ReadyNAS NV+ v1 and 2TB Drives - Help Please

[eggman]

Hi Folks,

I have done some reading on here, but 4k blocks and 16k sectors is making my brain hurt. Some help would be much appreciated.

I currently have a NV+ v1 with Raidiator 4.1.8. I have 4 x 1TB drives and have 2743GB of available storage. This is almost full, so I purchased 4 x 2TB drives - WD20EARX as these are on the HCL without any notes or issues.

Before I begin the swap and expansion process, I wanted to be sure everything was OK. I read this article:
http://www.rnasguide.com/2011/06/22/why-you-might-want-to-factory-reset-a-sparc-readynas/

I looked at my logs and verified that I have a 4096 Block Size.
I looked at the logs and cannot tell if I have 4k sector partition alignment. (don't know what I am looking for).

Questions:
1. How important is it to use the 4k block size?
2. Do I need 4k sector alignment?
3. How can I tell if I have 4k sector alignment?
4. Any recommendations on the best way to perform a backup process for this? I don't have an unlimited supply of data storage

I have a drive connected to the USB interface and back up critical data regularly, but I don't want to go through a full 2.7TB backup -> factory reset -> data restore process unnecessarily, or more than once. Any help and guidance much appreciated.

Thanks,
Eamonn aka eggman

[mdgm]

1. How important is it to use the 4k block size?

You need the 16k block size

2. Do I need 4k sector alignment?

Yes. Your new disks are 4k sector disks. Don't confuse 4k sector partition alignment with the block size of the volume.

3. How can I tell if I have 4k sector alignment?

The article I linked to explains how. However considering the block size of your volume is 4096 that means you last did a factory default on RAIDiator 3.x so your partitions would not currently be 4k sector partition aligned. You will need to backup your data and do a factory default.

4. Any recommendations on the best way to perform a backup process for this? I don't have an unlimited supply of data storage

Backup to another NAS, USB disks, drives connected to your PC or some place else. It depends what suits you which method you would use.

I have a drive connected to the USB interface and back up critical data regularly, but I don't want to go through a full 2.7TB backup -> factory reset -> data restore process unnecessarily, or more than once.

Only need to do the backup and factory reset once.

[eggman]

Thanks very much for the detailed reply. If I do a factory default, will I end up with 4k sector partition alignment? Or do I need to do something else after I do a factory default?

Thanks again,
Eamonn aka eggman

[mdgm]

You've already updated to 4.1.8 (4.1.7 or later is fine) so simply doing the factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything) is sufficient. I would do this with the new disks in place.

If you power down and remove the old disks (label order), then put the new disks in and do a factory default, if something goes wrong with your backup you can always put the old set of drives back in to recover your data.