Storage Pool
A storage pool is a collection of one or more drives that can be protected by RAID. Different RAID types offer different levels of data protection. For a general list of RAID types supported by your Synology NAS, refer to Choose a RAID Type.
After creating a storage pool, you can create one or multiple volumes on it. A volume is a unit of data storage and may be expanded if the associated storage pool contains allocatable space. At least one volume must be created before you can start storing data on your Synology NAS.
Note:
- We recommend using drives on the Synology Products Compatibility List that are compatible with your Synology NAS model. Using drives not on the list may affect system stability and result in data loss.
- A storage pool must be comprised of drives of the same type. That is, a storage pool cannot be created with a mix of SATA and SAS drives or SSDs and HDDs.
- If you want to use a certain drive to create a storage pool but the drive does not appear in the Storage Pool Creation Wizard, go to the HDD/SSD page to check the drive status.
- On Synology NAS models that support RAID Group, there can be multiple RAID arrays in a RAID 5, RAID 6, or RAID F1 storage pool.
- RAID arrays belonging to the same storage pool will be of the same RAID type, which means RAID 5, RAID 6, or RAID F1.
- The maximum number of drives for each RAID array can be 6, 12, 16, 20, or 24. You can set the maximum number of drives while creating the storage pool, and the number cannot be modified later.
- When a RAID array has been assigned with the maximum number of drives, the next drive added to the storage pool may be assigned to a new RAID array. The new RAID array must contain the minimum number of drives required for that specific RAID type (i.e., three drives for RAID 5 and RAID F1, and four drives for RAID 6).