have I done it right so that if one HDD fails I would be able to replace it without loosing any data

[Parkook]

Hi,

I am a newbie and would appreciate your advice on this matter!

I would like to use FreeNAS for my small business to use it as a backup system, so I would like to use it in such a way that if one HDD fails I would still be able to access my files. So far it works fine but once a day it freezes and I have to restart it again.

I have installed FreeNAS-11.1-U4 on an 8GB USB, Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz, 8GB RAM, 4TB HDD (the only blank HDD I had) then copied all my files from another 4TB HDD over to FreeNAS by using my windows 10. When all done, I have formatted the 2nd 4TB HDD and added to the FreeNAS, then clicked Storage>Volume Manager>Volume to Extend, then dragged the slider to right then clicked Extend Volume. Now I see in the Storage>Volume section that available tab has 5.5TiB.

My question is that have I done it right so that if one HDD fails I would be able to replace it without loosing any data?

Many Thanks

Morty

 

[garm]

Most probably your data is at grave risk.. post the output of zpool list -v in code tags please. And while you are at it, did you schedule S.M.A.R.T tests? What is the output of smartctl -a /dev/XX where XX is the two drives you have? Also in code tags.

 

[Chris Moore]

My question is that have I done it right so that if one HDD fails I would be able to replace it without loosing any data?

No, you did it completely opposite of right. You don't have protection against a drive failure. You have a situation where if either drive fails, you loose everything.
The only solution would be to buy another drive, move all the data off the NAS, then properly configure a mirror and move the data back on the NAS.
In addition to that, your lockups are probably being caused by the system being entirely too old. A Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400, is such an old system that it shouldn't even be considered for running FreeNAS. It barely meets the minimum requirements.

Look at this: http://www.freenas.org/hardware-requirements/
Consider that this is not a "small" system, it is for a business.

 

[Chris Moore]

PS, you could buy two drives and mirror each of the two that you already have, but by dragging the slider to the right, you extended the volume with a stripe when what you actually wanted was to mirror the existing drive.

To keep your data safe, it would be best to move it out of the NAS onto another drive while the NAS is reconfigured.

 

[Parkook]

Hi garm, thanks for the reply, here are the codes you mentioned to use. I have used them in Shell and couldn't copy the beginning of your smartctl code.
[root@freenas ~]# zpool list -v
NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE EXPANDSZ FRAG
CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT
Disk01_4TB 7.25T 1.75T 5.50T - 0%
24% 1.00x ONLINE /mnt
gptid/0629f395-57aa-11e8-8e81-00504300123b 3.62T 1.75T 1.88T -
0% 48%
gptid/3ed1f2d1-6034-11e8-8a7d-00504300123b 3.62T 2.61M 3.62T -
0% 0%
freenas-boot 7.50G 849M 6.67G - -
11% 1.00x ONLINE -
da0p2 7.50G 849M 6.67G - -
11%

and for disc ada0:

241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline -
30046792494
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline -
19797398083

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

for disc ada1


Shell
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline -
175053127613

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA
_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 7849 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

 

[Chris Moore]

Hi garm, thanks for the reply, here are the codes you mentioned to use. I have used them in Shell and couldn't copy the beginning of your smartctl code.

When you list something in code tags, it comes out looking more like this:

Code:

[root@freenas ~]# zpool list -v											   
NAME									SIZE  ALLOC   FREE  EXPANDSZ   FRAG	CAP  DEDUP  HEALTH  ALTROOT												   
Disk01_4TB							  7.25T  1.75T  5.50T		-	0%	24%  1.00x  ONLINE  /mnt													   
  gptid/0629f395-57aa-11e8-8e81-00504300123b  3.62T  1.75T  1.88T		-	0%	48%																	   
  gptid/3ed1f2d1-6034-11e8-8a7d-00504300123b  3.62T  2.61M  3.62T		-	0%	0%																	   
freenas-boot							7.50G   849M  6.67G		-	  -   
11%  1.00x  ONLINE  -														 
  da0p2								7.50G   849M  6.67G		-	  -	11%

Please also post the output of zpool status.

 

[Chris Moore]

I have used them in Shell and couldn't copy the beginning of your smartctl code.

You will need to configure SSH access to your NAS so that you can have access to the scroll-back buffer and copy the entirety of the output.

 

[Parkook]

How can I produce code tags like you?

 

[danb35]

No, you did it completely opposite of right.

It doesn't help that it's impossible to do it right through the GUI. Still. After the feature request has been outstanding for over 5 years.

How can I produce code tags like you?

At the top of the window where you're entering your reply, there's a series of three buttons: "cmd code file". Each of those will generate the appropriate tags in your post.

 

[Chris Moore]

It doesn't help that it's impossible to do it right through the GUI. Still. After the feature request has been outstanding for over 5 years.

It boggles the mind that it is relatively easy to add a mirror to the boot pool, but almost impossible to do that for the storage pool without going to the command line interface.

 

[danb35]

almost impossible to do that for the storage pool without going to the command line interface.

It's not "almost impossible", it's simply impossible. The only way to do it is at the CLI--unless there's something big I've been missing for a number of years.

 

[Parkook]

Ok here it is

[root@freenas ~]# zpool list -v
NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE EXPANDSZ FRAG
CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT
Disk01_4TB 7.25T 1.75T 5.50T - 0%
24% 1.00x ONLINE /mnt
gptid/0629f395-57aa-11e8-8e81-00504300123b 3.62T 1.75T 1.88T -
0% 48%
gptid/3ed1f2d1-6034-11e8-8a7d-00504300123b 3.62T 2.64M 3.62T -
0% 0%
freenas-boot 7.50G 846M 6.67G - -
11% 1.00x ONLINE -
da0p2 7.50G 846M 6.67G - -
11%
[root@freenas ~]#


 

[danb35]

Ok here it is

You're getting close, but that's using cmd tags, not code tags. Code tags are much easier to read when dealing with multi-line output. But it's still clear enough to see what's going on, and what we've been assuming is actually what's going on--you added your second 4 TB disk as a stripe of the first. You do not have any redundancy here; if either of those disks fails you will lose any data you don't have backed up.

 

[Chris Moore]

Ok here it is

[root@freenas ~]# zpool list -v
NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE EXPANDSZ FRAG
CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT
Disk01_4TB 7.25T 1.75T 5.50T - 0%
24% 1.00x ONLINE /mnt
gptid/0629f395-57aa-11e8-8e81-00504300123b 3.62T 1.75T 1.88T -
0% 48%
gptid/3ed1f2d1-6034-11e8-8a7d-00504300123b 3.62T 2.64M 3.62T -
0% 0%
freenas-boot 7.50G 846M 6.67G - -
11% 1.00x ONLINE -
da0p2 7.50G 846M 6.67G - -
11%
[root@freenas ~]#


It is still wrapping the lines, but I can see that the two drives are not in a mirror, which is what I thought.

 

[Chris Moore]

It's not "almost impossible", it's simply impossible. The only way to do it is at the CLI--unless there's something big I've been missing for a number of years.

I see now. I had thought it was possible through the Manual Setup, but I spent some time poking at it and it doesn't have the feature.
I have added additional RAIDz2 vdevs to a pool, but I never tried to add a mirror to an existing single disk pool.
I don't usually create single disk pools.

 

[garm]

The reason I asked for smart output is that you mentioned reusing an external drive. That with the fact that you striped the drives together is a recipe for eminent disaster. Being a company I guess the data is more important then mere pictures of your kids.. you need to backup your data, rebuild your pool as a mirror using existing disks or as Chris (how to you name tag a name with a space?) said get two new drives and attach them as mirrors. But what ever you do, don’t do anything until you have a backup

 

[Chris Moore]

So far it works fine but once a day it freezes and I have to restart it again.

You have two problems. First, you shouldn't have any freezes and have to restart it. I have a system at work that has been running for six months and has zero issues. If you are having this sort of problem, it is most likely due to the hardware. Take a look at these resources:

FreeNAS® Quick Hardware Guide
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/freenas®-quick-hardware-guide.7/

Hardware Recommendations Guide Rev 1e) 2017-05-06
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/

I am not saying you need something brand new, but you need something newer than what you have.
You should also take the time to look at these resources:

Slideshow explaining VDev, zpool, ZIL and L2ARC
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Terminology and Abbreviations Primer
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/terminology-and-abbreviations-primer.28174/

These guides have been written to help new users get up to speed as quickly as possible. You can create problems by not taking time to learn first.

Now, about that problem. The only way to fix it is to get all your data off the NAS, delete the storage pool and recreate it as a proper mirror. Then you can put your data back into the NAS.

Questions?

 

[Chris Moore]

Chris (how to you name tag a name with a space?)

@Chris Moore ... Just type the @ and the name and pick it from the drop-down menu.

 

[danb35]

The only way to fix it is to get all your data off the NAS, delete the storage pool and recreate it as a proper mirror.

...or (as already mentioned up-thread) add another pair of disks as mirrors of the first. Edit: which would still have to be done at the CLI, but there are pretty straightforward instructions out there on the subject.

 

[Chris Moore]

...or (as already mentioned up-thread) add another pair of disks as mirrors of the first.

That would need to be done at the command line. It is an option, but I was trying to keep it to things that could be done in the GUI.