fierarul
Dabbler
- Joined
- May 6, 2019
- Messages
- 29
Hello,
I have a HP Microserver with FreeNAS 9.1.1 that started with a 2x2TB mirror and then got another 2x3TB mirror for a total of 5TB usable.
I'm getting close to 80% on each pool so I have some time to think how to evolve this.
I only have 4 bays so there's no extra room, but I can remove the smaller pool if necessary as I just add data, almost never read (basically automatic laptop backups).
So, one idea to get a 6TB drive and add it to the 3TB mirror and make it a 3-way mirror. In order to make room I can remove one 2TB drive (and leave that mirror in a degraded state) or temporarily remove both drives from the 2x2TB mirror (will FreeNAS forget this pool?).
Then I can get a 2nd 6TB drive at some point, add it to the 3TB mirror, make it a 4-way mirror and remove the older 3TB drives. I expect that here if I am careful with autoexpand=on (which I have to read more about) I will get a new 6TB mirror with the same data. Now I can add back the 2TB mirror and perhaps copy all the data over.
Of course, going from 5TB to 6TB isn't very good but I still have the other drives to reuse. Or... I could go to 8TB directly.
What next though? Does a 3-way mirror make sense? Or should I aim for a RAIDZ2 with 4x6TB where I can use 12TB? But... how can I evolve the current mirrors in time to get there? Seems to me you only do a RAIDZ2 when you have all the disks at hand.
Note I don't care about performance as I'm the only 'user', all I care is data safety and space available.
I have a HP Microserver with FreeNAS 9.1.1 that started with a 2x2TB mirror and then got another 2x3TB mirror for a total of 5TB usable.
I'm getting close to 80% on each pool so I have some time to think how to evolve this.
I only have 4 bays so there's no extra room, but I can remove the smaller pool if necessary as I just add data, almost never read (basically automatic laptop backups).
So, one idea to get a 6TB drive and add it to the 3TB mirror and make it a 3-way mirror. In order to make room I can remove one 2TB drive (and leave that mirror in a degraded state) or temporarily remove both drives from the 2x2TB mirror (will FreeNAS forget this pool?).
Then I can get a 2nd 6TB drive at some point, add it to the 3TB mirror, make it a 4-way mirror and remove the older 3TB drives. I expect that here if I am careful with autoexpand=on (which I have to read more about) I will get a new 6TB mirror with the same data. Now I can add back the 2TB mirror and perhaps copy all the data over.
Of course, going from 5TB to 6TB isn't very good but I still have the other drives to reuse. Or... I could go to 8TB directly.
What next though? Does a 3-way mirror make sense? Or should I aim for a RAIDZ2 with 4x6TB where I can use 12TB? But... how can I evolve the current mirrors in time to get there? Seems to me you only do a RAIDZ2 when you have all the disks at hand.
Note I don't care about performance as I'm the only 'user', all I care is data safety and space available.