As many of you know, after installing the DSM operating system, what do you need to do first if you want to store something in the NAS? Of course, you need to create a storage pool first, and then create storage space.
Storage Pool
Combine one or more hard drives in the NAS into a storage pool and set up RAID mode. If you want to expand the capacity later, you can also set it up by adding or replacing large capacity hard drives. The following are the setup steps.
1. If you have multiple hard drives that want to form multiple storage spaces or want to set up SHR mode you can select [Flexibility Improvement] mode. It is recommended that beginner players can choose [Performance Improvement] mode.
2. Select the RAID mode, here it is recommended to create a RAID with data redundancy to avoid data loss due to hard drive corruption.
3. Check the hard disks to be allocated to the storage pool, according to your personal storage needs.
4. Creating a storage pool will initialize the hard disk, so it will prompt that the hard disk data will be deleted, so remember to back up the data in advance if there is data on the hard disk.
5. It is recommended to check “Yes” here to verify the drive to avoid errors. The checksum will take longer, but you can store the files normally during the process, but the transfer speed may be affected.
6. After the application, the storage pool is created, but you will be prompted to create “storage space”. The storage space is where all your data is stored, such as: shared folders, documents, and suite data.
What is RAID?
Definition of RAID
Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAID) means “an array of independent disks with redundancy capability”. RAID is a combination of many independent disks into a large capacity disk group, using individual disks to provide data to produce the additive effect to enhance the performance of the entire disk system. Using this technology, the data is cut into many segments and stored on each hard disk. Disk arrays can also take advantage of the concept of Parity Check, which allows data to be read out when any one disk in the array fails. When data is reconfigured, the data can be calculated and relocated to a new hard disk.
Functions of RAID
RAID technology has the following three basic functions.
1. By striping the data on a disk, it enables access to the data in blocks, reduces the mechanical seek time of the disk, and increases the data access speed.
2. By reading several disks in an array at the same time, it reduces the mechanical seek time of the disks and increases the data access speed.
3. By mirroring or storing parity information is redundancy protection of data achieved.
Classification of RAID
1. RAID1
RAID1 is commonly known as disk mirroring and is suitable for people who value data security. The advantage is that it has good security and reliability, but no matter how many hard disks it has available space will only have one hard disk cost more.
RAID1 is when data is written to one hard drive and copied to another hard drive, so if one of the drives is unreadable, the system can still read the mirrored file on the other drive.
2. RAID5
RAID5 is a storage solution that combines data security and cost for those who need both performance and security. Compared to RAID1, it is more efficient and has the same redundancy capability. At least three hard drives are required to form RAID5, because all hard drives are utilized when reading and writing data, so the performance is better than RAID1.
RAID5 distributes data and checksums evenly across all drives, and the checksums can be used to reassemble the array. So if one of the drives is unreadable, you can still repair the array by patching another drive, but the checksum will take up the equivalent of one drive’s space.
After understanding RAID, next we create the storage space.
Storage space
On top of the storage pool, create single or multiple storage spaces, this storage space is straightforward to make D, E, F disk partition on the storage pool to store your data. In this way, you can store your data in NAS. Here are the steps to set it up.
1. Check the existing storage pools or you can also create new storage pools.
If you have more than one storage pool, this is the place for you to choose.
2. Configure the storage space capacity. If [Performance Improvement] is checked when creating the storage pool, the configuration capacity will be maximized here by default, while if the storage pool is set to [Flexibility Improvement], it can be modified manually here.
However, if the manual modification here is not maximized in [Flexibility Improvement] mode, the subsequent expansion, if you have to manually modify the configuration capacity. Otherwise you will have: Where did the hard disk capacity I added for expansion go? Why is the storage space capacity still unchanged? And so on doubts.
Expanding the storage space can be done by reallocating the capacity in [Configuration] under Operations. After clicking Apply, the storage space is created.
3. Once we have created the storage space, we can go to the kit center to download the kit of our choice, but note that when you have more than one storage space, you have to arrange yourself which kits and their data are placed in which space.
Some people may wonder why a 4TB hard drive is put in, to less in storage space. Part of this is because of the drive’s own capacity conversion, and part of it is because the Btrfs file system is checked, and the storage space will be reserved for metadata at 4%.
Conclusion
So well, after reading this tutorial, you probably understand that the storage pool is the control of the hard disk, and the storage space is the control of the data. With storage pools in order to have storage space in order to have storage data.
Enjoyed this tutorial? Then be sure to check out our this guide of the Best 10GbE NAS.
