3 TB vs 4 TB disk

I have an iomega storcenter ix2-200. According to the documentation, it supports up to a 3 TB disk. My question is, what makes it support a 3 TB disk but not a 4 TB disk. I don't want to return the 4 TB disks, as I'll be replacing the NAS in about 6 months with a custom built one, just want to hold me over until then.

I was under the impression, once you got passed 2 TB, the limit (on linux) became something like 32 TB.

I can ssh into the NAS, would manually partitioning the disk to 3 TB (an apparently supported size) allow me to use the disks?

EDIT:

The goal here is to completely replace the existing 2x1TB setup with a 2x4TB setup. I have found a tutorial on the lenovo website with the upgrade path to do so. I am simply trying to get the NAS to use the larger disks. As of right now, when the disk is inserted, the NAS simply says "Disk is Unusable."

Pete Garafano

Posted 2013-12-09T19:24:24.380

Reputation: 139

1Maybe it's kinda like 3Gb ram vs 4Gb ram in 32bit Windows? I dunno. Is your question theoretical, or are you actually deciding on which one to buy? In any case, won't you be able to return the hardware for 2 weeks after purchase? – user1306322 – 2013-12-09T19:29:03.953

@user1306322 I already own the storcenter, I've had it for a few years but I'm out of space and didn't know the 4 TB drives wouldn't work. I'm trying to avoid returning the drives even if it means not using the full capacity until I have a chance to build my own NAS. – Pete Garafano – 2013-12-09T19:30:37.507

Also I just thought that 22Tb might be safer than 14Tb and you already know your configuration can handle 3Tb or less drives, so there. – user1306322 – 2013-12-09T19:32:40.983

@user1306322 The goal is to have it be mirrored 2x4TB. Right now its mirrored 2x1TB. – Pete Garafano – 2013-12-09T19:41:30.257

You might want to add that into your question. – user1306322 – 2013-12-09T19:42:12.340

3This is speculation, but it could be that your NAS was created at a time where 3TB drives were the maximum size and they decided to hardcode that size into the hardware? – Mogget – 2013-12-09T19:53:49.493

It all comes down to the SATa controller – Ramhound – 2013-12-09T20:45:37.913

Maybe unrelated, but not returning the drives now may cause issues in the future as you have already lost 6 months of your warranty period, and storage prices will likely have fallen somewhat in that time. – Michael – 2013-12-09T22:53:38.383

@Michael that is something I had not considered. Thanks for pointing that out. – Pete Garafano – 2013-12-10T20:38:55.897

Answers

It seems to me that the answer is in your question. "I have an iomega storcenter ix2-200. According to the documentation, it supports up to a 3 TB disk."

For what ever reason the manufacturers have set a 3TB limit. It has nothing obvious to do with the sizes available but is a choice.

Xavierjazz

Posted 2013-12-09T19:24:24.380

Reputation: 7 993

1Such limits might be enforced by the manufacturer simply because they want you to pay more for a model that supports larger disks, and not because of some sophisticated I/O bottleneck issues (though that is always a possibility, but we might never find out). – user1306322 – 2013-12-09T19:35:33.920

That's speculation. not necessarily wrong, but ..... – Xavierjazz – 2013-12-09T19:36:31.540

That's why I used the words "might" and "but we might never find out". And it seems a reasonable business model to me, so chances are it's true. – user1306322 – 2013-12-09T19:38:28.963

@Xavierjazz I realize what the documentation says, I'm asking the community's opinion on if its artificial or technical, and if the community thinks it can be bypassed. If we all just stuck to the docs, the hacker culture wouldn't exist. – Pete Garafano – 2013-12-09T19:40:15.687

1@TheGreatCO And you should also state that in the question. And as this becomes a completely different question, that might no longer fit SE format, I suggest you visit our chat and ask there. Maybe fellow users will guide you towards better answers or link to some technical forums. – user1306322 – 2013-12-09T19:42:57.920

1@TheGreatCO it either works or it doesn't. If it doesn't work, then check to see if there is any updated firmware or if there is a mod community for that hardware. If there is not mod community or firmware updates, then you are probably out of luck, or at least on your own. – Zoredache – 2013-12-09T20:16:30.983

1Maybe, at the time Iomega has validated that 3TB drives work, there weren't 4 TB drives avaiable? – Sunzi – 2013-12-09T21:52:12.120

How old is the NAS? Many times they will have such text in the documentation because they simply did not have a 4TB drive available to test it with. Thus, they do not know if it will work or not.

Perhaps they put a specific limit on their to make sure the job will not work instead of doing something unexpected.

user606723

Posted 2013-12-09T19:24:24.380

Reputation: 1 217