How to make a single volume from differnt sized HDD that already have data

[KLund1]

Hi all
First time here. If i'm in the wrong forum, Admin's please move this to correct one.
I want to build a NAS from an older LGA775 Core duo 2100 system I have. The Gigabyte MB has 8 sata II ports, but on different chipsets (intel, marvall) Here are the drives I have around that I want to use
1 2TB 1/2 full sata II
1 300GB empty Sata III
1 500 GB empty Sata II
1 750 GB 2/3 full Sata I
2 x 1TB, 1 almost full, 1 2/3 full SATA II
All are formatted NTFS.
I have read a lot of the install guilds and threads, but still have a few questions. I'm going to use the NSA for data storage and backup of that data, music, and video streaming.
Can I make all these drive in to a single drive(volume?) that the other computers on my small home network can see, read from, and write too? How to add these drives to the NSA without losing data already on them? Do I need to make a separate small partition on one HD for the FreeNAS os to be installed on? How can I mirror the the drives in some sort of RAID so if a drive fails I do not lose any data? I'm kind of a thrifty person, so i'd rather not buy any new hardware. I know raid's are usually made from all drives of the same size. But there should be something that can done?
Any input would be helpful.
Thank you,

 

[cyberjock]

Read my guide(link in my sig) and most of your questions will be answered. :)

I will tell you that since you are using dissimilar drives, putting them all in 1 vdev will make all of the drives behave as if they are whatever drive is the smallest(in your case, 300GB). That's obviously not optimal at all.

 

[KLund1]

Thanks for the quick reply. Can't open your guide here at work. System severally locked down. Can't open .zip files, nor can use any cloud based applications (youtube, google doc's, etc.) Will do at home.
Can you suggest an optimal drive configuration for what I have? I wouldn't mind not using some of the drives. Or use them differently somehow in the NAS.

 

[cyberjock]

You really need to have several of the same size. Trying to mix and match like what you have doesn't work too well.