DS215j HDD Replacement Recommendation

Currently reading
DS215j HDD Replacement Recommendation

4
1
NAS
DS215j
Operating system
  1. Windows
Hi All,

This has probably been answered many times before so I apologise for asking again.

Background : I have a DS215j with a single 4TB Seagate Drive which I thought would be future proof when I purchased it 4-5 years ago. It's storage capabilities are far greater than I will ever (ever) need, having used maybe 0.05% of the single 4TB Seagate HDD.

Problem : Having only started to use it recently for backing up old photos and music the unit started beeping yesterday and a warning of "degraded storage pool" issued.
I have decided to replace the single failing 4TB Hard Drive with 2 x 1TB Hard Drives, probably Seagate Ironwolf.

Q1) Is this a sensible option? I intend copying the failing drive to the first new 1TB Drive, and then replace the failing drive with the other.
Q2) What do the numbers after the model mean? eg ST4000xxxx?
Q3) Where can I find information regarding compatible drives with my DS215j device?

Many thanks for any pointers.
 
You should run 2 drives in SHR mode (mirrored). Drives should be NAS-rated (WD Red Plus, Seagate Ironwolf, for example).

Otherwise, you probably don't need a NAS when a USB drive would suffice.

It's difficult to say more with limited information. I trust you have backups of your NAS content.
 
I don't have any back-ups, but I can still access the drive, although it is switched off at the moment.
I'll go the route of using 2 drives for sure.
Thank you for your advice.
 
Q1) Is this a sensible option? I intend copying the failing drive to the first new 1TB Drive, and then replace the failing drive with the other.
In your case, you will have to do a bit more work to get this going from a single 4TB to a raid1/shr combo of 2x1TB.

1) copy the data to one of the 1TB drives.
2) replace the 4TB with a second 1TB drive
3) configure a new SHR volume with that second drive
4) copy the data from the 1st 1TB drive (backup) to your new SHR volume
5) add the second drive to the SHR volume and let it rebuild
 
The unstated point, and why this is more complicated, is that when you originally setup you DS215j with one disk it probably selected SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID) to create the storage pool. If you had add a second 4TB disk (or bigger) you could then make this a two disk RAID with 1 disk redundancy (data is mirrored between the two disks, so one disk can fail and the data is still accessible and safe). But you cannot add a disk that is smaller in capacity. This is why you need to copy off your data from the 4TB disk first and why @Rusty says to use one of the 1TB drives.

The amount of data that you have could probably be copied back to PC/Mac. If you have a USB disk then you could connect that to the NAS and either:
  • copy the data to it
  • use Hyper Backup to make a backup of data and NAS configuration
You can also go to Control Panel --> Update & Restore --> Configuration Backup to make a config backup. Then when the NAS is rebuilt with the new disks you can restore the configuration.
 
If you only need 1tb, you might consider using two SSD. two samsung ssd with 5 years of warranty might well be worth the small extra money because of reliability.
 
Q2) What do the numbers after the model mean? eg ST4000xxxx?
You can check here:
 
Background : ... having used maybe 0.05% of the single 4TB Seagate HDD.

Problem : ... backing up old photos and music ...
From a quick calculation that's only a few gigabytes of data. But old photos.

Once you've got this settled you may want to consider using DSM's Hyper Backup to save your files to some secure, off-site backup service. For example, Synology's C2 Plan 1 for 100GB storage is $/€10 per year.

Other services are available :)
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Similar threads

  • Question
SHR2 working as intended. You are still up and in the OS to repair. I have had luck in this situation with...
Replies
2
Views
405
Thanks for your reply @Telos. I decided to send it back for a refund after the drive was eventually...
Replies
2
Views
536
  • Question
What does the SMART report on the drives look like? Look for the Reallocated Sector count in particular.
Replies
2
Views
774
Deleted member 5784
D
Agreed - Synology has become very slow to update the compatibility matrix, and at least on the higher end...
Replies
2
Views
1,023
  • Solved
Indeed..realize that adding the 2nd 16 TB drive after the repair completes and then you yank another 4 TB...
Replies
5
Views
4,168

Welcome to SynoForum.com!

SynoForum.com is an unofficial Synology forum for NAS owners and enthusiasts.

Registration is free, easy and fast!

Back
Top