Having to make use of all the identical drive sizes in a NAS is a ache within the neck. That’s why I combine the drives in my predominant NAS. It would sound difficult, however, as long as you comply with a couple of easy steps, you’ll be able to simply combine drive sizes in a NAS and get significantly better use out of the storage you personal than with conventional RAID.
Conventional RAID doesn’t help combined drive sizes cleanly
Put two 8TB drives subsequent to a 4TB drive and also you successfully have three 4TB drives
Credit score: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
My greatest grievance with conventional RAID methods is how rigid they’re. As an illustration, I’ve a 6-bay NAS proper now that’s stuffed with 4TB drives. That’s nice, and with RAID5 I’ve 18TB of accessible storage. Nonetheless, if I refill that 18TB and want extra storage, my solely choice is to exchange all six drives with bigger drives.
With regular RAID, if I substitute two of the 4TB drives with 8TB drives, I’ll nonetheless simply have 18TB of storage out there. Certain, the opposite 4TB that’s on the 8TB drives might be partitioned and utilized in different methods, however it will possibly’t essentially be a part of the first RAID array.
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8 Questions · Take a look at Your Information
Community hooked up storage (NAS)
From basement file servers to enterprise knowledge vaults — check how a lot you actually find out about NAS expertise.
Historical past{Hardware}Use InstancesProtocolsSafety
Start
Which firm is extensively credited with introducing one of many first commercially profitable NAS home equipment within the early Nineteen Nineties?
ASynologyBAuspex MethodsCBuffalo Know-howDWestern Digital
Right! Auspex Methods launched the NS3000 in 1989, extensively considered one of many earliest devoted NAS home equipment. They pioneered the idea of a standalone file server accessible over a community, laying the groundwork for the fashionable NAS trade.
Not fairly. The reply is Auspex Methods, which launched one of many first devoted NAS home equipment — the NS3000 — again in 1989. Whereas corporations like Synology and QNAP are family names at present, Auspex was breaking new floor many years earlier than them.
Proceed
Which community file sharing protocol is primarily utilized by NAS gadgets to serve recordsdata to Home windows-based shoppers?
ANFSBFTPCSMBDiSCSI
Right! SMB (Server Message Block) is the dominant protocol for file sharing with Home windows shoppers. Initially developed by IBM and later popularized by Microsoft, SMB is what permits Home windows machines to seamlessly browse and entry NAS shares as in the event that they had been native drives.
Not fairly. The reply is SMB (Server Message Block). NFS is the protocol of selection for Linux and Unix shoppers, iSCSI is used for block-level storage, and FTP is a common file switch protocol not optimized for seamless file system integration.
Proceed
What does the RAID degree ‘5’ particularly require at the least variety of drives to operate?
A2B4C3D6
Right! RAID 5 requires a minimal of three drives. It stripes knowledge and parity info throughout all drives, which means it will possibly tolerate the failure of 1 drive with none knowledge loss — making it a preferred selection for NAS customers who need a stability of efficiency, capability, and redundancy.
Not fairly. RAID 5 requires a minimal of three drives. The parity knowledge distributed throughout all drives permits one drive to fail with out shedding knowledge. RAID 1 solely wants two drives, whereas RAID 6 requires 4 — so choices differ relying in your redundancy wants.
Proceed
What’s ‘media server’ performance on a NAS mostly used for in a house atmosphere?
AEncoding video recordsdata to scale back file measurement roboticallyBStreaming domestically saved films, music, and photographs to gadgets on the communityCBacking up cloud storage providers like Google DriveDInternet hosting a public-facing web site from residence
Right! Media server performance — usually powered by software program like Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin operating on the NAS — permits you to stream your domestically saved media assortment to TVs, telephones, tablets, and extra. It basically turns your NAS into a private Netflix in your personal content material library.
Not fairly. The core use of a NAS media server is streaming domestically saved films, music, and photographs to different gadgets in your community. Software program like Plex or Jellyfin handles the heavy lifting, together with transcoding video on the fly for gadgets that want it.
Proceed
What’s the ‘3-2-1 backup rule’ that NAS customers are sometimes suggested to comply with?
AHold 3 NAS gadgets, 2 within the cloud, and 1 on-siteBHold 3 copies of knowledge, on 2 completely different media varieties, with 1 copy offsiteCAgain up each 3 days, confirm integrity twice, and hold 1 12 months of historical pastDUse 3 RAID drives, 2 parity disks, and 1 scorching spare
Right! The three-2-1 rule means: hold 3 whole copies of your knowledge, retailer them on 2 several types of media (e.g., NAS and exterior drive), and hold 1 copy in an offsite or cloud location. This technique protects towards {hardware} failure, theft, fireplace, and different disasters that would wipe out native backups.
Not fairly. The three-2-1 rule stands for: 3 copies of your knowledge, saved on 2 completely different media varieties, with 1 copy stored offsite. It is a best-practice framework designed to make sure your knowledge survives virtually any catastrophe state of affairs, from a failed laborious drive to a home fireplace.
Proceed
Which protocol permits a NAS to current storage to a pc as if it had been a domestically hooked up block system, moderately than a file share?
ASMBBSFTPCWebDAVDiSCSI
Right! iSCSI (Web Small Laptop Methods Interface) transmits SCSI instructions over IP networks, permitting a NAS to current uncooked block storage to a number pc. The pc then codecs and manages that storage like a neighborhood disk — making iSCSI ultimate for digital machines and databases that want low-level disk entry.
Not fairly. The reply is iSCSI. In contrast to SMB or NFS, which share recordsdata over a community, iSCSI exposes uncooked block storage — the host pc sees a NAS quantity as if it had been a bodily hooked up laborious drive, which is essential for workloads like digital machine datastores.
Proceed
Which of the next finest describes a ‘surveillance station’ use case for a NAS?
AMonitoring NAS drive well being with built-in diagnostics software programBRecording and managing footage from IP safety camerasCMonitoring community site visitors and logging linked gadgetsDEncrypting recordsdata robotically when saved on the NAS
Right! Many NAS manufacturers — together with Synology and QNAP — provide devoted surveillance station software program that turns the NAS right into a Community Video Recorder (NVR). It could possibly hook up with a number of IP cameras, report footage repeatedly or on movement detection, and retailer months of video domestically with out a subscription payment.
Not fairly. A surveillance station on a NAS refers to software program that connects to IP safety cameras, data video footage, and shops it domestically. This makes a NAS a strong and cost-effective various to cloud-based safety methods, because you personal and management all of your recorded footage.
Proceed
Synology, probably the most acknowledged NAS manufacturers at present, was based by which 12 months and nation?
A1998, JapanB2000, South KoreaC2000, TaiwanD2004, United States
Right! Synology was based in Taiwan in 2000 and has grown into probably the most beloved NAS producers on the planet. Their DiskStation Supervisor (DSM) working system is regularly praised for its polished interface and wealthy function set, making Synology a best choice for each residence customers and companies.
Not fairly. Synology was based in Taiwan in 2000. Taiwan has change into a significant hub for NAS {hardware} improvement, with rivals like QNAP additionally headquartered there. Synology’s DiskStation Supervisor software program helped set the usual for what a user-friendly NAS expertise may appear like.
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Technically, I can substitute the drives one after the other with bigger drives over time, after which, as soon as I’ve all six swapped for greater drives, rebuild the array to be bigger. Nonetheless, that’s expensive, time consuming, and an actual ache within the neck. It’s the one cause that I keep away from conventional RAID setups each time I can.
CPU
Intel twelfth Gen N-Sequence
Reminiscence
8GB (Upgradeable to 16GB)
This cutting-edge network-attached storage system transforms the way you retailer and entry knowledge through smartphones, laptops, tablets, and TVs wherever with community entry.
Unraid, Synology, TerraMaster, and others will let you combine drive sizes with ease
You don’t have to make use of proprietary tech to attain combined drive sizes in your array
Credit score: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
It’s no secret that I’m a fairly large Unraid fan—and for good cause. Unraid permits me to construct my very own NAS whereas mixing and matching drive sizes with ease.
I used to be first launched to with the ability to combine and match drive sizes with Synology again in 2016 with Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR), and it has been the gold commonplace for storage optimization for me since then. I caught to utilizing Synology NAS servers for fairly some time, however finally I wanted a server that may price greater than I wished to spend, so I constructed my very own. I regarded into utilizing the Xpenology platform, however as a result of it’s extra of a hack than official, I ended up on Unraid.
Another choice moreover Unraid and Synology is TerraMaster, which provides TRAID, permitting using combined drive sizes with ease. TRAID and SHR truly share a commonality—BTRFS. BTRFS (pronounced butter FS or higher FS) is a Linux filesystem that enables using combined drives inside a RAID-style system. Synology and TerraMaster use BTRFS below the hood with plenty of their very own tweaks on prime to make it extra user-friendly, but it surely’s nonetheless BTRFS on the core.
Handbook BTRFS is certainly doable and usable, but it surely’s a bit extra difficult than Unraid, SHR, or TRAID. Rebalancing is handbook, it doesn’t essentially optimize combined drive sizes robotically, and it’s a must to decide your RAID ranges manually. Nonetheless, you completely may construct a combined drive measurement NAS with pure Linux and BTRFS.
Nonetheless, a greater and extra user-friendly choice than BTRFS can be SnapRAID and MergeFS. These two instruments paired collectively provide you with parity by snapshots (drive redundancy) in addition to making all of the drives appear like one massive drive. In essence, when arrange correctly, SnapRAID and MergeFS mimic the pliability that Unraid delivers.
In the case of using combined drive sizes in a NAS, it’s truly simpler than you suppose. Should you don’t need to construct your personal {hardware} or working system, go Synology or TerraMaster. If you wish to use your personal {hardware} however don’t need to cope with the software program, then go along with Unraid. Or, should you wish to be in full management, decide in your favourite Linux distro with SnapRAID and MergeFS.
The one factor to remember should you do go along with the SnapRAID and MergeFS route is that SnapRAID isn’t real-time parity safety. It’s based mostly on snapshots and solely backs up parity on a schedule. So, when you’ve got a drive fail earlier than a snapshot runs, then any knowledge modified for the reason that final snapshot is misplaced. Whereas Unraid, Synology, and TRAID aren’t topic to that very same limitation.
Mixing drive sizes makes a NAS simpler to improve
Staggered upgrades are approach simpler this manner
Credit score: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
On the finish of the day, mixing drive sizes is completely essential for my major media storage NAS. That system is so cobbled collectively that I’ve 10+ 12 months previous 4TB laborious drives that may haven’t any use outdoors of my Unraid server.
You see, the drives are nonetheless fairly wholesome and have a ton of life left in them. My server has 12 3.5-inch drive bays on it, and there’s no cause for me to have an empty drive bay if I’ve a drive that’s out there. With the ability to combine drive sizes means I can truly make the most of these older drives till they’re not usable, or, till I’ve the money to exchange them with a bigger drive down the highway.
Constructing a NAS that may make the most of combined drive sizes is probably the most economical approach to construct a NAS I feel. I’ve discovered a ton of nice offers on Reddit’s r/hardwareswap for drives previously after I wanted extra storage, and it was an inexpensive approach to broaden. Now, if after I begin operating out, I simply purchase an even bigger drive than what I’m changing and I can improve in small steps, as a substitute of getting to make one very costly buy of all new drives.
CPU
Intel x86 Quad-Core CPU
Reminiscence
4GB
Highly effective 4-bay NAS with quick 5GbE speeds, 16GB DDR5, and as much as 144TB storage for superior setups
Construct the NAS that’s best for you
I love with the ability to combine drive sizes in my NAS—it’s one in every of my favourite components of my server. Nonetheless, I do know that it’s not your best option for everyone. Should you’re not a fan of blending drive sizes, then construct your NAS nonetheless you see match. That’s the very best a part of the homelabbing world, with the ability to customise all the pieces to a precise scenario.
For instance, I’ve my major storage server with Unraid that I combine and match drives in. I even have a Ugreen NAS that has all the identical drive sizes in it, and some different NAS methods that make the most of a wide range of both combine and match or all the identical drives relying on the applying.
So, select no matter works finest in your state of affairs, however ensure you hold combined drive sizes in your again pocket in case you ever want it sooner or later.
