How do I increase storage capacity of old Ds211j 2x1Tb in RAID

[Alewis148]

I’ve an old Ds211j...I must have had it at least 10 years although wasn’t used for a lot of those...with two 1Tb HDD RAID setup. How do I go about replacing the drives? I can find a decent tutorial anywhere...

Will take the opportunity to get more storage at the same time. I use it mostly to store music as wavs. What would be best drives to get?

Thank you for any help you can give!

 

[Telos]

As old as that is, I wouldn't swap drives as the rebuild on that unit could take some time. So first, I would back up all my stuff onto an external USB drive.

Having dome that I would add 2 new drives... How much capacity? Well... I can't tell you that. If it were me, I add two 3 or 4TB drives in an SHR configuration. Nut maybe you prefer tow basic volumes or a JBOD array.

Either way, you should plan on backing up your stuff regularly... either to a USB drive, or a cloud, or both.

 

[Alewis148]

As old as that is, I wouldn't swap drives as the rebuild on that unit could take some time. So first, I would back up all my stuff onto an external USB drive.

Having dome that I would add 2 new drives... How much capacity? Well... I can't tell you that. If it were me, I add two 3 or 4TB drives in an SHR configuration. Nut maybe you prefer tow basic volumes or a JBOD array.

Either way, you should plan on backing up your stuff regularly... either to a USB drive, or a cloud, or both.

Thanks Telos. I was thinking of getting two 4Tb drives, but wasn’t sure how to do it - do I just get them and swap one out at a time and it sorts itself out? Alternatively, do you think I should just get a new NAS - given it’s age is it worth just upgrading the drives...or will it work fine for storing streaming music?

 

[Telos]

I have a 213j that I used to stream video (no transcoding). It was sufficient, but the CPU struggled at times. I chose to buy a 418play with an Intel processor, to give me a bit more power. As you probably know, the j-series aren't speedsters, and packages such as Office, Moments and Plex, are quite CPU taxing. I kept my 213j and use it for backup (2 basic volumes now, which I plan to change out to RAID0 to simplify space management).

With a 211j, I'd consider a new unit. But I don't know your usage needs or your budget,.

 

[WST16]

Alternatively, do you think I should just get a new NAS

Here’s an additional (not very different) opinion…

If your only need is just to continue streaming music and that’s all you care about, upgrade (disks) and continue using this unit. The disks can be used anytime if you decide to upgrade to a different NAS down the road. So nothing is wasted.

If you want to start exploring what can you do with a NAS, then upgrade to the highest unit your budget can afford now. These things are amazing. You’ll discover a new use for the NAS regularly, especially if you’re going to hang around here (SynoForum)

 

[jeyare]

@Alewis148 welcome here,
you are in right place, then we need understand better your:
- current operation of the NAS
- expectations to future.

Regarding the current operation:
1. you have 2x1TB disk capacity. What kind mode of operation:
a) what kind of Shared folders (when you have just music streaming usage)
b) what is an utilization of the Volume capacity (%), what is your future growth prediction?
... you can see details or make screenshot from DSM Storage manager
2. primary usage- music for streaming within local (home) network?
3. what about photos or documents. When you lost such data you will be disappointed. Is there something like this? Raid isn’t a backup.

Regarding the future expectations:
1. as was written by our reputable specialists - For such music storage only, it is enough. Then you need purchase two new disks and continue with same NAS and scenario. but 10y is 10y and the device can finish anytime the lifespan.

2. if you have few bucks to new NAS, you need to open your thinking about endless possibilities, as was written by @WST16. You can see in our Resources what you can use and for what, ... from simple data backup of your home computers, your personal data cloud for data availability as you know from Dropbox/OneDrive/GoogleDrive, etc.
You can find in our Resources many useful helps. The most worst attitude is purchase a new NAS, then you can spend hours with looking of how-to and finally you can discover, that 100USD more expensive model is better for you. Same for disks.
So, show us your point.