2 × 3 TB, 2 × 4 TB disks... How should I arrange my storage?

[SRSR333]

Hi guys.

I've had the FreeNAS system listed in my signature for a while. I recently purchased two 4 TB 7200 RPM HGST Deskstar NAS drives, in addition to the two 3 TB 5400 RPM WD Red drives already in my system. The latter two are arranged in a single mirrored vdev. How do you guys should I add on the two new drives to maximise storage and redundancy?

Thanks very much.

 

[Stux]

You have 3 options

1) a 4 way RaidZ1. This gives you circa 9TB of storage, 1 disk of redundancy...
2) a 4 way RaidZ2. This gives you circa 6TB of storage and dual disk redundancy.
3) add the 2 4TB drives to your existing pool as an additional mirror vdev. This gives you circa 7TB of fast mirrored storage, and two disks of redundancy, but one per vdev. Is expandable, and simple. Ie, you don't have to recreate your pool.

I would go with #3.

Later on, you can add another pair of disks... and still later, you can replace the original 3TB disks with larger disks.

 

[SRSR333]

You have 3 options

1) a 4 way RaidZ1. This gives you circa 9TB of storage, 1 disk of redundancy...
2) a 4 way RaidZ2. This gives you circa 6TB of storage and dual disk redundancy.
3) add the 2 4TB drives to your existing pool as an additional mirror vdev. This gives you circa 7TB of fast mirrored storage, and two disks of redundancy, but one per vdev. Is expandable, and simple. Ie, you don't have to recreate your pool.

I would go with #3.

Later on, you can add another pair of disks... and still later, you can replace the original 3TB disks with larger disks.

Thank you. The two new HGST drives are undergoing a SMART long test now. I'll add them as a mirrored vdev later tomorrow after a run of badblocks and a repeat of the long test again. Meanwhile, looks like I need to find a PWM splitter and new fans, for the new drives are all hitting 50°C. Not fun being in a tropical country.

 

[pschatz100]

The HGST drives will never run as cool as WD Reds. I bought a 4TB HGST drive a while back for a test, and it runs 5-8 degrees hotter than the Reds. During burn-in the HGST hit 53°C, but in production it runs about 39°. I added a fan in the front of my case (a standard mid-tower) that blows directly over the HD's.