How to set up 17x 2TB drives?

[Fuganater]

Title says it. I have 17x 2TB Reds and I am looking for an efficient way to set up my pool. I played around a bit and I get more useable space if I do RAIDZ2 + Spare than RAIDZ3. The spare gives me a bit of time to get a new drive. Now with 17 drives I could do RAIDZ3 + Spare....

I found this article about using mirrored vdevs instead of RAIDZ array. What do you guys think about that and would this be effective for me?

Thanks for your input!

 

[Bidule0hm]

I'd do 2x RAID-Z2 of 8 drives + one (cold) spare.

If you can add one drive I'd do 3x RAID-Z2 of 6 drives.

 

[Ericloewe]

You definitely want a minimum of two vdevs to start with. Two RAIDZ2 vdevs with 8 disks each plus a spare sounds like an option.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'd do 2x RAID-Z2 of 8 drives + one (cold) spare.

If you can add one drive I'd do 3x RAID-Z2 of 6 drives.

Ninja'd.

But I'd consider the hot vs cold spare carefully.

How long would it take to get to the server and replace the drive? Not long at all? Cold spare (burned-in!).

A bit longer, maybe two or three days? Hot spares, now that hot spares are working and you don't need to resort to warm spares.

 

[Fuganater]

So even though I would have multiple vdevs I would still have 1 dataset for the whole space correct? I do want a great deal of protection as this server hold my unique data.

I eventually want to fill my 24 bay chassis with 2 TB drives so I'm also looking for the best way to expand my pool if that is even possible.

 

[Bidule0hm]

So even though I would have multiple vdevs I would still have 1 dataset for the whole space correct?

Yes, see the link "The ZFS Structure" in my signature if you're lost ;)

I do want a great deal of protection as this server hold my unique data.

Keep in mind that RAID doesn't replace backups.

I eventually want to fill my 24 bay chassis with 2 TB drives so I'm also looking for the best way to expand my pool if that is even possible.

Then I'd do 6 drives RAID-Z2 vdevs so in the end you'll have 4 vdevs. You can expand it by adding vdevs ;)

 

[SweetAndLow]

If you have 24 bay to work with I think 8 disks in a raid z2 is best. So once you have it full you will have 3vdevs of 8 disks which will give you good capacity and performance.

 

[Fuganater]

Keep in mind that RAID doesn't replace backups.

I know...

Ok thanks guys. I will scout a good deal on another 2TB and add it in.

 

[Fuganater]

So I guess I did something wrong. I created 2x RAIDZ2 volumes and they are showing up as 2 different, for the lack of a better term, drives.

I want 1 'drive' with all of my disks. That way I do not need to worry about Movies/Pictures/Software growing too big for only 10 TB.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Destroy "Vol2" and recreate it the same way but this time in front of "Volume to expand" (or something similar) select "Vol1" ;)

Please note that it's not recommended to share the root dataset, instead create a/some sub-dataset(s) and share this/those one(s).

NB: those are not drives but pools, they are called volumes in the GUI and manual.

 

[Fuganater]

Destroy "Vol2" and recreate it the same way but this time in front of "Volume to expand" (or something similar) select "Vol1" ;)

Please note that it's not recommended to share the root dataset, instead create a/some sub-dataset(s) and share this/those one(s).

NB: those are not drives but pools, they are called volumes in the GUI and manual.

Money, that worked.

Ya I know about sharing the root dataset. I was only doing it to confirm the amount of storage I see.

 

[Fuganater]

Just for the record I created 2x RAIDZ2 for Vol1 and set the last drive as a spare. Thanks again!

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