NAS annoyance: 16TB limitation. Any answers?

[MSIC]

Ok, so i've just posted a similar vent over on the Synology forums, but wanted to give Hexites a heads up.

It seems that Synology (and, perhaps, all NAS file systems based on EXT3??) are limited to volumes of 16TB.
This may seem like alot to some here, but believe me it gets gobbled up - anyone remember when a whole Gigabyte seemed like alot??

Anyway, today i added a 4th 6TB drive to my existing 3 x 6TB drives in my Synology 4 bay NAS, and went through the standard (and very intuitive) expansion process...
Only to find that my NAS OS said "Computer says no!"

That's right, it declined.
There was no fault, however is was about 350GB over a file size limit, which also seems to apply to volumes.
Reading around, and please let me know if i'm wrong here as i'm desperate for an acceptable answer, but it seems like my only choice is to keep my existing 3 x 6TB drives as one 10.82TB volume (with data protection), and then create another volume of 5.41TB WITHOUT DATA PROTECTION
It makes me feel like a mug.
If i'd have known, then adding a 5TB drive instead would have worked perfectly (using Synology SHR).

I'm waiting to see if Synology forums can give me another answer, but it seems like i now have to forgo data protection on my data going forward.
Really not happy.

[malfunction]

First thought is "16TB?!? You can leave some porn on the internet you know?"

I'm not familiar with SHR but google seems to think it's only a limitation of the 32-bit CPU based Synology NAS enclosures, not the 64-bit ones, so assuming my google-fu is correct then the easiest option might be to move to a new (or higher end) Synology NAS with a 64-bit CPU - assuming (and I haven't checked it can) that it would be able to use your disks as-is.

Anything else would likely require a rebuild (and hence a 2nd set of disks).

e.g.

https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS415+#spec

Maximum Internal Raw Capacity

32 TB (8 TB HDD x 4) (Capacity may vary by RAID types)

Maximum Single Volume Size

108 TB

[watercooled]

Without meaning to state the obvious if it's something you've already tried, but can you use another file system e.g. ext4? I'm not familiar with their software though so I have no idea if that's possible.

[malfunction]

I was assuming EXT3 was a typo and it was using EXT4 but I guess maybe not. In theory you can run an in-place 'upgrade' from EXT3 to EXT4 but I wouldn't try that on a commercial NAS - or in fact anything with data that I care about and didn't have a backup of - unless there was an approved and easy way to do it.

https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/UpgradeToExt4

[gamesaregood]

Thats really strange and interesting, do you have the latest version of DSM installed?

Its made me check my NAS but its ext4...

Which model of Synology do you have?

[Blastuk]

Is it a really old model? My DS414 is running ext4

[peterb]

Quick read indicated maximum file system size for ext3 is 32 GB, so, as as been suggested,mot may be. CPU/ synology implementation. Are you using LVM? If so you might be able to create two file system on logical volumes, each one less than that 16TB across the physical disks, while still maintains RAID (if that is what you are using) across the disks. Not ideal, but possible.

Otherwise change to Ext4 (if the synology system supports it) but, again as has been said, after backing everything up first! Messing with file systems carries a degree of risk, as I'm sure you know.

[MSIC]

Oops... I suspect you are all correct about it being ext4 not ext3. My error.
Still, the situation remains...

Seemingly I cannot change this without wiping all my data first (not an option).

I guess its just that synology, who fully know of this issue, do not warn users.
I have the option (if I want to wipe and start again) of creating a group of volumes which will have data protection, but again that isn't an immediate option.

What is really annoying is that if I'd have purchased a 5tb drive I'd be fine... But the software refuses to allow me to use less than the full 6tb drive, and then it refuses to let me use the 6tb drive within my existing volume.
It's like its giving me 2 fingers up!

[peterb]

Can you partition the disk to a 5GB and 1GB partition scheme and just use the 5GB?

Or if that won't work, make up a Host Protected Area of 1GB so the OS only sees the drive as a 5GB drive.

[MSIC]

I'll see what options I have . not immediately confident of how to do this, but I can get some help in.

[shaithis]

Hmm, I've set Synologies up with volumes over 40TB (largest was close to 100TB).

probably time to backup the data and start from scratch

[Splash]

ext4 can support*file* sizes up to 16Tib due to 32 bit indexing by default. If you had a 64 bit OS (and you don't, unless you're running the Synology 6.0 beta) and your filesystem was built with the 64 bit flag (details here) then you'd be able to resize until you hit either 1 Exbibyte or the inode limit on your filesystem.

Sadly Ext4 is your only option for internal disks on Synology units as far as I can see - worth opening a support ticket to see if you're able to create a 64 bit volume from CLI and be supported on the beta of the new OS, assuming you have a 64 bit CPU(even though this will require backup/restore - you *are* backing your data up, right?)