Extend the drives in RAID 5 array

[Mikibuza]

Dear experts.

I am new around here, and i registered as i have a question.

I do have a NAS running at my home, this system is an older Gaming desktop, on which VMware ESXI 1.34 is running.

On top of that runs a synology system.

I have 6*10TB disks in a RAID 5 config, and i am running out of space.

My idea is to start replacing the 10 TB disks with 20TB one-by-one. I take out 1 disk at a time, and replace it with the bigger one, and leave it time to rebuild itself, untill i have all my drives replaced.

Now my question is if i will be able to do that?

I have no phisical possibility to add the drives beforehand as the motherboard supports only 6 disks.

I would not replace the drives all at once as that would include a cost of around 4000USD, which at once is a bit high. I know that would be the easyest way to do.

What are your thoughts?

[Errock07]

hi, i need to say ur ESXi ver is 7.0.0. And about ur requirement : need more storage Unfortunately, by hardware confirm ther is no way to Expansion ur RAID5 one by one disk. i have an idea about Expansion ur datastore I don`t know ur infrastructure info 1.how about just buy a new server and add disk. 2.(still need buy a new server)do u know about vSAN Stretched Cluster(2 ESXi host) https://core.vmware.com/resource/vsan-stretched-cluster-guide if use vSAN u can just buy one SSD and one 10t HDD for ur DISK group , when u have new 10t HDD u can just add it in ur server and add to disk group online. But, there are some limit u need know first , such as eth speed , large HDD need more sync time. ** If you found this reply useful, may i have kudos **

[Mikibuza]

The goal is to not to buy a new server as i have no more available space in my current flat. And that i replace the 6*10TB disks with 20TB each to have 120TB storage instead of 60TB. And i do not want to backup all my data to swap disks at once.

[Errock07]

i know ur goal,but seems not reasonably. in fact this is not a vsphere question. by the hardware limitation, if u replace one same rpm 20T HDD to current RAID group, it will only use 10T.RAID 5 can work with different Capacity,but will down to the minimum HDD. After replace a 20T HDD ,ur storage will not change. another way is u buy 3*20T HDD create another RAID5 group(if u have more HDD slots) after migration current RAID5 to new 3*20T, u can expansion ur new RAID5 group

[a_p_]

Just some quick comments.

Whether it is possible to expand the RAID depends on your hardware / the RAID controller. It also depends on your controller, if it allows to create multiple virtual disks/locical volumes that are then presented to ESXi. Remember that the maximum supported VMFS (datastore) size is ~64TB.

As a side note: With such large disks, I'd go with RAID6. 

André

[Mikibuza]

So in other words i need to upgrade my gear, buy a server, and move to 6*20 TB disks, and sell my current config?

This is something (the move part itself) i really did want to avoid. The server is okay, but getting the disks, and getting additional space for the server. Not to speak of the noise it will make...

[Errock07]

Maybe, u can borrow a temp server then move ur DATA on it. next buy 3*20T to ur server creat RAID5. When u have money to buy more 3 disk u can expansion the group. Ur limit too much.