Lacie 6Big HDD

[Enquiries]

The Lacie 6Big compatibility chart maxes out at 18TB Iron Wolf Pro drives. Those are apparently in high demand and unavailable through the recommended retailers.

If paired with 18TB drives in a raid5 configuration do you think there would be an issue using a 20TB drive instead?

I know the system would only see it as an 18TB drive but not certain that it would actually work.

[ed]

Thanks for reaching out about the Lacie 6Big!

You’re correct that the compatibility chart lists 18TB IronWolf Pro drives as the largest officially supported drives. While the system may only "see" 18TB per drive, using 20TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration should technically work, as long as the drives are recognized by the system.

Here are a few considerations:

Drive Recognition: The Lacie 6Big may limit the usable space to 18TB due to its firmware or RAID controller, which is designed around the maximum supported size. The additional 2TB on the 20TB drives would be ignored, but the drives should still work as long as the hardware and firmware can recognize the drives at all.

RAID Compatibility: Since you're setting up a RAID 5 array, it’s important to note that all drives in the array must be of the same capacity. In your case, the RAID will treat the 20TB drives as 18TB to match the rest of the drives in the array, effectively underutilizing the additional space.

Firmware Updates: Ensure that your Lacie 6Big has the latest firmware, as newer updates could offer better compatibility with larger drives or additional configurations. It's also a good idea to contact Lacie directly or check the latest documentation to confirm that 20TB drives would work reliably.

Performance & Reliability: Although the system will only see 18TB of each 20TB drive, the drives should function without issue in terms of data storage, but there may be a small performance impact depending on the model of drive and its compatibility with your RAID setup.