AS-604T: start with one HDD, then add more?

[roland]

I'm looking for a reliable and easy to use NAS to store my files on and the Asustor AS-604T looks to be the best for my needs, but due to the cost involved I would like to know if it's possible to start with one HDD (WD Red 3TB). I would then like to add more drives (of the same type) over the coming months, setting up a RAID setup to keep the data safer.
Is this possible?

I'd also like to use the NAS to 'stream' my music on my computer when I'm at work.
Is this possible out of the box or through an app?

[Allen@AST]

Hi roland,

Yes it is possible for you to start with just one HDD and then add more later on. Your new HDDs can be added to your existing volume and your RAID level can also be upgraded on the fly. All ASUSTOR NAS devices support online RAID migration and capacity expansion. This means that you can insert new HDDs to expand your storage capacity and/or upgrade your RAID level while your NAS is still online and completely operational.

For more information about online RAID migration and capacity expansion please see: http://download.asustor.com/college/en/ ... ansion.pdf


We will be including a web music player with the new version of our firmware. This music player will allow you to stream and share music from your NAS through the web, so you will definitely be able to enjoy your music while at work. We hope to release the new version of our firmware sometime next month and the web player will be available as a downloadable App from App Central.


Thanks for your questions,

Allen

[roland]

Thanks so much for your quick reply.

This fast response -- your competitors just ignore e-mails and close web-chats at random -- along with the available (easy to follow) Asustor College documents and the knowledge that I can do what I want have sealed the deal: I'll definitely get the AS-604T and, depending on the cost, will start with either one or two disks and then add more over the next few months.

[Allen@AST]

No problem, roland. Hope you enjoy your AS-604T!

[bruceleeon]

Personally, I would go for SubSonic... I have been using it for years on PC, Server, or NAS. The android app makes it perfect for travel and the web interface makes listening to music at work a breeze.

[MDPlatts]

I know netgear used to have issues with raid capacity expansion hitting a size limit - their reason was that EXT3 had a limit between the initial size and the maximum size it could be expanded to. I can't remember the numbers - but people with a set of 1TB drives in 4-slot units could not upgrade to 3TB drives later on and get the full capacity without a complete re-format. I sort of think there was a limit of 6.xTB allowable growth but might be wrong.

Does the ASUS have this issue (IIRC you use EXT3) ?

[Kerry]

I guess you are talking about the ext3 limitation in the past. Actually Ext4 has similar limitation of 16TB not long ago. But I believe this issue is resolved. I just migrated my AS-608T smoothly from original 4 * WD 2TB (raid 5) to the new 4TB Seagate ST4000 * 8 under raid 5 with nearly 25TB available!!!

BTW, Asustor uses EXT4.

File System
Internal Disk: EXT4

http://www.asustor.com/product?p_id=2&lan=en

[Allen@AST]

Hi MDPlatts,

Currently, with our ADM 1.0 operating system, there is a RAID capacity expansion limit of 16 TB.

However, in ADM 2.0 there will be no limit on RAID capacity expansion. ADM 2.0 will be launching later this month.


Thanks for your question,

Allen