Expanding Qnap RAID by adding drives via Expansion Boxes

Posted on 14 May 2020 📧 Subscribe
Contents hide
1 Expanding storage pools by replacing hard disk drives in a RAID array
2 Expanding a RAID Group by Replacing all Disks
3 Expanding a Storage Pool by Adding Disks to a RAID Group

Expanding Raid onto Expansion Boxes used with TVS-1282T3

I have a QNAP TVS1282T3, and am filled up with no data space with in all my 8TB Reds that are in Raid 6 Configuration. I was told on the phone by a QNAP Customer Service guy back in December when I was considering the TX-800P, that I would have to make a separate pool in that 8 bay enclosure, and would have to set up Raid 6 in that pool of 8 drives in the expansion unit, and thus would lose 2 more drives worth of data, as they are parity drives. In your article here for the new QNAP TL-D800C, you say “it is JBOD only and requires the NAS, Windows PC or Mac System to create a RAID Space on the device or extend an existing RAID onto it”. That last half of your quote after the word “or” is what I’m interested in, and goes against what the QNAP guy told me, I’m hoping. So, could I add this expansion box, and use the two parity drives in the 1282T3 that I would hook this up to, and I would get the use of all 8 drives in the expansion box, as one pool together between the two boxes, so I don’t have to have two separate pools of Raid 6, one in each box? Please explain what you know about “extend an existing Raid onto it”.
And secondly, since I want to daisy-chain multiple expansion boxes together with my 1282T3, as I could have with the discontinued QNAP TX-800P, I know this TL-D800C doesn’t allow you to do this (due to only one USBC connection), and I would need to wait for the TR-108C2T. Would I be able to keep expanding my Raid-6 setup with multiple expansion boxes as one big pool and only losing the data storage of the two parity drives, or would I need to make a separate pool of Raid-6 setup drives with each expansion box I add, plus, the original Raid-6 pool in my TVS1282T3?

Sorry for lack of clarity, I have update the article. The TL-D800C can only be used as an individual storage pool or volume on the NAS. Its storage pool/volume cannot be combined into the connected NAS. NAS applications cannot be installed on the TL-D800C. Same applied to other USB, TB expansions. This is mainly due to insecurities. Someone can unplug the cable and RAID is lost. Also expansion unit power supply can die and you also loose RAID. And finally simply USB is not fast enough to deliver maximum bandwidth this additional RAID needs. TL series do work at respectable 10Gbit speed. So it is still a good expansion option. But serious rackmount expansions feature fast SAS connections allowing more secure and faster expansion setups.

Daisy chaining is not possible. Every expansion box need to be directly connected to a NAS itself. If there is no USB ports available you can add PCIe card with aditional USB ports. If there are ports but not USB-C type, then you can use different cable or adapter. The speed will not change based on the connector type.

Qnap  TL-D800C supplied USB-A to USB-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 cable which you can connect to a NAS.

Having a RAID6 for a 16 drives is not a popular choice. People often choose RAID50 or RAID60 for that many drives. It speeds up the IOPS and also uses 4 drives for redundancy (8 drives in RAID6 and other 8 drives in RAID6. Both combined together under same volume/pool and called  RAID60 ).

You can alternatively upgrade your existing drives with 16TB HDD. This will effectively double your storage space. I have added instruction bellow. How to replace drives with bigger capacity and how to add additional drives to existing RAID group.

 

 

Expanding storage pools by replacing hard disk drives in a RAID array

With this function, RAID group capacity can be expanded by replacing hard disk drives in an array one by one. This option is supported for the following RAID types: RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6 and RAID 10. Follow the steps below to expand a RAID group:

1. Select a RAID group and click “Manage” > “Expand Capacity”.
2. Select at least one hard disk drive. After the description displays “Please remove this drive”, remove the hard disk drive from the NAS or expansion enclosure.
3. After the description displays “You can replace this drive”, plug in the new hard disk drive to the drive slot. Repeat the same process for all hard drives to be replaced. Click “Expand Capacity” to continue.
4. Click “Yes”.
5. The chosen RAID group is expanded.

 

Expanding a RAID Group by Replacing all Disks

You can increase the maximum storage capacity of a RAID group by replacing all member disks with higher-capacity disks. This can be done online, without losing access to data or any interruption to NAS services.

  1. Go to Main Menu > Storage & Snapshots > Storage/Snapshot.
  2. Verify that all hot spares and global hot spares assigned to this RAID group are disabled.
  3. Select a storage pool or single static volume.
  4. Click Manage.
  5. Select a RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, or RAID 10 group.
  6. Select Manage > Replace Disks One by One.
  7. Select a disk to replace.

    Ensure that the capacity of the new disk is greater than the capacity of the disk that it is replacing.

  8. Click Change.

    The disk description changes to Please remove this drive.

  9. Remove the disk from the bay.

    The NAS beeps twice. Then the disk description changes to Please insert the new disk.

  10. Insert a new disk into the same bay.

    The NAS beeps twice. Then the status of the disk and RAID group change to Rebuilding.

  11. Wait for rebuilding to finish.
    Warning:

    Do not remove any disks while the RAID group is rebuilding.

    The disks status changes back to Good.

  12. Repeat the previous steps until all disks in the RAID group have been replaced.

    The Expand Capacity button is enabled after all disks have been replaced and rebuilding has completed.

  13. Click Expand Capacity.

    A confirmation message appears.

  14. Click OK.

    The NAS beeps and then the RAID group status changes to Synchronizing.

    Warning:

    Do not power off the NAS or remove any disks while hard drive synchronization is in progress.

The RAID group status changes to Ready.

 

Expanding a Storage Pool by Adding Disks to a RAID Group

The total storage capacity of a storage pool can be expanded by adding one or more additional disks to a RAID group. This operation can be performed while the pool is online and accessible to users.

Important:

  • Adding disks to a RAID 1 group changes the RAID type of the group to RAID 5.

  • To expand a RAID 50 or RAID 60 group, every sub-group must be expanded with the same number of disks.

  1. Verify the following:

    • The storage pool you want to expand contains at least one RAID group of type: RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 50 or RAID 60.

    • The NAS contains one or more free disks. Each free disk must be the same type as the other disks in the RAID group (either HDD or SSD), and have a capacity that is equal to or greater than the smallest disk in the group.

    • The status of the RAID group that you want to expand is Ready.

  2. Go to Main Menu > Storage & Snapshots > Storage > Storage/Snapshots.
  3. Select a storage pool.
  4. Click Manage.

    The Storage Pool Management window opens.

  5. Select Expand Pool > Expand Pool.

    The Expanding Storage Pool Wizard window opens.

  6. Select Add new disk(s) to an existing RAID group.
  7. Select a RAID group.

    The group must be of type: RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 50, RAID 60.

  8. Click Next.
  9. Select one or more disks.
    Warning:

    All data on the selected disks will be deleted.

  10. Click Next.
  11. Optional: Configure SSD over-provisioning.

    Over-provisioning reserves a percentage of SSD storage space on each disk in the RAID group to improve write performance and extend the disk’s lifespan. You can decrease the amount of space reserved for over-provisioning after QTS has created the RAID group.

    Tip:

    To determine the optimal amount of over-provisioning for your SSDs, download and run the SSD Profiling Tool app from App Center.

  12. Click Next.
  13. Click Expand.

    A confirmation message appears.

  14. Click OK.
  15. Optional: For a RAID 50 or RAID 60 pool, repeat these steps for each sub-group.

QTS starts rebuilding the RAID group. The storage capacity of the pool increases after RAID rebuilding is finished.



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