NAS Upgrade

markwilliams82 · 6 Oct 2018 at 10:32

I currently have a NAS with 2 x 3TB HDD's that i'm looking at upgrading but i'm wondering how i can do it.

I'd rather not buy a new unit with 2 x 6TB (for example) drives and just utilise the unit i have now with new drives.

If I was to do this, could I move the current HDD's into my PC and transfer the data to the new drives or would that not work?

StevieP · 6 Oct 2018 at 10:39

I think the transfer depends on what NAS you have at the moment! I'm no expert but I know that when I had a Synology NAS the drives were only readable in the unit - i.e. simply plugging them in to a PC wouldn't work!

When you say upgrading the NAS, do you mean expanding the drives or changing the NAS unit itself?

StevieP · 6 Oct 2018 at 10:42

Sorry, just re-read your post and understand you simply want to swap the 2 x 3tb drives for 2 x 6tb drives.

Couldn't you just take one of the drives outand put one of the new 6tb drives in, copy over the data and then do the same with the 2nd drive?

markwilliams82 · 6 Oct 2018 at 14:15

I’m really not sure. That’s what I was hoping I could do but just wanted to find out first before being in for a shock

StevieP · 6 Oct 2018 at 20:08

What NAS is it you have?

markwilliams82 · 6 Oct 2018 at 20:22

It’s a D-Link 320L with latest firmware so larger (3tb +) drives are acceptable

StevieP · 7 Oct 2018 at 08:56

Sorry, I've not got any experience with the D-Link OS so I can't tell you whether or not the drives will simply slot into a PC!

bledd · 7 Oct 2018 at 10:29

Does the dlink let you have one drive connected, then add a second?

What I would do is connect a 6tb to your pc. Copy the data to it. (So you have one good copy of the data)

Now turn off the NAS and boot it up with 1x 3tb only connected (to check that it still works etc)

Now shutdown, connect a single 6tb, see if it lets you add this alongside the 3tb. If it does and replicates ok, then wipe the 3tb that you removed earlier, connect it to your pc and copy the data again from the NAS to this 3tb drive.

Now disconnect the remaining 3tb drive from the NAS , connected the 2nd 6tb to the NAs and let it replicate. Then expand the volume to 6tb.

bledd · 7 Oct 2018 at 10:30

Nas hard drives are formatted as Linux volumes (ext4 typically) so it won't plug and play on your pc.

Personal, idI just jump to Synology and sell your old NAS and drives.

markwilliams82 · 7 Oct 2018 at 13:39

Was looking at those but at the moment can't afford the cost of replacing the NAS and hdd's

Have tested the drives this morning; removed one 3Tb drive and put a spare 500GB to see what happened. Worked fine and able to swap around with the setup I have