Extending a RAIDZ array

[teamakg]

I tried searching but nothing seems to match exactly what I'm hoping to accomplish. Here is the scenario.

I installed 3 x 3TB drives in a box. Loaded up FreeNAS. Created a RAIDZ with those 3 drives, created users, shares, etc. I have an additional 3TB drive in a separate computer. That drive is full of data. (I ordered 3TB drive size with the plan of using the 1 x 3TB drive I already have) My plan is to copy the data to the FreeNAS then add that drive that 3TB drive to the array so I've got a 4 x 3TB RAIDZ. In my physical array world this would be cake. I copy the data to a share on the existing array. I add the drive. I extend the array and it grinds away and stripes that drive into the array and all is well. So my question is will this work with FreeNAS and following the process described above? Will I end up with one "RAID5" array consisting of 4 x 3TB disks?

 

[Bidule0hm]

No, you can't extend a vdev like that.

You need to copy the data elsewhere, delete the pool, create a new pool and copy the data back.

Note that you can expand a pool by adding new vdevs, but in this present case it's not useful. Read cyberjock's presention (in his signature) for more info ;)

 

[teamakg]

Thanks for the quick reply. Would the same apply to "walking" larger drives into the array? Meaning if I had an array for 4 x 3TB drives in RAID5 I could yank one, drop in a 6TB drive, let it get incorporated in the array and then repeat that process swapping out each 3TB for 6TB. Then once the array has been rebuilt on top of the 6TB drive drives I could expand the size to fully utilize the the new extra space. I'm leaning towards no if I can't expand it with one drive. Was only wondering because in this case the total number of drives wouldn't be changing.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Yes, you can do this ;)

Note that RAID-Z1 (or RAID5) isn't recommended with drives bigger than 1TB if you care about the data on it.