Storage Pool
Through TNAS, you can consolidate multiple disks into a single unified storage device, known as a Storage Pool. Based on this Storage Pool, you can easily create volumes. If there is available space in the Storage Pool, volumes can also be expanded. Additionally, TNAS supports different types of RAID configurations, providing you with diverse levels of data protection.
Management and Operations
Through the function configuration buttons, you can perform the following operations:
• In Damaged Storage Pool: Mounting allows you to remount the disks in the damaged array and restore the Storage Pool to an available state without restarting the system.
• In Available Pool: Mounting allows you to mount a Storage Pool created on another device and restore it to an available state without restarting the system.
- Before deleting a Storage Pool, you must first delete all volumes on the Storage Pool.
- If there is a HyperLock-WORM Volume in the Storage Pool, the HyperLock-WORM Volume and the Storage Pool cannot be deleted.
- Data Cleaning is applicable to TRAID (non-single disk), TRAID+, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10.
- Data Cleaning will reduce storage performance. It is recommended to run Data Cleaning during off-peak business hours.
I Don’t Want to Use the Default TRAID. How to Change the Array Type?
If No Storage Pool Has Been Created: Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool, click to create a Storage Pool, and select the desired array type from the array type drop-down menu.
If a Storage Pool Has Been Created: Change the array type through online array migration, or delete the current Storage Pool and recreate it.
How to Perform Array Repair?
Applicable Scenario: A disk in the TNAS device fails, causing array degradation. TNAS emits a "beep-beep" sound, a notification of array degradation pops up in the TOS desktop messages, and the Storage Pool interface shows "Array Degraded".
Applicable Array Types: TRAID, TRAID+, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10.
Operation Steps:
1. Log in to the TOS system, go to Desktop > Message Notifications, and locate and identify the failed disk.
2. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Array Repair. According to the disk type and capacity requirements in the prompt, prepare a new disk to replace the failed disk.
3. Press the power button briefly to shut down TNAS. Wait until the power indicator light goes off, remove the failed disk, and insert the new disk that meets the disk type and capacity requirements.
4. Press the power button briefly to start TNAS. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Array Repair > Select Disk > Confirm Settings, and wait until the array synchronization is completed.
How to Add a Disk to the Array?
Applicable Scenario: Increase the capacity of the array (Storage Pool) by adding a disk to the existing array without changing the array mode.
Applicable Array Types: TRAID, TRAID+, RAID 5, RAID 6.
Operation Steps:
1. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Add Disk. According to the disk type and capacity requirements in the prompt, prepare a new disk to add to the array.
2. Press the power button briefly to shut down TNAS. Wait until the power indicator light goes off, and insert the new disk that meets the disk type and capacity requirements.
3. Press the power button briefly to start TNAS. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Add Disk > Select Disk > Confirm Settings, and wait until the array synchronization is completed.
4. If you need to add multiple disks, wait until the array synchronization is completed, then repeat steps 1, 2, and 3.
5. If you need to add the newly increased capacity to a volume, go to Storage Management > Volumes, click the "Edit" button, and adjust the volume capacity as needed.
How to Perform Online Array Migration?
Applicable Scenario: Upgrade the existing array mode to a higher-security RAID mode while retaining existing data. Migration requires adding disks to TNAS. Array migration must follow the order: Single > RAID 1, RAID 1 > RAID 5, RAID 5 > RAID 6. No skipping is allowed. Migration to RAID 10 from other arrays is not supported; RAID 10 can only be created when setting up an array in TOS.
Applicable Array Types: TRAID, Single, RAID 1, RAID 5.
Steps for Migrating TRAID to TRAID+: Please refer to the Guide for Migrating TRAID to TRAID+
Steps for Migrating Single, RAID 1, or RAID 5 Arrays:
1. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Array Migration. According to the disk type and capacity requirements in the prompt, prepare a new disk to add to the array for migration.
2. Press the power button briefly to shut down TNAS. Wait until the power indicator light goes off, and insert the new disk that meets the disk type and capacity requirements.
3. Press the power button briefly to start TNAS. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Array Migration > Select Disk > Confirm Settings, and wait until the array synchronization is completed.
4. If you need to add the newly increased capacity to a volume, go to Storage Management > Volumes, click the "Edit" button, and adjust the volume capacity as needed.
How to Replace a Disk?
Applicable Scenario: Replace a smaller-capacity disk with a larger-capacity disk to increase the available capacity of the array, without changing the total number of disks in the array.
Applicable Array Types: TRAID, TRAID+, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6.
Operation Steps:
1. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Replace Disk. Remove the disk you want to replace, and according to the disk type and capacity requirements in the prompt, prepare a new disk for replacement.
2. Press the power button briefly to shut down TNAS. Wait until the power indicator light goes off, remove the disk to be replaced, and insert the new disk that meets the disk type and capacity requirements.
3. Press the power button briefly to start TNAS. You will hear continuous "beep-beep" sounds, and a message about array degradation will be sent to the notifications. Go to the right side of the TOS desktop to turn off the buzzer.
4. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool (which now shows "Array Degraded") > More > Replace Disk > Select the Newly Added Disk > Confirm Settings, and wait until the array synchronization is completed.
5. If you need to replace multiple disks, wait until the array synchronization is completed, then repeat steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.
6. If you need to add the newly increased capacity to a volume, go to Storage Management > Volumes, click the "Edit" button, and adjust the volume capacity as needed.
How to Mount a Damaged Storage Pool?
Applicable Scenario: The storage pool is in a damaged state due to missing required disks.
Applicable Array Types: All array types.
Operation Steps:
1. Go to Storage Management > Storage Pool (currently displayed as "Array Damaged") > Expand Details to view the required disks for the storage pool.
2. Reinsert all required disks into TNAS.
3. After the system detects all required disks, go to Storage Management > Storage Pool > More > Mount > Confirm Settings to remount the storage pool.
Array Types
TRAID
TRAID is the abbreviation of TerraMaster RAID. It is a flexible disk array management tool developed by TerraMaster, featuring functions such as automatic disk space combination, disk failure redundancy protection, and automatic expansion. These functions do not require manual configuration by users; the system will automatically complete the configuration based on disk attributes. TRAID provides users with an optimized, flexible, and elastic disk array management solution, especially suitable for new users who are not proficient in configuring disk arrays. Learn more about TerraMaster TRAID
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | Has the advantages of RAID 5, and offers higher storage utilization compared to RAID 5. |
| Disadvantages | Write performance is worse than RAID 0 and other RAID modes without parity. |
| Data Loss Prevention | Allows 1 disk to fail (when the array contains two or more disks). |
| Array Migration | Migratable to TRAID+ |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 1 |
| Disk Capacity | Depends on disk conditions; system-optimized capacity |
TRAID+
TRAID+ inherits all the excellent features of TRAID and achieves a breakthrough in redundancy protection. Traditional TRAID provides fault redundancy for 1 disk, while TRAID+ increases this to 2 disks, offering more robust protection for user data. This improvement makes TRAID+ an ideal choice for users seeking a higher level of data security.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | Has the advantages of RAID 6, and offers higher storage utilization compared to RAID 6. |
| Disadvantages | Write performance and storage utilization are lower than TRAID. |
| Data Loss Prevention | Allows 2 disks to fail. |
| Array Migration | Non-migratable |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 4 |
| Disk Capacity | Depends on disk conditions; system-optimized capacity |
Single
Single is the simplest storage configuration method. The system uses a single disk directly for data storage, without any redundancy, striping, or combination functions.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | High storage utilization—all disk capacity is available with no waste. Low cost, no need for multiple disks. |
| Disadvantages | No redundancy, no read/write performance optimization. |
| Data Loss Prevention | All data will be lost if the disk fails. |
| Array Migration | Migratable to RAID 1 |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 1 (only 1 disk can be selected for creation) |
| Disk Capacity | 1 × (disk capacity) |
RAID 0
RAID 0 is a RAID configuration that improves performance through data striping. It splits data into blocks and distributes them across multiple disks for storage.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | Highest read/write performance among all RAID levels. High storage utilization—all disk capacity is available with no waste. |
| Disadvantages | Low reliability, no redundancy. |
| Data Loss Prevention | Failure of any disk will result in the loss of all data in the entire RAID 0 array. |
| Array Migration | Non-migratable |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 2 |
| Disk Capacity | Sum of the capacities of all disks |
RAID 1
RAID 1 is a RAID configuration based on mirroring. It mainly achieves redundancy by replicating data to two or more hard disks in real time. Each disk stores the same data, so if one disk fails, data can still be fully recovered from its copy.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | High data reliability—data is fully replicated to all disks, and each disk holds an identical copy of the data. |
| Disadvantages | Low storage efficiency, high cost. |
| Data Loss Prevention | As long as at least one disk is intact, data loss can be prevented. |
| Array Migration | Migratable to RAID 5 |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 2 |
| Disk Capacity | Capacity of the smallest disk |
RAID 5
RAID 5 is a RAID configuration that achieves redundancy through data distribution and parity. It stripes data across all disks for storage, while distributing parity information across each stripe. Parity information is used to rebuild data when a single disk fails, ensuring data integrity and availability.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | High storage utilization, good read performance, and relatively low cost. |
| Disadvantages | Due to the need to update parity information every time data is written, the write performance of RAID 5 is worse than RAID 0 and other RAID modes without parity. |
| Data Loss Prevention | Allows 1 disk to fail. |
| Array Migration | Migratable to RAID 6 |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 3 |
| Disk Capacity | (N-1) × (capacity of the smallest disk) |
RAID 6
RAID 6 is a RAID configuration with dual parity. It provides higher data redundancy and fault tolerance by adding extra parity information.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | Higher fault tolerance and good read performance. |
| Disadvantages | Write performance is worse than that of RAID 5, and storage utilization is lower. |
| Data Loss Prevention | Allows 2 disks to fail. |
| Array Migration | Non-migratable |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 4 |
| Disk Capacity | (N - 2) × (capacity of the smallest disk) |
RAID 10
RAID 10 is a hybrid RAID type that combines the advantages of RAID 1 and RAID 0. It first provides redundancy through mirroring (RAID 1), then improves performance through striping (RAID 0).
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Advantages | High data security. Excellent read/write performance—since there is no need to calculate parity information, write performance is better than that of RAID 5 and RAID 6. |
| Disadvantages | Low storage utilization and high cost. |
| Data Loss Prevention | Data remains accessible if one disk in any mirror pair fails. |
| Array Migration | Non-migratable |
| Minimum Number of Disks Required | 4 (total number of disks must be even) |
| Disk Capacity | (N / 2) × (capacity of the smallest disk) |
- To ensure the stability of the storage pool and data security, it is strongly recommended not to mix USB external disks and local disks in the same storage pool.
- If you choose to add an SSD to the storage pool, it can no longer be configured as an SSD cache afterward.
- It is recommended to use disks from the TNAS product compatibility list. Using unlisted disks may affect system stability and even lead to data loss.
- During the storage pool creation process, all existing data on the selected disks will be deleted. Please ensure there is no important data on the disks used to create the storage pool.