Maximum drive size in a DS215J

[THXTonyTone]

Afternoon,

First time posting but have a question that I'm hoping a member can answer?

I have 2 DS215J's. 1 has a 12tb in and the other has 2x 3tb but what I am enquiring about as the post header states what is the maximum drive size anyone has put in theirs?

The compatibility list shows 14tb but is that a single volume or can i put 2 in to give me 28tb or would 1 of the drives be a backup as the original spec sheet states that a single volume of 12tb total?

I am running DSM 7.1.2 unless it has been updated overnight to update 3.

Hope my question makes sense.

 

[Samir]

Very late to the party, but I have some info that may help as I've got a DS215J as well as 2x DS213J.

I believe I have a 10TB in the 215 and one 8TB and one 12/14/16TB in each of the 213.

I think with the move to DSM 7, you should have no problem with volumes >16TB, although on DSM7, that unit may be quite slow if doing anything but plain nas duty. I've kept all my older units on DSM 6 since they're LAN only and to keep them fast. And I don't think having a volume >16TB would have been a problem on 6 either since my qnap of the same era can. Hope this helps!

 

[fredbert]

The information from Synology still has 16 TB volume limits on the DS215j. Doesn't mean you can't have multiple volumes though.

What is the maximum single volume size of my Synology NAS? - Synology Knowledge Center

Synology Knowledge Center offers comprehensive support, providing answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting steps, software tutorials, and all the technical documentation you may need.

kb.synology.com

 

[Samir]

The information from Synology still has 16 TB volume limits on the DS215j. Doesn't mean you can't have multiple volumes though.

What is the maximum single volume size of my Synology NAS? - Synology Knowledge Center

Synology Knowledge Center offers comprehensive support, providing answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting steps, software tutorials, and all the technical documentation you may need.

kb.synology.com

Doesn't surprise me though as they typically don't update everything on the older devices. And especially since there's nothing hardware preventing >16TB and his running DSM 7, I would expect it to have just as large a volume as any other DSM 7 based unit.

 

[Telos]

And especially since there's nothing hardware preventing >16TB

Except Synology (product segmentation for marketing purposes)... @fredbert is correct... Volume is capped at 16 TB.

 

[fredbert]

his running DSM 7, I would expect it to have just as large a volume as any other DSM 7 based unit.

My DS215j runs DSM 7.1.1 but I don't have bigger than 3 TB HDD. It runs ok as a file server for Time Machine.

 

[Samir]

Except Synology (product segmentation for marketing purposes)... @fredbert is correct...

I don't buy a lot of these limits on NAS units until they're actually proven to be hard limits. There's nothing in theory to limit a volume to <16TB on the DS215J when running DSM 7.

Every manufacturer does this too--Netgear, Qnap, Intel, Iomega/Lenovo, Synology. And I've shattered all their stock limits when using a new large drive in an older unit with limited specs. Yes, you generally have to have multiple 16TB volumes with older versions of software, but I don't see something as new as DSM 7 having an issue. I wish I was close to my 215J or 213J to try it--I've got a brands new 18TB drive I could test it on. In fact, since one of my 213J is close, I might just try that if it already doesn't have a large drive in it.

-- post merged: 20. Oct 2023 --

My DS215j runs DSM 7.1.1 but I don't have bigger than 3 TB HDD. It runs ok as a file server for Time Machine.

I still use 6 on mine and I think I've got a 10TB HGST in there that was not even close to being on the support list atm when I installed it a few years back.

 

[Telos]

I don't buy a lot of these limits on NAS units until they're actually proven to be hard limits.

That's irrelevant. Unless you recode DSM, Synology's limits exist. Numerous posts across NAS forums attest to this. Similar Synology stops exist preventing btrfs format, and SHR arrays on certain units.

A 215j is limited to 16 TB volumes.

 

[Samir]

That's irrelevant. Unless you recode DSM Synology's limits exist. Numerous posts across NAS forums attest to this. Similar Synology stops exist preventing btrfs format, and SHR arrays on certain units.

No it isn't. Synology's own drive limit on this unit was 4TB back when I installed the 10TB. The manufacturers do not test the limits of their products, and especially discontinued products. I understand there may be limits on things like BTRFS or SHR that are cpu and memory dependent, but those are not necessarily capacity limits. Until someone proves that it does not work, my experience with NAS units across the board, including Synology units is that they are more than likely capable of things not specifically proven to not work.

The true answer to this will be an 18TB+ drive in a DS215J or earlier running DSM 7 or earlier. I might be able to test this to prove it once and for all, but it's not a priority.

 

[Telos]

The true answer to this will be an 18TB+ drive in a DS215J

Good luck with that 18 TB volume. No one mentioned a drive size limit. However, in a single-bay model, with a 16 TB volume cap, you cannot create a 20 TB pool (or any pool for that matter), so for practical purposes the drive size is capped. Again, you can find posts which describe such a situation.

 

[Samir]

Good luck with that 18 TB volume. No one mentioned a drive size limit. However, in a single-bay model, with a 16 TB volume cap, you cannot create a 20 TB pool (or any pool for that matter), so for practical purposes the drive size is capped. Again, you can find posts which describe such a situation.

Any of the 2xxJ series models are 2-drive models. Before you want to wish ill on ideas that would provide future life to older devices, you might want to check what you're talking about.

If there is such a volume limit on the DS215J, it would be nice if you can link to such 'proof' as it would be useful to both the OP and myself who own these devices.

 

[fredbert]

Let’s wind it in a bit. There’s a difference between HDD and Storage Pool sizes, which can exceed 16 TB on the DS215j. However, there is a limit of 16 TB for any one volume. So if you create a Storage Pool with multi-volume support then that can use large drives and pools.

 

[Samir]

No disagreement in hdd and pool limits. I just don't believe the 16TB volume limit on the DS215J under DSM 7 until I see that someone has tried >16GB and failed.

Like I said a qnap I own of the same era runs 2x16TB in a single 32GB raid0 volume, so I would expect synology to have had that same capability back then on DSM 6, and most definitely on DSM 7, regardless of what the official (probably outdated) documentation says about it. Again, I can try this myself at some point, but it's not a priority.

 

[Telos]

If there is such a volume limit on the DS215J, it would be nice if you can link to such 'proof'

You've shown no proof otherwise.

there is a limit of 16 TB for any one volume

QED! Done here until proven incorrect.

 

[Samir]

You've shown no proof otherwise.

QED! Done here until proven incorrect.

This too is artificially imposed.

There isn't any as of yet--doesn't mean it cannot be done. This is the same as saying that it's impossible to get to the moon in 1969 because no one did it yet.

Incorrect. Show where that volume limit exists on a DS215J running DSM 7 and you have your proof. I'd love to know too so I wouldn't expect to get a full volume out of an 18TB+ drive.

Those are more practically imposed since overloading the cpu or maxing out the memory will just make the experience bad. Personally, I would never run DSM 7 on an older unit that shipped with DSM 6 as that's just asking for slowdowns thanks to code bloat. Adding these on top of code bloat would have probably bricked them.