8 TB expansion limit needs to be documented!!!

[beisser]

This is negative feedback. The reader is forewarned. I am an unhappy camper....

I have a Ultra 6 PLus that is about a year old. I now find myself in the same position as mearglen, as described in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=62917&p=352749&hilit=8+TB#p352749

In brief, I started using my system by adding three 3TB disks, one at a time. Soon, I had a 5.5 (roughly) TB volume, configured in x-Raid-2 with single redundancy. I assumed, based on what was written in the Readynas user manuals and the Readynas marketing documentation that I would be able to add new disks when I wished to expand the volume, up to the 6 slots in my system. I was unaware of the 8 TB lifetime expansion limit I now see described in this forum (but not in the Readynas user manuals or in the marketing materials on this website).

Here's what the Readynas user manual says: "With X-RAID2, you can start out with one hard disk, add a second disk for data protection, then add more disks for additional capacity, and X-RAID2 accommodates the new disks automatically. " I can find no mentioned of the 8 TB lifetime expansion limit in the Readynas documentation. Had I known about the limit, I would simply have installed all 3 disks at one, and then powered up my system, rather than hot-installing the disks one at a time, which is what the documentation implies one should do (I think).

I now have 4 disks in my system, for a total capacity of 8.3 GB. If I add a 5th disk, as best I can tell from what has been posted, I will get only about 2.3 TB of new space, and then an "expansion fails" message. And my 6th disk slot is basically useless.

Though I do backup the critical data on my system, I have a lot of non-critical data, which I would nonetheless rather not loose, and the "backup your data, do a factory default" strategy is not really a good option.

So...from my point of view, Netgear really should have explained all this in their documentation, so I (and others) could have avoided the current problems, by installing all 3 disks when I first brought up my system.

At present, I think netgear should be looking in to solutions. For example, is the solution suggested here
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=62916&p=353102#p353102
likely to work, or is it as chirpa suggests dangerous? Will there be a workaround in the future?

[beisser]

well the limit is not readynas specific. the ext filesystem tools are not maintained by any of the readynas developers, they are merely using them.
so until anyone makes the tools truly 64 bit capable we will not see expansion beyond 16/8 tb.

only other solution would be a different filesystem. no idea how difficult that would be.

[alexofindy]

Beisser,

Thanks for the response.

I sort of figured the limitation was due to the Linux tools, and was not "readynas specific."

But the important point I'm trying to make is that the poor documentation that came with my Readynas (and which also appears on this web site) very much is "readynas specific."

If Readynas had provided documentation of this limitation (I, like other users, am running in to the 8 TB lifetime expansion limit), I would simply have put my 3 new hard drives in my readynas and then powered it up, when I first got the system. I would be all set, and could then make full use of the 6 disk bays in my system.

But readynas (netgear) did not do this. Instead, their documentation states, explicitly, that I can start with one disk, and then expand one disk at a time. Which is what I did. And which is why I (and others) now have significant problems.

I am posting this both to vent a bit, and in hopes that Readynas will amend their documentation and marketing material, so future users can avoid this issue.

[ndirons]

Agreed. Expecting ReadyNAS buyers to maintain an awareness that they're running Linux under the hood, let alone to anticipate and work around Linux-specific issues, is an incredibly negative sign for the future of the business.

[chirpa]

Marketing would not agree to this, even as a footnote.

"X-RAID2 Expansion* (good luck beyond 8tb growth)"

[StephenB]

I'd rather see it fixed than documented. For instance, by having the system do an off-line expansion when the 8 TB limitation gets in the way.