Is it safe for me to expand my pool?

[danb35]

They don't need to be the same make and model, or even the same size, as the existing disks in your pool.

 

[jgreco]

ZFS isn't picky about hardware at all. You can do all sorts of bad, silly, dumb, clever, etc., stuff.

Don't confuse ZFS with FreeBSD. FreeBSD really needs stuff like decent HBA and ethernet controllers in order to provide a good NAS experience.

I generally recommend heterogeneous pools (pools made up of devices not all from the same mfr) for various reasons. I'm not sure mixing 3.5 and 2.5 drives is a good idea, but it probably wouldn't kill you.

 

[kappclark]

OK ! Thank you for the update ! so I could expand the pool by 2 TB by adding a mirror of 2 x 2TB drives - right ?

 

[jgreco]

Ahhhh... yes, but you probably don't want to, most 2.5" 2TB drives are SMR, I think.

 

[Yorick]

Ahhhh... yes, but you probably don't want to, most 2.5" 2TB drives are SMR, I think.

They are, mostly. Check the list of SMR drives and particularly for 2.5”, check against the additional list references in the notes there.

3.5” is a safer bet, just avoid the wd red efax 2/4/6TB, and any “not nas” drives such as barracuda. Red pro, ironwolf / pro, n300 are all safe choices.

 

[kappclark]

Thanks ! -
Yes - I was thinking IronWolf ... watched some YT videos yest about that sneaky SMR on WD Reds (which I almost got) and then I saw the Seagate drives (not IW) were SMR...good to know also about WD Red Pro -- looking forward to adding the storage ...will need to convert 5.25 drive bays for extra 3.5 drives ... thank you all --