Upgrading Storage

[Jheguy2]

I've had my FreeNAS box for about a year now and have run quite low on space. I currently just have one 2TB drive and I wanted to upgrade to something like 3 2TB hard drives and switch to a Raid-Z1 build. To my knowledge, switching from my 1 drive UFS volume to a 3 drive Raid-Z1 build would require me to wipe my first hard drive, containing just 20GB short of 2TB of data. I was wondering what I would have to do to keep that data? My NAS is currently the largest storage I own and I don't exactly know where I would temporarily store my data if it came to that. Also if I ever chose to upgrade my Raid build in the future, would I have to temporarily move that data too? Thanks for the help!

 

[cyberjock]

What you have to do to keep the data? Get another disk so you can make the RAIDZ1 before you start. (You should be going RAIDZ2 but I won't bore you with that.. you should already know.)

As for upgrading your RAID build that is covered in detail in my noobie presentation. Give it a read. ;)

 

[Jheguy2]

Thanks I'll make sure to! Do you have any tips or precautions for when I remove my disc from FreeNAS? I just want to make sure it will transfer correctly into the new RAIDZ1 pool.

 

[cyberjock]

Not really. You don't need to remove your disk from FreeNAS until you have made the pool and copied your data. Just make sure you always follow the manual when doing things and you should do no wrong.

 

[Jheguy2]

Alright, so I watched your powerpoint, very informative and helpful thanks, but I'm not sure what you're saying. Should I start my RAID-Z pool with just one drive then add the other two? I was hoping I would be able to start the pool, and then expand the RAID-Z vdev from 1 to 3 drives once my data was copied, but it seems like that is not possible.

 

[cyberjock]

You are correct, it's not possible. You have to create the vdev with the number of disks you plan to use as you can't expand vdevs later.

 

[Jheguy2]

So in order to copy my data and use the same disc, I would need to find a temporary data storage solution. Do you have any recommendations for that?

 

[joeschmuck]

You need to copy your data to some other hard drive, like possibly a few 1TB USB hard drives connected to your computer (not FreeNAS) and manually copy the files over. Once all your files are moved, then you can destroy the UFS drive and add in your other two drives, create the RAIDZ1 pool, and start copying the data back. It will be a long process. If there is data you don't need anymore, now is a good time to get rid of it. You can connect up a NTFS formatted USB drive to the FreeNAS computer directly however there are a few steps you must do to make it work and sometimes it can be a pain to teach someone that while hoping they don't do more harm at the same time.

I also recommend you create a RAIDZ2 vice RAIDZ1 so you should purchase that extra hard drive now. You cannot add a single hard drive later and have a happy system. If that single drive fails then all your data goes away which is why you should add it now. It's just highly recommended, not mandatory.

 

[danb35]

You cannot add a single hard drive later and have a happy system. If that single drive fails then all your data goes away which is why you should add it now.

...and for the OP, here's a recent example of exactly that issue: http://forums.freenas.org/index.php...d-disk-dead-drive-not-showing-anywhere.21653/