HOW-TO: Calculating and Optimizing RAID Configurations

Western Digital NAS - Expert Series EX4100 (WDBWZE0320KBK-NESN)

References

Documentation:

• File:User Manual for Western Digital My Cloud Expert Series EX4100.pdf
• Hardware WDBWZE0320KBK-NESN): https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/network-attached-storage/wd-my-cloud-expert-series-ex4100#WDBWZE0000NBK-NESN

RAID Calculations for WDBWZE0320KBK-NESN:

• RAID Calculator: http://www.raid-calculator.com/default.aspx

RAID Configurations

RAID-10 vs RAID-5

Hardware — Western Digital My Cloud Expert Series EX4100

• File:User Manual for Western Digital My Cloud Expert Series EX4100.pdf
• Hardware WDBWZE0320KBK-NESN): https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/network-attached-storage/wd-my-cloud-expert-series-ex4100#WDBWZE0000NBK-NESN

4x12 TB — RAID-10 vs RAID-5

UPDATED CONFIGURATION (RAID-10)

UPDATED CONFIGURATION (RAID-10)
Bays — 4
Drives — 12TB HDD (Western Digital Red 7200RPM 12TB HDD)
RAID — RAID-10 (Mirror+Stripe)

PERFORMANCE:
Capacity — 24 TB
Speed gain — 4x read and 2x write speed gain
Fault tolerance — At least 1-drive failure

ORIGINAL CONFIGURATION (RAID-5)

PREVIOUS CONFIGURATION (RAID-5)
Bays — 4
Drives  — 12TB HDD (Western Digital Red 7200RPM 12TB HDD)
RAID  — RAID-5 (Parity)

PERFORMANCE:
Capacity — 36 TB
Speed gain — 3x read speed, no write speed gain
Fault tolerance — 1-drive failure

4x8 TB — RAID-10 vs RAID-5

UPDATED CONFIGURATION (RAID-10)

UPDATED CONFIGURATION (RAID-10)
Bays — 4
Drives — 8TB HDD (Western Digital Red 7200RPM 8TB HDD)
RAID — RAID-10 (Mirror+Stripe)

PERFORMANCE:
Capacity — 16 TB
Speed gain — 4x read and 2x write speed gain
Fault tolerance — At least 1-drive failure

ORIGINAL CONFIGURATION (RAID-5)

PREVIOUS CONFIGURATION (RAID-5)
Bays — 4
Drives  — 8TB HDD (Western Digital Red 7200RPM 8TB HDD)
RAID  — RAID-5 (Parity)

PERFORMANCE:
Capacity — 24 TB
Speed gain — 3x read speed, no write speed gain
Fault tolerance — 1-drive failure