7 vs 6 Drives and RAIDZ2

[SwisherSweet]

I'm building up my FreeNAS server and I found a way to squeeze and extra drive into the case for a total of 7 drives instead of 6. I had planned on using RAIDZ2. Is it still adequate to use RAIDZ2 if I use 7 drives?

Also, is there any issue with having a odd number of drives with RAIDZ2?

Thank you.

 

[dlavigne]

Also, is there any issue with having a odd number of drives with RAIDZ2?

Nope. See https://www.delphix.com/blog/delphi...or-how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-raidz. Instead, you want to consider the size of the drives and the resilvering time.

 

[Spearfoot]

I'm building up my FreeNAS server and I found a way to squeeze and extra drive into the case for a total of 7 drives instead of 6. I had planned on using RAIDZ2. Is it still adequate to use RAIDZ2 if I use 7 drives?

Also, is there any issue with having a odd number of drives with RAIDZ2?

Thank you.

You'll be fine with a 7-drive RAIDZ2 vdev. I've been running one of my servers for 2 years with 7 x 2TB drives in a RAIDZ2 array with no problems whatsoever.

 

[SwisherSweet]

Nope. See https://www.delphix.com/blog/delphi...or-how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-raidz. Instead, you want to consider the size of the drives and the resilvering time.

Thanks. I am using 3TB drives, and it a year or two, I suspect I will replace with 6TB or 8TB drives as my storage needs grow and prices come down. Knowing this, is it still cool to use RAIDZ2?

 

[Spearfoot]

Thanks. I am using 3TB drives, and it a year or two, I suspect I will replace with 6TB or 8TB drives as my storage needs grow and prices come down. Knowing this, is it still cool to use RAIDZ2?

Sure. The only drag is that you have to replace all drives in the RAIDZ2 pool with the larger ones before you'll see the increased capacity.