Upgrade NAS from DS214+ to a DS920+

Hans Winterink Leave a comment

My NAS DS214+ disk (2x 3TB, in a Raid-1) were filling up. Time to look for a new setup. I considered two options:

  1. Keep my existing DS214+ NAS and upgrade the disks to e.g. 8TB (or even 16TB).
  2. Get a new NAS, some new disks and reuse (or not) the current 3TB drives in a mix and match raid (SHR) setup.

To have a more future-proof solution, I decided for option 2. After reading several reviews, I concluded to go for a 4 bay solution: Synology DS920+ NAS. Reused the 3TB from my old NAS and added 2 new 8TB disks in a Synology Hybrid Raid (SHR) configuration. Theoretically, this would lead to a 14TB, in practice to 12TB, available space with protection against failure of 1 drive (8TB used for protection). Coming from 3TB a significant step up.

When needed, this configuration could grow in a SHR setup to a maximum of 48TB, when using 4x 16TB harddisks. So still significant growth opportunity. But the most likely next step would be a replacement of the 3TB disks for a 8TB into a 24TB solution.

But how to migrate from the DS214+ with 2x 3TB to the new setup on the DS920+ with 2x8TB and reuse of the 2x3TB from the DS214+. Including changing from ext4 filesystem to btrfs. And as I will likely run some docker images and possibly also some virtual machines, a RAM upgrade of 4GB (taking it to a total of 8GB).

First choice to be made: migrate, or have a clean setup. I decided to go for a clean setup and copy the data over from the old NAS to the new one. Easier set than done.

  1. The first step is to run a Hyperdrive backup to a USB disk (I used a 4TB Seagate One Touch for this). As the source size is maximal 3TB, a 4TB USB disk is perfect to make a backup of everything.
  2. Initialise new DS920+ setup. Now this is important (I learned to hard way). Start with one of the 3TB disks (in slot-1) and set up an SHR pool and 1 volume with the BTRFS files system.
  3. Plug in the 8TB in slot 3 and 4. Now add these disks to the pool. This will create a space of roughly 10TB. The adding disks will take quite some time. As a matter of security, leave one of the 3TB disks still in the old (DS214+) NAS. It will go to degraded state, but all your files are still there.
  4. Recover the files from the backup to the new DS920+ NAS. Now you have your data on the new NAS, on the old NAS and USB disk.
  5. Now start using your new NAS for a few days and see if everything works and all data you need is available on the new NAS. The old NAS still functions and can be used to check and fall back to.
  6. Setup backup to the cloud on the new NAS. I use the idrive service (5TB for 79$ and 10TB for 99$).
  7. After everything is working correct, the last step is now to migrate the last 3TB to the new NAS (in slot 2). And add this one to the pool. Again, this will take some time to finalise.
  8. Now all set and done. Leave the system alone for a bit of time. And as the last step, place the extra RAM module. I used the original and supported 4GB module (D4NESO-2666-4G).

It took quite some time to complete the upgrade. But, I have now a 12TB setup with a DS920+, with reuse of my old 3TB drives. And enough future upgrade opportunities to grow into a maximum of 48TB.

Why I like Obsidian

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Obsidian is an environment to create notes. Plain and simple I like it because: it is beautiful, is markdown based (therefor portable), it embraces the link forward and backward principle, I.e. create a sort of web of atomic notes that can be reused and it is free (some features require though a subscription).

Obsidian makes it simple to make notes in line with the Zettelkasten method. It is worthwhile to take some time to get your head around this method. Start by creating some atomic notes, find the connection and it will trigger to create more notes that can be connected. And this is how the set of notes grows along the lines of your thinking.

The nice thing is that you just can start anywhere and let it network of notes grow. If it does not grow than possibly the subject of the notes is not appealing/interesting enough for you.

Go and have a look of the site of Obsidian and get your free copy for Windows, Mac, Linux or mobile on iOS and Android.

Resolution DJI Cameras

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In this post an overview of the resolution of 3 DJI devices:

  • DJI Osmo Action
  • DJI Pocket 2
  • DJI Mavic Air

When using footage of the 3 in a single movie it would make sense to make a choice for a resolution that can be used in all three devices. Obviously next to resolution also the frames per second (fps) matters. Typically that would be 25fps (and if you want to slow down things you could start with a higher fps). The common resolutions include the following.

  • 1080p (1920×1080)
  • 2.7k (2720×1530)
  • UHD 4k (3840×2160)

Best Focal Length for Street Photography

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What is the best focal length for street photography. There is already a lot written on this subject. And it all depends.

Shooting with long focal lengths (more then 70mm) can for sure do the job, but it starts to lose intimacy. With short(er) focal lengths you are dragged into the scene as if you are part of it. Longer focal lengths makes it flat and more distant. You are more looking at a kind of postcard.

Quoting the famous street photographer Robert Capa – “If your photos aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough”. So get close!

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My Streetphotography Gear

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Is gear important. No not really, but you can’t do without. So what gear do I use when for my street photography. An overview, from camera, lenses to bag and assecoires.

Camera

For my street photography I use only my micro four third camera: Olympus OMD-EM10 (MK1). It is small, fast and delivers great quality. It delivers good value for money. Because of it small size it helps in staying unnoticed. There are a lot other cameras that can do the job. Though you can perfectly go with a DSLR camera I would advise to go for something small.

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