It's A Digital Disease!

The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/AwakenedEyes on 2025-03-07 09:29:39.

I am building a small DAS to hold my media for a plex server and I am planing to use the Terramaster D2-320, a two bay enclosure with USB 3.2 10gbits interface that supports RAID 0, RAID 1, Single and JBOD.

Ultimately i'd like to setup the DAS with 2x 20TB NAS-Rated drives and set it up in RAID 1 to make sure my data remain safe on the long term. However, I only have enough budget for a single 20TB drive at this step.

Is it possible to setup the first 20TB in the DAS as a single drive and then later add an additional 20TB in the second enclosure and switch the DAS to hardware RAID 1? Would that reformat my drives or would i simply use the drive and mirror it with its actual data? Or should I set it up directly to RAID 1 but with only one drive for now (which would put the DAS in error i am guessing?)

Or.. should just go straight with 2x 8TB and be stuck later (I am already close to that amount in various drives I want to consolidate). I'd much rather start with 20TB straight but can't afford going RAID 1 from the start. Unfortunately the DAS unit doesn't seem to come with any precise information about this scenario. Please advice!