Drive upgrade question

[satyr]

I've been using FreeNAS/NAS4Free for about 5 years now. At the time I built the system, my storage needs were met and I did what I could with my budget. The system has never given me a problem, even with the consideration that it was a transformed desktop system that I converted.

I'm rebuilding from scratch per forum recommendations (server grade everything, ECC, etc), but am looking for some advice for my HDD setup.

I currently have 5 2 TB HGST deskstars in a Z1 config. I'll be moving to Z3. I initially planned on going with 4 TB drives, but that wastes the drives that I currently have. Now, I'm thinking of picking up 6 more 2TB drives and running 11 of them.

Here's my question: 4/5 of the drives I have now were bought at the same time 5 years ago. They've had no problems, but I know they would be more likely to fail at the same time. Is it recommended to keep those drives and add additional drives of the same size? I know that it's ideal to go with new drives from different vendors, but I'd like to have a use for the drives I've already got. Any tips are welcome, and my apologies for the long intro.

 

[Bidule0hm]

I don't think they'll fail exactly at the same time but you can always use them for now and replace them one by one by new drives before they fail (plus when all 2 TB drives will be replaced by 4 TB drives the space will double) ;)

 

[Mr_N]

If you have the cash to buy 4TB drives now, I would. You could setup 2 pools one with the 2TB's and one with the 4TB's and then just add more vdev's to the 4TB pool when you buy more of them to replace the 2TB pool.

 

[satyr]

If you have the cash to buy 4TB drives now, I would. You could setup 2 pools one with the 2TB's and one with the 4TB's and then just add more vdev's to the 4TB pool when you buy more of them to replace the 2TB pool.

I was considering using 2 separate pools, the Z1 I have now would serve as the primary pool with the new Z2 system as a redundancy. From what I've read, it seems that Z3 is considered overkill. Is that still the overarching opinion?
Also, if I am going to get all new drives, I was leaning towards 6 WD Red 5 TB drives, with ~20 TB usable. That would almost triple my current storage and should more than support my future expansions.

 

[Bidule0hm]

I'd say RAID-Z2 is for "normal" persons and RAID-Z3 is for "paranoid" persons :)

 

[Mr_N]

I'd say RAID-Z2 is for "normal" persons and RAID-Z3 is for "paranoid" persons :)

Yeah I'd agree with this, If i was making a pool with 6/8/10+TB drives I might consider Z3 but I've settled on lots of (hopefully cheap in the future) 4TB drives for a large pool so I think Z2 vdev's will be sufficient.