Hard Drive Matching

[BostonDan]

Hi Everyone - I'm looking for some feedback on mismatched hard drives in a ReadyNAS setup as X-RAID.
Currently the ReadyNAS has (2) Seagate ST31000528AS drives, one of which is failing. I purchased a Western Digital WD20EARS to replace the failing drive. My logic was to mirror only 1TB and provide an upgrade path to mirror (2) 2TB drives should I need the space in the future. Other than this not being best practice, I couldn't find any problems until after placing the order for the 2TB drive. I think the Seagate uses 512 sector sizes while WD uses 4K sector sizes. Has anyone else run into this? Anyone see any issues?

 

[BostonDan]

Update

I probably did the the wrong way, but I modified the info. Appreciate all advice.

 

[teknojnky]

which exact readynas model?

the sparc devices require a factory default with 4.1.7 to properly support the 4k sectors.

the x86 devices, you can just resync each drive (one at a time) and it will update the partitions to be 4k aligned.

even if you have a sparc device, it should work but you may have slower than normal write performance.

 

[BostonDan]

ReadyNAS-DUO (Mismatched Drives)

Hi teknojnky,
It's the ReadyNAS Duo.
To be sure I understand, are you stating the ReadyNAS Duo will format the Seagate ST31000528AS to 4K/sector?
To be sure, In the end, I'm hoping to mirror:
1) 1TB Seagate ST31000528AS (SPEC:512/sector)
2) 2TB Western Digital WD20EARS (SPEC: 4K/sector)(Mirroring only 1TB)
My plan is to mirror only 1TB and replace/upgrade the 1TB ST31000528AS when either space becomes an issue or it fails.
Appreciate your help,
Dan

 

[claykin]

Your question would be better asked on the Readynas forums. My initial recommendation would be to not combine 512 and 4Kb sector disks if at all possible. Disks are relatively cheap and you can purchase a second Seagate ST31000528AS for $65 at etailers.

Also, make sure your Seagate disk has CC46 firmware. http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=213891

 

[BostonDan]

ReadyNAS Duo and Mismatched Drives

Thanks Claykin,
I also posted the question in the ReadyNAS forum. However - the information I receive here is always more reliable and complete than anywhere else.

In the end, I'm likely going to purchase another 2TB drive so I have two matching 2TB drives. I can't see spending $$$ on a 1TB drive with 2TB drives priced at under $100.

However, as an overall upgrade strategy, I'm hoping I can use mismatched drives in the future, always replacing the smaller drive and leapfrogging the larger drive as space becomes an issue. Do you see any concerns with doing this if I match sector size at 4K?

 

[claykin]

If you are running V4.1.7 of RAIDIATOR you should be OK. That said, there's been several users on the Readynas forums dealing with issues when using the WD20EARS disks. I have not noticed if the problem reports have reduced since 4.1.7 was officially released, so you may want to search through the forums and make your own judgment call.

Whatever you do, purchase disks from the compatibility list. http://www.readynas.com/?cat=37

 

[claykin]

To be sure I understand, are you stating the ReadyNAS Duo will format the Seagate ST31000528AS to 4K/sector?

V4.1.7 is the first version of RAIDIATOR (firmware) for the Duo to properly support 4Kb sector disks. After this firmware is installed on your Duo a factory restore is required so the NAS can create a new array offering proper support for 4Kb disks. You can read more about it here:

http://www.readynas.com/?p=4662

A factory restore will wipe all NAS data and your NAS configuration. So, I will highly recommend you double check that you have backups of all data and if necessary your NAS config PRIOR TO doing the factory restore.