engitool
join:2005-03-31
| ReadyNAS Duo Question
I was wondering if the ReadyNAS Duo could expand storage. What I mean is if I buy the 500GB version and then get an additional 1TB drive would the ReadyNAS backup everything to the 1TB allowing for me to replace the 500GB with another 1TB drive in the future and thus reflecting a total storage capacity of 1TB versus the 500GB capacity? Any and all information provided is greatly appreciated. |
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claykin
join:2003-08-22
Fort Lauderdale, FL
edit:
July 8th, @04:03AM
| said by engitool  :I was wondering if the ReadyNAS Duo could expand storage. What I mean is if I buy the 500GB version and then get an additional 1TB drive would the ReadyNAS backup everything to the 1TB allowing for me to replace the 500GB with another 1TB drive in the future and thus reflecting a total storage capacity of 1TB versus the 500GB capacity? Any and all information provided is greatly appreciated. The ReadyNAS Duo only support Netgear's X-RAID technology. Yes, it will do what you are looking for, but bear in mind that your total capacity will be the size of your smallest disk. The second disk is always a mirror. (so make sure you replace both to achieve 1GB)
The below info is taken verbatim from Page 1-20 of the Readynas Duo manual.
The ReadyNAS Duo uses X-RAID, an NETGEAR-patented expandable RAID technology. Some
benefits of X-RAID technology are:
• One-volume technology, but supports volume expansion, either by with the addition of more
disks or the replacement of an existing disk with larger capacity disks.
• You can start out with one disk, and add an additional more disk when you need it.
• Volume management is automatic. Add a second disk, and it becomes a mirror to the first—the
expansion occurring while redundancy is maintained.
You might also want to look here:
»www.readynas.com/?p=177#Specifications |
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engitool
join:2005-03-31 | Hey thanks, I think I'm going to buy this thing |
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siigna
join:2007-10-16
Lancaster, CA
| reply to engitool
Just to let you know...
NETGEAR is planning on releasing an update to the 4.01c1-p2 firmware that comes on the Duo that will enable Flex-RAID mode on the Duo.
So, if you want to risk it you'll be able to run a RAID-0 on the Duo.
There's a beta release of the firmware available on the ReadyNAS forums at »readynas.com/forum. It's under the Beta Releases forum. They've upped the version to 4.1.3 (got rid of the Cx-Px versioning). |
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daveinpoway
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| Do you happen to know if this new firmware will increase the disk writing speed? When it takes longer to write a file to the Duo (with Gigabit Ethernet and a 7200 RPM hard drive) than it takes to write the same file to a 5400 RPM external hard drive over USB 2.0 (the drive is hooked directly to one of the computer's USB ports, not to one of the USB ports on the Duo), something doesn't seem right.
Would increasing the Duo's RAM do anything to increase the write speeds? My first guess is "no", but I don't know just how the RAM is utilized, so perhaps it could. |
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claykin
join:2003-08-22
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| Check reviews/write ups on www.smallnetbuilder.com. They rank the r/w speeds of various NAS boxes. Yes, the Duo is no speed demon and probably never will be! Make sure you are running Gigabit networking and enable jumbo frames.
The speed issues are likely resulting from the slow CPU used in the Readynas products. Its a somewhat old Infrant custom CPU that works well, but is not nearly as powerful as some other NAS CPU's.
For faster RAID 1 (2 disk) performance, check the Synology 207+ (due to be upgraded to the 208 soon). Or, better yet, build your own from a SFF PC and use one of the Linux based freeNAS products. |
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daveinpoway
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
edit:
August 26th, @05:49AM
| Well, since I already have the Duo, and it is too late to return it, I will learn to live with the speeds it can provide.
Perhaps the upcoming RAID-0 mode will speed things up a little. Given that I don't like to chance on any beta software (from any maker), I'm not going to try the beta of the new firmware. When it comes out as a final-release product, I'll install it then.
I have Gigabit equipment (my Mac Pro has 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and I have a U.S. Robotics 8-port Gigabit switch), and all of my cables are Cat. 5e or Cat. 6. Haven't tried Jumbo Frames yet, however.
The other day, I tried copying a (roughly) 500 MB file to the Duo using the equipment listed above; it took about 20 seconds. Then, I replaced the Gigabit switch with a Netgear FS108 10/100 Mbps switch. This time, the transfer took about 30 seconds. Assuming the FS108 gave me exactly 100 Mbps throughput, this says that I was running about 150 Mbps through the Gigabit switch. I guess this is "normal" for the Duo, but I'm not sure. |
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claykin
join:2003-08-22
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| Just make sure that US Robotics Gig switch support 9K Jumbo frames. I didn't know US Robotics still made anything. Have you had it a while? If so, its possible a newer Gig switch will improve your performance. My favorite on the cheap is the Netgear GS108.
On your Mac's I suspect you'll also need to get into the hardware settings to enable JF (assuming Steve didn't have them disable it altogether ). JF is typically disabled by default since its a support hassle for OEM's and actually produces slightly worse throughput results when sending lots of tiny files. Overall, if JF works for you and your networking equipment, performance is usually 10+% better. Your mileage may vary... |
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daveinpoway
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| According to the ReadyNAS Duo documentation, it supports a 7936 Jumbo Frame size (strange number); should I enter this number in the Mac instead of 9000?
I bought the U.S. Robotics switch at a garage sale a couple of months ago, so I don't know how old it is. Supposedly, it supports 9000 jumbo frames.
I just got a Netgear GS116 (the big brother to your GS108), but I haven't had much time to experiment with it yet, other than verify that all of the ports work.
Would changing to JF's slow down normal Internet activity? If I needed to change the MTU size everytime that I switched between Internet access and using the ReadyNAS Duo, it wouldn't be worth it to me.
Before I play around with JF's, I want to wait for the new firmware and see what speed benefits are obtained from using striped RAID. Since most of my use for the NAS involves short-term storage, the lower reliability of striped RAID is not of concern. |
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daveinpoway
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| Update- based on this article »www.smallnetbuilder.com/index2.p···temid=54, I decided to try eliminating Flow Control, so I changed the Mac Pro from Full Duplex, Flow Control to simply Full Duplex. Even though the article indicated that throughput should be faster, I found that my Internet download speed was only about half of what it was with Flow Control enabled. Obviously, this article does not seem to be applicable to my situation (everything plugged into the GS116 switch is Gigabit, except for one item which is 100 Mbps). |
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claykin
join:2003-08-22
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| reply to daveinpoway
You should be good with the Netgear GS116. Jumbo frames can fallback so if you set 9K it will fallback to the 7K level automatically.
You should not notice any noticeable slowdown by switching to JF. When doing raw testing JF can be a bit slower when transferring lots of small files. Overall JF will improve performance if all your hardware supports it. Do some testing and see how it works out for you.
Have you seen this page on Netgears site?
»www.readynas.com/?p=310 |
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daveinpoway
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| Thanks for that link; I had not seen it before. I bookmarked it, and will digest the material later.
I see that the GS116 switch is not on their compatibility list, but the GS108 is- strange! Perhaps the list was made up before the GS116 came out, and no one bothered to update the list.
When I get some free time, I will try out Jumbo Frames to see what occurs. As I discovered with my Flow Control experiment, not every recommended tweak will work in every setup. I'm still not certain why I got the results that I did, but it definitely did happen. At the 20 Mbps (or so) download speed point, I wouldn't have thought that FC (as I understand it) would even be triggered, regardless of whether I have it turned on or not. The speed did drop to around 9 Mbps, though, so something was definitely happening.
I would definitely expect striped RAID (when it becomes available in the upcoming firmware update) to provide some speed increase, but I will have to actually try it to see how much improvement happens. |
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daveinpoway
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA | Did a test this morning- transferring a file to the ReadyNAS Duo took 76 seconds with Jumbo Frames off. I turned JF on in the NAS and set the Mac Pro for 7936- the same transfer took 62 seconds- there was definitely an improvement. |
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