Synology 409 question

[preacher]

Im looking to buy my first NAS to stream my media collection to my HDX media player and so i can work from the same files on my laptop or desktop.

I have been looking at a 4 bay unit and synology seems the best i can afford but i have a question about it.

will it allow me to start with the drives i have (1tb and 750gb) and then replace them with two 2tb drives when i get a bit more cash? hoping to then add two more when prices come down.

i know some netgear NAS's will automatically rebuild the raid array and im hoping these do the same?

any help would be much appreciated

 

[thiggins]

First, you should use only drives in the NAS manufacturer's recommended drive list. See
Is That an Approved Drive In Your NAS? Or Are You Happy To Risk Your Data?

See this post for other info.

 

[preacher]

My drives are on the approved list and i would be getting the 2tb drives off of the list too.

I just wanted to check if the NAS will automatically set the raid up if i put in the two other drives and that i could easily remove the original drives i used.

 

[thiggins]

It won't automatically add the drives and you won't be able to easily remove the original drives unless each drive is set up as an individual volume.

 

[preacher]

Thanks for the info. Would a qnap or a 2nd hand nv+ allow this?

I thought any decent brand would allow you to replave drives with bigger ones without too much difficulty! Might rethink this then

 

[thiggins]

Neither QNAP or NETGEAR ReadyNASes won't do what you want, either.

RAID expansion is a manual process on the QNAP.

The ReadyNAS will automatically add the new drives to increase the size of the stored array. But it won't automatically shrink the volume when you remove drives. See this.

 

[preacher]

Hi,

i have bought two 1.5tb drives to start off with a raid 1 array. then in a year or so i will buy two more and convert it to raid 5.

apparently raid 10 will be supported in the next firmware release so what is the best to use 5 or 10?

thanks

 

[thiggins]

5 will give you more storage capacity. 10 is supposed to provide a storage boost, but I don't think you'll really see an advantage.

And be sure you back up the NAS! RAID is NOT backup.

 

[preacher]

5 will give you more storage capacity. 10 is supposed to provide a storage boost, but I don't think you'll really see an advantage.

And be sure you back up the NAS! RAID is NOT backup.

back up the NAS? i thought the mirroring was back up? how do you back up 3tb of data???

 

[thiggins]

Smart SOHOs Don't Do RAID

 

[preacher]

thanks for all your help this is providing good reading!

if i use raid 10 and the NAS unit fails wouldnt i just be able to put the drives into a new NAS and all the data would be there?


and thinking about it. if i had started with the drives i already had i could have replaced them one at a time to increase the storage capacity.

i found this article, although its more in case anybody else reads this who needs help too.

 

[thiggins]

if i use raid 10 and the NAS unit fails wouldnt i just be able to put the drives into a new NAS and all the data would be there?

Many people who have suffered RAID failure wish that were the case. You would only have a chance of that working if you swapped them into the same make/model NAS chassis. And even then, depending on how the NAS failed your array could be corrupted in a way to make recovery very difficult, if not impossible.

RAID is NOT backup.

 

[preacher]

So would i be best getting a 2 bay nas instead and putting one drive inside my pc and one in the nas and have the nas backup the pc on a schedulded basis?
Then i can still stream to my media player and have the other functions like a print server and downloader

 

[thiggins]

So would i be best getting a 2 bay nas instead and putting one drive inside my pc and one in the nas

Huh? I don't follow your thinking here.

 

[preacher]

im thinking if i use a nas for its functionality with one drive in (can always expand later), and use a big drive in my pc. then i can synchronise them so my data is backed up in two physical machines which should be safer.

i thought getting a nas would mean i didnt have to worry about losing anything but as its not then this seams a more logical choice for me. if i lose all my stuff im screwed.