Disk Addition

[TravisT]

I'm considering adding some storage to my running FreeNAS server (see signature), now that I have some SMB performance issues worked out. I'm currently running RAIDZ1 (single vDEV) that I would like to add a vDev to.

I am currently running 4TB WD Red Drives (WD40EFRX). I was considering the HGST HE8 drives (HUH728080AL4200). I've done some searching but I'm not as savvy on storage tech as many of you are - I'm hoping for some feedback.

1. Are these drives acceptable?
2. Will the heat be considerably more from the 7.2K drives vs the 5.4K drives? (current drives run at about 30-34C)

This is a home server that stores documents, media (photos, videos), and backups. I'm currently running a 1Gb network, however I'm considering upgrading to 10Gb in the near future. I currently have about 3Tb of free space on my current 4 disk vdev.

Any recommendations on expanding the storage? Add new disks as vdev to existing pool, create new RAIDZ2 pool and vDev and use selectively for certain data, or some other method?

 

[Samuel Tai]

I'd create a new RAIDZ2 pool for better resiliency against drive failures, and then move data over from the Z1 pool to the Z2 pool.

The HGST 8TB helium drives are fine. They may even run a little cooler than your Reds, despite having a faster rotation speed.

 

[TravisT]

That's perfect - thanks for the feedback. I know there has been a lot of talk about SMR and CMR, and quite frankly I don't know much about either.

I would probably continue to use my 4TB drives for my system backups, as it would offer plenty of performance and space for that.

In the future, adding another 5-disk vdev to the RAIDZ2 pool should also increase performance, correct?

 

[sretalla]

In the future, adding another 5-disk vdev to the RAIDZ2 pool should also increase performance, correct?

Sort-of.

If you have a mostly (or even partially) full VDEV and then add a completely empty one, ZFS will push most new writes to that VDEV only, so no real IOPS gain until they level out.

You can back up, wipe and restore the data back to the pool after adding the VDEV (esstentially recreate the pool) to avoid that.

 

[TravisT]

I am aware of that "limitation". Thanks!