TS-212 drive configuration

[celeron_266]

Hello all, nice to meet you guys

I just got a TS-212 NAS because my current laptop (ASUS Zenbook) only has 128GB of SSD storage, and I need to store my multimedia/documents in a SAFE WHILE EFFICIENT (performance-wise) manner. Alongside the NAS I also got a WD Caviar black 2TB drive (pretty stupid purchase I think....but oh well). I also have two Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives (ST41500341AS) - one lying around containing my own data (it is from my old desktop), one is used by my brother's desktop (mainly for gaming), despite negative reviews, both Seagates seem to be reliable since I bought them about 2 years ago (firmware updated)

So, here comes my question...what kind of drive configuration should I go for? I have thought of a few options:

1. Put both Seagates to the NAS, maybe RAID it, put the WD Black to my bro's desktop

2. Put the WD Black to the NAS, wait until HDD price drops then buy another WD Black for the NAS, maybe RAID it in the future, use my Seagate for second-stage backup

3. Put both WD Black and the Seagate to the NAS (I am not sure if this will work)

So.....any thoughts? I am a NOOB with this so any comments are welcome~~

Thanks in advance!!

 

[thiggins]

Check QNAP's drive compatibility list first. It's better to use two of the same drive if you are going to run RAID. Note that any drives you install in the NAS will be reformatted.

 

[Generic George]

1. Put both Seagates to the NAS, maybe RAID it, put the WD Black to my bro's desktop

With two drives you only have two choices for RAID basically. RAID 0 (striped), where you add the capacity of the two drives together and get better write performance. RAID 1 (mirrored) is great if you want data security since everything is duplicated on both drives. You do also get better read performance, since it can read off of both drives simultaneously.

In general though, RAID 0 is a VERY BAD IDEA. If anything goes wrong with one of the drives, you will loose everything on both. If you really want the capacity of both drives you are much better off using them as what's called "JBOD" aka Just a Bunch of Disks. Where every disk is a separate volume. You won't get the performance increase of RAID1, but at least you won't loose everything on both.

While RAID Is Not Backup, RAID 1 does offer a decent degree of protection against data loss. However since everything is duplicated on both drives, you only get the storage capacity of one of them. Which kind of sucks. So it's basically only really good where data security or reliability is important.

2. Put the WD Black to the NAS, wait until HDD price drops then buy another WD Black for the NAS, maybe RAID it in the future, use my Seagate for second-stage backup

Sure. This works and incorporates some backup which is never bad.

3. Put both WD Black and the Seagate to the NAS (I am not sure if this will work)

Most NAS offer some sort of mechanism for using two different sized drives in the same NAS box, but with only two drives, there isn't that much of a point to it. You would be limited to the size of the smaller HD in RAID 1 and RAID 0 is generally a bad idea to begin with. So you would probably be just as well off using them in JBOD mode.

 

[thiggins]

You need to be careful about JBOD, since the term can mean two things. For QNAPs, you want individual drive mode to treat each disk as a separate volume. JBOD for QNAP combines selected drives into one volume. So drive failure kills the array.

 

[celeron_266]

You need to be careful about JBOD, since the term can mean two things. For QNAPs, you want individual drive mode to treat each disk as a separate volume. JBOD for QNAP combines selected drives into one volume. So drive failure kills the array.

I agree, if I put two different drives (non-identical) in the NAS they will be separate volumes

If I put two identical drives into the NAS i actually might also consider the separate volumes option because JBOD or RAID 0 lacks the safety that I want. Also since I want to use the full capacities of the drives I dont think I will go for the RAID 1 options. So..I might as well separate the drives as two volumes, if one died I still have the other one left...and I only lose part of my data..

 

[thiggins]

if one died I still have the other one left...and I only lose part of my data..

But if the controller or power supply dies at the wrong time, you can lose both drives.

Be sure to have a backup of anything you don't want to lose on a separate device.

 

[celeron_266]

But if the controller or power supply dies at the wrong time, you can lose both drives.

Be sure to have a backup of anything you don't want to lose on a separate device.

do you think it is a better idea to fill both bays with drives (either one Seagate and one WD, or both Seagates), compared to putting one drive first, then adding another (identical) drive in the future?

Thanks for all your help!!

 

[thiggins]

If you treat the drives as separate volumes, yes, it's easy to add a second drive if/when you need it.

 

[stevech]

is this correct:
QNAP: JBOD is a single volume for 2+ drives? Cannot have 1 volume per drive?
Synology: JBOD - what does their firmware enable?

(goal: two volumes, two drives, independent file systems, and standard file systems on the drives so in an emergency, a drive can be connected to a PC to get at the data (should the NAS controller fail).

 

[thiggins]

JBOD is the same for both QNAP and Synology, i.e. selected drives combined into one volume.

Synology calls individual drive mode "Basic" and QNAP calls it "single disk".

Your "standard" file system goal won't be possible if you are thinking NTFS. Selections for both QNAP and Synology are EXT3/EXT4.

Try http://www.ext2fsd.com/ for mounting these volumes on Windows.

 

[stevech]

I'm OK with a Linux file system on each drive, as long as it is standard and the drive can be moved from the NAS to a PC with windows or Linux.
And so long as the NAS treats each drive as a separate volume; call it JBOD or not.

 

[Luke Spencer]

@tim Higgins - does that mean I can add a second "single drive" later to the second bay of my QNAP TS212 without reformating the original drive in bay 1?

 

[thiggins]

@tim Higgins - does that mean I can add a second "single drive" later to the second bay of my QNAP TS212 without reformating the original drive in bay 1?

yes