Synology DS216 - Any Reason *Not* to Accept Default Raid Type

[allanc]

I am configuring a Synology DS216j with 2 * 2 Tb WD Reds.
By default, the DSM is configuring the RAID as Synology Hybrid Raid (SHR).
Should I leave the type of RAID as is or switch to RAID 1?
What are the PROS / CONS either way?
Thank you in advance.

 

[Markverhyden]

Personally I just leave it with the default. Kind of like using the zfs system on FreeNAS. But with only two drives it appears to be little more than a mirror.

 

[HCHTech]

I think the main advantage of their hybrid RAID is if you use unequal drive capacities. It also simplifies setup for novice users. It makes it easier to expand the volume by adding drives of any size. If I'm building one for a client and have equal-sized drives (which i always do if I'm ordering the parts - duh), I just use regular RAID. Here is an article from their KB.

 

[allanc]

Personally I just leave it with the default. Kind of like using the zfs system on FreeNAS. But with only two drives it appears to be little more than a mirror.

I am also curious if it affects the ability to perform data recovery.

 

[trevm999]

I see it more as a home user feature, and there would be no benefit in a 2 bay, so I'd go with RAID1

 

[Markverhyden]

I am also curious if it affects the ability to perform data recovery.

Actually I was off a bit on FreeNAS. zfs is a BSD filesystem in FreeNAS but they have their own hybrid RAID mechanism. Not sure how that compares to SHR. I do remember reading sometime ago many DR people believe that DR with zfs is more problematic than etx4, NTFS, etc. Never had any experience with DR in either FreeNAS hybrid or SHR. Maybe some of the DR members will comment. @lcoughey @labtech @Larry Sabo @DataMedics Sorry if I missed some.

This link is for calculating available space for Synology. As you can see 2 x 2tb results in 2tb of available space if you use SHR. Years ago I would recommend 2 bay devices but have stopped that due to reliability problems. In my book it's better to have a 4 bay with smaller drives. As @HCHTech mentioned the big benefit of those hybrid systems is efficiently using drives of different sizes.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I believe UFS Explorer recovers ZFS file systems, but I have no personal experience with ZFS. For other RAID file systems, ReclaiMe is the salt of the earth for DR novices like me. I believe the DR pros tend to prefer UFS Explorer RAID Recovery because it's more capable (but also considerably more expensive). This UFS Explorer page has some helpful guidance on NAS recoveries and here's the ReclaiMe NAS recovery page.

 

[allanc]

Actually I was off a bit on FreeNAS. zfs is a BSD filesystem in FreeNAS but they have their own hybrid RAID mechanism. Not sure how that compares to SHR. I do remember reading sometime ago many DR people believe that DR with zfs is more problematic than etx4, NTFS, etc. Never had any experience with DR in either FreeNAS hybrid or SHR. Maybe some of the DR members will comment. @lcoughey @labtech @Larry Sabo @DataMedics Sorry if I missed some.

This link is for calculating available space for Synology. As you can see 2 x 2tb results in 2tb of available space if you use SHR. Years ago I would recommend 2 bay devices but have stopped that due to reliability problems. In my book it's better to have a 4 bay with smaller drives. As @HCHTech mentioned the big benefit of those hybrid systems is efficiently using drives of different sizes.

I just do not want to be in a scenario where the method is proprietary and only the manufacturer can perform the DR or another DR Lab can do it but at much more expense than a typical RAID 1.
That is regardless of the manufacturer.
Easy for me to say since I am not in the DR Lab business.

 

[labtech]

As already mentioned by the other fellas, the benefit of SHR over RAID 1 is to utilize any "lost space" due to different capacity drives.

I don't have experience with recovering data from SHR technology, yet. So not 100% sure what the recovery would entail, though I would imagine SHR recovery should not be that much different than RAID 1. Perhaps SHR uses some special offsets, headers, etc. Now, for striped RAID configs, SHR config may be more complicated than traditional ones. I would expect they would have some proprietary stuff to allow for these on-the-fly expansions and RAID re-configurations without data loss.

You could potentially find out the difficulty in recovering it through testing while the drives are good. Configure the box as SHR, remove the drives and analyze.

In case of failure, as far as data recovery service cost goes, there are so many other factors involved as far as expertise, equipment and price pitch differences among data recovery service providers that making a decision on what lab to use based on cost is a poor approach.

If you ever need quality data recovery service at fair prices, then the providers here on the forum are excellent choices.

 

[allanc]

As already mentioned by the other fellas, the benefit of SHR over RAID 1 is to utilize any "lost space" due to different capacity drives.

I don't have experience with recovering data from SHR technology, yet. So not 100% sure what the recovery would entail, though I would imagine SHR recovery should not be that much different than RAID 1. Perhaps SHR uses some special offsets, headers, etc. Now, for striped RAID configs, SHR config may be more complicated than traditional ones. I would expect they would have some proprietary stuff to allow for these on-the-fly expansions and RAID re-configurations without data loss.

You could potentially find out the difficulty in recovering it through testing while the drives are good. Configure the box as SHR, remove the drives and analyze.

In case of failure, as far as data recovery service cost goes, there are so many other factors involved as far as expertise, equipment and price pitch differences among data recovery service providers that making a decision on what lab to use based on cost is a poor approach.

If you ever need quality data recovery service at fair prices, then the providers here on the forum are excellent choices.

I agree.
The price point of a service is an important factor but definitely not the most important factor.