6x HDD(RaidZ2)+USB boot drive OR 5x HDD(RaidZ2)+SataDom boot drive

[Edstar]

Need a little help with my purchase, so far I have:

Mobo= Supermicro X10SLL-F
CPU= i3-4160T
RAM= 2x8GB Crucial ECC CT2KIT102472BD160B
HDD= HGST Deskstar 2TB
PSU= Superflower 350W 80 plus gold
UPS= Tba

Home user with a max 2/3 users on a gigabit network

The dilemma is do I go for a 5x 2TB Hdd with a SataDom as a boot drive or do I go for 6x 2TB Hdd with a USB boot drive?
Am I going to see significant speed loss(Read)with a 5 drive config or am I worrying about nothing with a USB boot drive 6 drive config. I'm also open to the possibility of adding a cheap pci-e card so I could have 6 drives and a SataDom

Ta,

ED

 

[nojohnny101]

You will not notice any performance difference in your described use case. If you have the funds, I would create the 6 x 2tb Raidz2 as this is a great balance between redundancy and performance (meaning better performing than a radiz3, can survive 2 drive failures, has a good parity/storage ratio, etc.).

Another thing to consider is upgradeability in the future. I'm sure you know this but once you create a vdev, you can only stripe additional vdevs to the pool, you cannot change the size of a vdev (with the exception of mirrors). Keep this in mind for long-term planning.

Great question though!

 

[CraigD]

I too would build a 6-8 wide RAIDz2 volume and use dual USBs for the OS (EDIT: If your use case is media storage)

Your PSU maybe undersized, hard drives can draw up to 30 watts each on start up

Have Fun

 

[Edstar]

cheers guys, I will go for the 6 drive option, then use a USB boot drive and have the OS backed up to the cloud. By the time I fill 8TB with my usage I'm sure it'll be time to upgrade the whole rig

thanks again

 

[CraigD]

With a 6 drive 2TB RAIDz2 you get about 6.5TB of usable space (including snapshots)

Your listed build can and will support a very large pool, and should last a very long time

As @nojohnny101 says, you can add a second 6 drive 2TB RAIDz2 vdev if you get a suitable case to start with and upgrade the PSU and get another RAM kit

Or you could grow the pool by replacing your current drives one at a time with larger drives