QNAP TR-004 - 3 as RAID 5 + 1 normal HDD?

English Storage
1

If I format my 4-slots TR-004 as RAID 5, using three HDD, may I use the empty slot to add another HDD outside of the RAID, as an independant HDD?

MacBook Air M3
macOS Tahoe 26.1

2

IIRC this is possible, but requires you to use software control mode, and set it up on your PC.

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3

I’ll try that. Thanks!!

4

Could you please clarify: Are you planning to connect this to a Mac, a Windows PC, or use it as an expansion unit for a NAS?

When the TR-004 is used as a standalone external enclosure for a NAS, it supports individual mode & multiple volumes. However, when used in built-in mode (pool & snapshot), it will block individual mode and multiple volumes.

Please refer to the product page for more details:

TR-004 | 4 Bay USB Type-C Direct Attached Storage with Hardware RAID | QNAP

Thanks!

5

Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

English is not my first language, and it’s my first RAID.

The TR-004 will be and external RAID drive, connect to an :laptop: Apple computer.

(MacBook Air M3, macOS Tahoe.)

I’ll be using the software provided from QNAP. =)

6

Hello, I tried it on my TR-004.

  1. With the Dip switch set to RAID 5 mode, after inserting 3 disks to create a RAID 5 array and then inserting a fourth disk, the fourth disk automatically becomes an enclosure hot-spare and cannot be used as a single disk.

  2. With the Dip switch set to Software Control mode, creating a RAID 5 array with 3 disks and then attempting to create another group fails due to insufficient disks; it is treated as an enclosure hot-spare and cannot be used as a single disk.

Experiments have shown that the TR-004 cannot support the desired combination of RAID 5 (3 disks) and individual (1 disk) configurations.

So you can only create a RAID5 using 4 disks or using 3 disks in TR-004 and then using the remaining disk in another USB external enclosure.

Hope these information can help you make your decision.

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7

Thanks a lot for taking your time to test this out! =))