03-22-2024, 02:17 PM
Yes, you can swap out your 8 x 12TB drives for 18TB drives one at a time on your TVS-874 QNAP NAS with QTS and ZFS configured in RAID 6. This is a safe way to expand your storage capacity.
Here's a breakdown:
Safe method: Replacing drives one by one allows your RAID 6 to rebuild parity information with each drive swap. This ensures data protection even if a drive fails during the process.
ZFS won't expand automatically: While your RAID pool is protected during the swap, the total usable storage won't automatically increase until all the drives are replaced.
Here are the steps involved:
Back up critical data: It's always a good practice to have a separate backup of your important data before any maintenance procedures.
Power down the NAS: Ensure your NAS is properly shut down before swapping any drives.
Replace the first drive: Replace one of the 12TB drives with an 18TB drive.
Power on the NAS: Boot up your NAS.
Storage Pool Management: Log in to your QNAP QTS and go to Storage & Snapshots > Storage/Snapshots.
Monitor Rebuild: You should see a notification about the RAID volume rebuilding with the new drive. This process might take several hours depending on the drive size and system performance.
Repeat for remaining drives: Once the rebuild is complete, you can power down the NAS again and swap the next 12TB drive with an 18TB drive. Repeat steps 3-6 for each remaining drive.
I would recommend backing everything up and starting from scratch. Otherwise, it might take weeks to complete.
Here's a breakdown:
Safe method: Replacing drives one by one allows your RAID 6 to rebuild parity information with each drive swap. This ensures data protection even if a drive fails during the process.
ZFS won't expand automatically: While your RAID pool is protected during the swap, the total usable storage won't automatically increase until all the drives are replaced.
Here are the steps involved:
Back up critical data: It's always a good practice to have a separate backup of your important data before any maintenance procedures.
Power down the NAS: Ensure your NAS is properly shut down before swapping any drives.
Replace the first drive: Replace one of the 12TB drives with an 18TB drive.
Power on the NAS: Boot up your NAS.
Storage Pool Management: Log in to your QNAP QTS and go to Storage & Snapshots > Storage/Snapshots.
Monitor Rebuild: You should see a notification about the RAID volume rebuilding with the new drive. This process might take several hours depending on the drive size and system performance.
Repeat for remaining drives: Once the rebuild is complete, you can power down the NAS again and swap the next 12TB drive with an 18TB drive. Repeat steps 3-6 for each remaining drive.
I would recommend backing everything up and starting from scratch. Otherwise, it might take weeks to complete.