Opinions on what would be a major upgrade

[essg88]

Hello, my current system is running out of storage and after some heavy use I'd like to upgrade so that I can expand. My main uses are for media streaming and backups/storage. My system currently has the following specs:

Freenas Version: FreeNAS-9.1.1-RELEASE-x64
Gigabyte 78LMT-S2P ( My revision only supported up to 8GB memory)
a weak dual core AM3+ CPU
8GB Ram maxed out
5 x 2TB HDD in a RAID-Z2 setup (Which I later discovered is not the most optimal)

I am hoping to perform this upgrade so that another will not be needed for a very long time, if any at all.

The new specs I am looking to purchase are along the lines of this:
Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253
Intel Xeon E3-1220 V2 processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117288
I will obviously bump up the memory significantly with ECC memory approved for that mobo
I will also look into a PCI card to gain more SATA ports for the additional HDD's.

I am definitely going for performance this time with this build, along with the capability to expand again if needed. I'd definitely take advantage of the dual nic's as well.

Are there any changes/recommendations you would make? Would I even be able to move my HDD's over to all this new hardware without much hassle if I start with a fresh USB install and do an Auto-Import?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Edit: Forgot to include freenas version

 

[Yatti420]

That will work.. 6 x 2TB would be nice or bigger..

 

[essg88]

That will work.. 6 x 2TB would be nice or bigger..

Thanks, do you mean an additional 6 x 2TB? For the purpose of adding additional storage to my current RAID-Z2 setup, does it need to be 2TB drives to match, or will anything higher work just as fine?

Thanks,

 

[Yatti420]

I'm not sure about additional sata ports.. I didn't realize you had the 5x2tb raid-z2 already.. Not sure if you are planning on purchasing additional/new hard drives or not.. If you are getting close to the limits you are going to need a bigger pool.. I want to get 6x3tb or 6x4tb.. I believe the minimum for raid-z2 is 4 drives..

Freenas Hardware Recommendations - http://forums.freenas.org/threads/so-you-want-some-hardware-suggestions.12276/​

http://www.servethehome.com/raid-calculator/

 

[jgreco]

No hyperthreading. Get the 1230 for just a bit more.

 

[essg88]

I'm not sure about additional sata ports.. I didn't realize you had the 5x2tb raid-z2 already.. Not sure if you are planning on purchasing additional/new hard drives or not.. If you are getting close to the limits you are going to need a bigger pool.. I want to get 6x3tb or 6x4tb.. I believe the minimum for raid-z2 is 4 drives..

Freenas Hardware Recommendations - http://forums.freenas.org/threads/so-you-want-some-hardware-suggestions.12276/​

http://www.servethehome.com/raid-calculator/

Thanks for the links, the raid-calculator is especially helpful. But yes I already have 5 x2TB drives that are filled up and would like to expand my pool capacity. The 4Tb drives are tempting for the price, but have read way to many reviews concerning bad reliability which is why I'll stick to 2 for now.

 

[essg88]

No hyperthreading. Get the 1230 for just a bit more.

Yep your correct good catch. I actually just for a 1230 V2 for the same price with hyperthreading so thats a no brainer. I just want to do a little more research on the mobo and make sure I have it all down correctly to expand my existing pool.

I already have an IBM m1015 on the way so I'll need to figure out how many drives to add now.

 

[essg88]

As I'm slowly ordering these parts, I'd like to know if someone can please confirm that I'll be able to move my HDD's and current data over to the new hardware by simply doing an "auto-import?"

Thanks

 

[dlavigne]

No, auto-import is not what you want as it is used to import existing disks. Are you planning on striping in a new vdev or replacing each disk one by one with a larger disk? Both methods are described in the Guide (use the one for your version of FreeNAS).

 

[essg88]

No, auto-import is not what you want as it is used to import existing disks. Are you planning on striping in a new vdev or replacing each disk one by one with a larger disk? Both methods are described in the Guide (use the one for your version of FreeNAS).

Just curious, since I already have existing disks with data on them that I wish to keep, wouldn't that be what the import function is for?

So basicly, I have 5 HDDs with data and would like to move them over to a more larger/powerful system (different architecture and all) while keeping that data. In addition to these HDD's that I am keeping and moving I'd add additional drives to increase the total storage capicty. I guess I'd have to stripe the additional drives in, or is a new dataset/vdev required?

apologies if im misunderstanding this. Thanks again

 

[dlavigne]

Just curious, since I already have existing disks with data on them that I wish to keep, wouldn't that be what the import function is for?

Yes, I missed that you wanted to keep the original disks in my initial read-through.

So basicly, I have 5 HDDs with data and would like to move them over to a more larger/powerful system (different architecture and all) while keeping that data. In addition to these HDD's that I am keeping and moving I'd add additional drives to increase the total storage capicty. I guess I'd have to stripe the additional drives in, or is a new dataset/vdev required?

Yes, after importing the old drives you would stripe in the additional 5 drives, which would be a new vdev. This is described in http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Volumes#Extending_a_ZFS_Volume.