Initial Pool Setup Configuration

[ThatGuyAZ]

I just built a custom TrueNas server to replace my existing readynas 3138.
The question that I have stems from how I originally setup the readynas and how I would like to setup the current server. On the Readynas device I started off with two 4TB drives and then later added two 8tb drives to fill all 4 slots.

As I don't have a backup for the current setup (I know, I know). I was going to pull one of the 8tb drives and put that in the TrueNAS server. Since I have only about 6tb in use right now I was going to copy everything to the 8tb drive in the Freenas server and then once I verified it was working correct and I didn't have to start all over. I planned to move the 3 remaining drives out of the Readynas device.

Luckily prior to doing this I watched a couple tutorials and did some searches that seem to show this won't work. That brings me to this forum with the following questions:

• Will this work - In that if I start with one I can add the other three to the vdev and pool without any negative repercussions?
• If this will not work and I have to start with 4 drives in the device; do they all need to be the same size, or can I put in the 8tb, 1tb, 500GB, and 128GB drives I have laying around and then replace them one at a time over the next couple of weeks with the 8tb, 4tb, and the final 4tb?
• The readynas device current states it is a X-Raid setup (don't know what that means), but also says RAID 5. Does TrueNas allow Raid 5 as I haven't seen it in any tutorials for initial setup
• If it is not offered by TrueNAS, how do I know which version to pick when doing the initial installation? What is most similar to RAID5/X-RAID
• What do I lose by going to whatever is suggested instead of RAID5/X-RAID

As I am trying to do this without losing data in the process. What other pitfalls might I run into that you would advise me of that could potentially cause issues like this would have if I didn't catch it?

Hardware
Intel w-2175 on a Supermicro X11SRM-F motherboard.
32gb Ram DDR4 (19200) LRDIMM ECC
256GB NVME SSD (OS)

Future Software (Plugins/Jails)
Plex
Blue Iris (IPC)
Unifi Controller
Asterisk
NextCloud
utorrent

Thank you in advance.

 

[Samuel Tai]

You'll need to do some background reading first before settling on a pool structure.

Hello from Minnesota!

Hey everyone. Just wanted to say hi. I'm new. :wink: I am a homelab/networking hobbyist and looking to get started with my own NAS. I have two servers and a few storage pools that I would like to build into a solid NAS for home use. I'm looking for advice about using TrueNAS or FreeNAS with my...

www.truenas.com

The nearest equivalent to RAID5 in ZFS is a RAIDZ1 pool, which protects you from having any single disk failing, but too many forum members have lost data when more than one disk failed. If you opt to go with a RAID-like setup, you really should run RAIDZ2 or Z3, which increase the number of parity copies to 2 and 3 respectively.

However, it's not possible to build a RAIDZ pool a disk at a time, without some quite hairy gyrations, which a newcomer to ZFS shouldn't be attempting without backups.

In your case, it's better to leave the ReadyNAS alone, and use blank disks to build your TrueNAS pool. Once your pool is up, rsync the data over from the ReadyNAS.