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I'm not looking for what Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) allows the user to do, but rather, what is the concept that SHR uses to allow you combine disks of different sizes? In most RAID implementations such as ZFS, Linux RAID/mdadm or Btrfs, only disks of the same size can be combined. I have also heard that SHR is based on Linux RAID, and if so, how can it allow me to use different sized disks when standard Linux RAID can't? Does it use a scheme where disks are partitioned into equal sized chunks and then setup in an array? The documentation on Synology's website explains the outcome that SHR can achieve, but now how it achieves it, which is what I would like to know.
Look up JBOD. Synology isn't the only people doing this, and it's not a unique or new technology. – music2myear – 2018-10-10T23:54:27.340
1@music2myear I am familiar with the concept of JBOD, however JBOD provides no redundancy, whereas SHR does provide redundancy. – wispi – 2018-10-10T23:56:26.370
It might be some proprietary format - hence why the name Synology Hybrid Raid.. your best bet is to ask Synology directly. – Darius – 2018-10-11T01:23:21.103
Easiest way to find out is probably to log in to an existing synology box (it uses Linux), and have a look at how it is set up. – dirkt – 2018-10-11T05:37:42.720
@dirkt Unfortunately, I don't own a Synology box. – wispi – 2018-10-11T22:48:01.260
To the best of my experience SHR is a hybrid of RAID and JBOD. It allows prioritization of storage space or redundancy, and can run with only partial redundancy. This article seems to offer some information (but still lacks any sort of deep-dive) https://nascompares.com/2016/07/06/what-is-shr-and-what-is-the-difference-between-synology-hybrid-raid-and-ordinary-raid/. As others have mentioned, the place to learn what you want is Synology themselves, and it is up to them whether or not they publish information about their technology.
– music2myear – 2018-10-11T23:00:41.417