[bbunge]

Hello. I have a Synology DS220J. There are 2 SSDs inside RAID1. I would like to exchange it for 2x HDD so that I can use the SSD somewhere else. I read that the NAS cannot work with 1x SSD and 1x HDD. My first plan was to replace 1 disk and then the other. I don't want to lose the data stored on the disks. Can anyone advise how it could be done other than copying the data to an external drive and reinstalling and setting up the system? Well thank you

Should not matter if the drives are SSD or spinning rust as long as the new drives are the same size or larger. I upgraded my DS218J from 4 TB to 8 TB then put the 8 TB drives in a new DS220+.

 

[coxhaus]

So, with Synology if you replace both drives in the RAID with larger drives can you increase the size of the RAID? You can with server controllers, after market controllers, because it is just a logical container overlaid on a physical drive.

 

[sfx2000]

I would like to exchange it for 2x HDD so that I can use the SSD somewhere else. I read that the NAS cannot work with 1x SSD and 1x HDD. My first plan was to replace 1 disk and then the other. I don't want to lose the data stored on the disks. Can anyone advise how it could be done other than copying the data to an external drive and reinstalling and setting up the system?

Before you do anything - back up the data that is on the NAS - so you will need an external drive.

If you don't do this - odds are very high that you will miss something when juggling disks, and your data will be gone...

Once done, pop out the two SSD's, drop in a pair of matched HDD's, and you're back in business...

 

[sfx2000]

So, with Synology if you replace both drives in the RAID with larger drives can you increase the size of the RAID?

Only for JBOD for most use cases...

For RAID - limits still apply for mismatched sizes, size of the smallest disk - the spare space can be reused as another volume.

SHR can do some more with this, but a mismatch between SSD and HDD in a pair is asking for trouble, even with SHR and BTRFS (if his model can do BTRFS, if I recall that's x86 only, not ARM).

What is Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR)? - Synology Knowledge Center

Synology Knowledge Center offers comprehensive support, providing answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting steps, software tutorials, and all the technical documentation you may need.

kb.synology.com

The DS220J is Realtek, so EXT4, no BTRFS support...

 

[coxhaus]

JBOD is not RAID, it is separate disks.

For clarification I understand when you replace the first disk of a RAID you are still limited to the RAID size. But once you replace say the second disk of a 2 drive RAID and both disks now match in size and are bigger disks can you expand the RAID out to the new full size disks? You can do this with like Dell RAID controllers, IBM or Intel controllers. You can expand the container out to the new full size disks. I do not know if you can do this with a NAS as I have not worked NASs very much. You can do this real time without taking the RAID down with server controllers.
Your link kind of implies this but I am not sure.

 

[sfx2000]

Just be aware that SHR can get one into a JBOD situation when growing the array... as Syno really wants to run SHR...

One can get into a hybrid where part of it is RAID(x) and the new drive is added to SHR - so it's a FrankenJBOD...

Right or wrong - just review carefully the options inside DSM before adding the drive to the pool..

 

[Nesalex]

I want to swap 2x 4TB 2.5" SSDs for 2x 3TB 3.5" drives is it good to do that:

1. make a backup using hyper backup to one 3TB drive (I use 2.3TB of data) via USB

2. I take the 2x 4TB disk out

3. Insert 1x 3TB drive

4. I install DSM and restore via hyper backup

5. Insert the 3TB disk that the backup was on, format it and set raid1

Should this procedure work like this? Correct me if I'm wrong or write how I should do it. Thank you

 

[coxhaus]

Just be aware that SHR can get one into a JBOD situation when growing the array... as Syno really wants to run SHR...

One can get into a hybrid where part of it is RAID(x) and the new drive is added to SHR - so it's a FrankenJBOD...

Right or wrong - just review carefully the options inside DSM before adding the drive to the pool..

Maybe this is why we never used NASs at work. We used RAID controllers in server PCs. We had like 20 to 30 servers that all had RAID controllers.

 

[L&LD]

1. Make a backup.

2. Make another backup to another device and be sure you test that the backup works before proceeding.

3. Remove one 3TB HDD. Insert one 4TB SSD. Let the RAID1 array rebuild itself.

4. When the rebuild is complete, remove the second 3TB HDD. Insert the second 4TB SSD. Let the array rebuild itself.


Note that you may need to manually initiate the rebuilding of the array.

I would not use the NAS (at all) until that last step is complete and you've tested the hardware to work as expected.

 

[Nesalex]

I need to go from 4 TB drives to 3 TB. Not the other way around.

 

[L&LD]

Sorry, that's not how I (still) read it.

Nothing changes, expect possibly to make the RAID1 array 3TB (or less) first, on the SSDs.