FreeNAS v9.3: 2x stripe to 3x1 Raid Z1

[Jeremy Stromsoe]

Problem: Need help with GUI RAIDZ setup
I've got a single stripe setup with the 2x3TB drives. I'd like to completely re-volume everything with a Raid Z1, which I thought would be simply a drop down choice in the volume manager. It is not in FreeNAS 9.3. I added a second set of 2x3TB to accomplish this, with now 4x3TB drives total.

Some background/detail:

I had setup my system exactly as described in signature except with 2x3TB drives striped across to start with.

Of course then I realized how bad of an idea that was given the amount of data stored and having one drive fail with no real recourse except replacing and copying my backup external drive.

To be "safe" I want to add an additional set of 2x3TB drives, especially after reading about the benefits of having a RAID Z1 configuration with 9TB usable and still being able to simply replace a bad drive and have it resilver. On top of that I have an external drive rsync backup.

The only options in the drop-downs in my volume manager is Stripe/Volume/Cache/Mirror or Log. After several hours of searching for a solution, all the FreeNAS documentation regarding RAIDZ talks about a drop-down option for various configurations of RAIDZ in the volume manager. I think this might be a case of the documentation has not caught up with the software release, because this options is nowhere to be seen when I attempt to add one of my new disks as a volume.

I also found in the "wizard" menu at the top of the web GUI that the initial setup allows you to choose RAIDZ, but all those options are greyed out, I'm assuming because I am past the initial setup phase of FreeNAS.

So my question is, can I leave all my FreeNAS settings/config the same but re-volume all 4 drives to RAID Z1, or must I begin from square 1, re-install FreeNAS to my flash drive so that the wizard will let me choose my RAID config, and then re-apply all my permissions, shares ect...? What's the easiest way to do this? Keep in mind I have backup copies of my data; I do not care about loosing everything on the original drive set. Plan is to copy it over from the backup once I'm finished with the RAID Z1 setup.

Thanks for reading, sorry its long :), any help would be greatly appreciated (I might sleep better!!).

 

[HoneyBadger]

So my question is, can I leave all my FreeNAS settings/config the same but re-volume all 4 drives to RAID Z1, or must I begin from square 1, re-install FreeNAS to my flash drive so that the wizard will let me choose my RAID config, and then re-apply all my permissions, shares ect...? What's the easiest way to do this? Keep in mind I have backup copies of my data; I do not care about loosing everything on the original drive set. Plan is to copy it over from the backup once I'm finished with the RAID Z1 setup.

Good news - You don't need to reinstall FreeNAS.
Bad news - You will lose all the data currently stored on those disks.
Good news - You have a backup.
Bad news - RAIDZ1 is not recommended on 3TB consumer disks.
Fits of rage news - You 're overclocking your CPU and have non-ECC memory.

To do this from the GUI, you'd go to Storage, select your current pool, hit the Delete button at the bottom (with the X) and choose "mark disks as new/destroy data" then create a new pool with all four disks.

But yeah, I'd address that last but not least important piece there. Neither of those are good for data integrity at all.

 

[Jeremy Stromsoe]

Thanks for the advice and fast response!

The real issue is I'm not sure how to configure the given volume manager drop downs to create a Z1 pool. The only thing that populates is Stripe/Volume/Cache/Mirror or Log as options. I know this because I have 2 disks (the new ones) that when I attempt to create a new pool with those, I have no drop down option for RAIDZ config. I don't think wiping the two existing disks will buy me any more options in the drop down menus within the volume manager, will it?

 

[danb35]

None of the RAIDZ options will populate with only two disks. RAIDZ1 requires a minimum of three disks, RAIDZ2 requires four, and RAIDZ3 requires five.

 

[HoneyBadger]

No, the real issue is that an OC'ed FreeNAS box non-ECC RAM is a data-storage #YOLO. ;)

To your issue - yes, wiping those two disks should buy you the option of RAIDZ, since the system enforces a minimum disk count before exposing those options.

 

[Jeremy Stromsoe]

None of the RAIDZ options will populate with only two disks. RAIDZ1 requires a minimum of three disks, RAIDZ2 requires four, and RAIDZ3 requires five.

No, the real issue is that an OC'ed FreeNAS box on non-ECC RAM is a data-storage #YOLO. ;)

To your issue - yes, wiping those two disks should buy you the option of RAIDZ, since the system enforces a minimum disk count before exposing those options.

Thanks Dan/Badger, at this point I'll just go wipe the drive and see what that does. Some things I try to avoid doing, like using power tools after a couple beers... wiping drives to see "what happens" when my eyes are half open was one of those things! Glad I posted to make sure that was likely the issue.

PS, Badger this is for you. You just have to show your computer... a little you know.

 

[Ericloewe]

No, the real issue is that an OC'ed FreeNAS box on non-ECC RAM is a data-storage #YOLO. ;)

To your issue - yes, wiping those two disks should buy you the option of RAIDZ, since the system enforces a minimum disk count before exposing those options.

Where's the overclock? The 4790K has a base clock of 4GHz.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Where's the overclock? The 4790K has a base clock of 4GHz.

Whoops. Misread it as 4770K, not 4790K.