SSD via usb 3.0-SATA converter in raid array?

[John Doe]

Hi all,
unfortuneatly i have only 4 sata ports, which are already occupied by 4 hdd.
Now i would like to have some jails running, but dont want to have a permanent load on the drives.

instead of spending a lot of money in new hardware i was considering to go for 2 sata->usb 3.0 converter and 2 128gb ssd.

connect them on my 2 free usb 3.0 ports and put them into a mirrored raid.

any input like "DONT DO THAT!" ?

or will i go fine with this?

cpu j1900
16gb ram

 

[Stux]

Don't do that.

How To Fail method #4.

Why not add a PCIe SSD. Run ZFS on it if you want. It should have zero errors, but ZFS will catch them if it does. And then you can restore from a backup.

PCIe SSDs are the most performant storage anyway.

Alternatively add an HBA

 

[nojohnny101]

don't do that (x2).

why do you not want to put your jails on your existing vdev?

to be honest with you, in my mind unless you have a good reason to need an SSD for your jails (VMs, etc.), just put your jails on your existing vdev.

I have 2-3 jails running on my raidz2 and I have never seen any performance bottlenecks (plex, plexpy, owncloud). You also have to take into account if you separate your jails onto an SSD, then those will not have any fault protection unless you get two SSDs and mirror then. Seems like a whole lot of cost and complexity for what purpose? Especially in your case where you don't have the sata ports and want to do it USB style (big no no).

Maybe you just haven't elaborated but do you have a particular reason you need an SSD for your jails?

 

[Mirfster]

So you want to take SSDs and hook them up to something that:

1. Will make them slower
2. Will obstruct SMART capabilities
3. Is never recommended

I'm going to go out on a limb here and go with "NO"...

 

[John Doe]

haha okay, many thanks for this input. i will not go for this usb idea.

i will check for a pcie ssd. or go with new hardware

 

[CraigD]

Does your board have a free PCIe x1 slot?

You could put a cheap SATA card in it

I use the card linked in my signature, however it is on the marvell chipset
Have Fun

 

[SFoskett]

Don't use USB-connected external drives for active data.

I am sympathetic about wanting to put active data on SSD and let the hard disk drives spin down. I do that too. I have a pair of internal SSD's as my System Pool and landing zone for active applications (and jails) and a pool on hard disk drives for archives, backups, and less-used data.

As mentioned, the best option is to upgrade the system: Add additional SATA ports using a PCIe card (like the Supermicro LSI 8-port SAS/SATA that's just $110 on NewEgg) and connect some SATA SSD's to that. Then you'll have 6 more ports left over for more disks (RAIDZ2?) in the future!

 

[John Doe]

Ok thanks for your feedback much appreciated!

I will go with a new system.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-system-1620v4-32gb-rdimm-x10sra-f.45478/

If you have some other good hints for me :)