Harddrive questions, RPM and WD vs Seagate

[itsryan]

This should be a simple question that i'm assuming the answer, I would just like to make sure before I pull the trigger.

I currently have 6 2TB WD RED drives in my NAS over the next few months I will be buying replacement drives to expand the storage. I'm looking to get 6 10TB drives.

1. Since I will most likely be buying the drives one at a time, should I install the drive right when I get them and rebuild the pool and wait a month or 2 until I have the next drive and install it or should I wait until I have all the replacement drives then start swapping the drives out.

2. All my drives currently spin at 5400 RPM, should the replacement drives also spin at 5400 RPM or should I get 7200 RPM drives. Keeping in mind my NAS is a home server that is used only for PLEX and family videos/pictures. 2-3 Users.

3. Will FreeNAS care if some HHDs spin at 5400 and some might spin at 7200?

4. I know most of the community uses/prefers WD over Seagate. But the Seagate drives are less expensive (Money is a factor in my build). Is their a known difference between WD red and Seagate Ironwolf other then price?

5. When I setup the pool a created it as RAIDZ1, what is the easiest way to switch it to RAIDZ2 once I have all the new drives.

If someone could answer this 5 questions for me I would be grateful for your help.

 

[danb35]

should I wait until I have all the replacement drives then start swapping the drives out.

I don't see any compelling argument either way--but at a minimum, you should thoroughly test the new drives as soon as you get them, so that you can return them if they fail testing.

All my drives currently spin at 5400 RPM, should the replacement drives also spin at 5400 RPM or should I get 7200 RPM drives.

Nothing in your use case says that the extra performance of 7200 drives would benefit you, and the additional power draw, heat, and (usually) cost would argue against them. I'd favor 5400 in this case.

Will FreeNAS care if some HHDs spin at 5400 and some might spin at 7200?

Not in the least.

Is their a known difference between WD red and Seagate Ironwolf other then price?

Some of the SMART data reads a bit different on Seagates vs. most other manufacturers. That isn't a better or worse issue, it's just different. The current-model NAS drives from all the major vendors appear to be comparable in performance and reliability.

When I setup the pool a created it as RAIDZ1, what is the easiest way to switch it to RAIDZ2 once I have all the new drives.

Back up your data, destroy the pool, recreate the pool as RAIDZ2, restore the data.

 

[itsryan]

I don't see any compelling argument either way--but at a minimum, you should thoroughly test the new drives as soon as you get them, so that you can return them if they fail testing.

This was at the top of my priority list once I received the drives. Once I get the drives I will look into the guide more of how to do the burn-in test but everything I have read says its a must.

Nothing in your use case says that the extra performance of 7200 drives would benefit you, and the additional power draw, heat, and (usually) cost would argue against them. I'd favor 5400 in this case.

This is what I thought. In the future I might run VMs or more demanding plugins, but I will plan on that later down when I get SSD's.

Some of the SMART data reads a bit different on Seagates vs. most other manufacturers. That isn't a better or worse issue, it's just different. The current-model NAS drives from all the major vendors appear to be comparable in performance and reliability.

Then I will most likely go with Seagate for the replacement drives.

Thank you for all your answers and for the quick reply.

 

[Chris Moore]

Right now, last I checked, the best value for money was the 8TB drives.

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