New to FreeNAS trying to figure out a uncommon (small) build.

[nixbin]

Hi! I new to FreeNAS and I'm trying to figure out what the best option is for building a small FreeNAS server. The problem I'm running into is that people don't seem to to build small FreeNAS servers just nice big ones. To better illustrate what I want let me layout what I have now and would like to replace with a FreeNAS system:

• Raidon GR3630-2S-WBS2 (2-Bay 3.5 inch SATA, USB 2.0, RAID 1)
• A total of 3 1TB 3.5 inch SATA HD's with 2 of them in Raidon and 1 stored off site.
• I currently manually connect the Raidon to my computer, I only need to access it around once a month.
• I regally will take 1 of the HD's and swap it with the HD that is stored off site bringing the one that was off site to back for the Raidon to rebuild the RAID array bring the files up to date on both HD's.

Here are the current problems with my setup:

• USB 2.0 transfer speeds.
• Long RAID resilver times.
• The 3.5 inch HD's don't fit well in the place I have off site to store them.
• FAT32.

Here are questions I'm figure out but haven't been able to find a good answers for:

1. Should I rotate all the hard drives like I currently do or just move 2 HD's around and hardwire the other one?
2. Would a couple of USB 3 portable HD's work instead of SATA HD's for the drive that needs to be taken off site?
3. Will the FreeNAS or ZFS have any problems updating the out of date HD when it is returned to the system?
4. What specs should I aim for considering I'm planing on a 1TB dataset and only will be accessing it around once a month?
   
5. Are there any pre-built systems that only have 2 hot swap drives?
6. Does anyone know of a fanless chassis that would work for a FreeNAS setup?
7. Is there anything else that I'm not considering?

Thanks in advance for your help, I know this are basic questions but I don't want to over build a system and it seems all the guides are for much big systems. Even though I don't have all that much data I'd like my data to stay safe.

 

[JohnDigital]

I cant figure out what you are up to. Im not sure why you dont buy a several TB USB3 drive (or two) and take that with you. You are pulling a drive from your mirror taking it with you to somewhere that does not have room for a 3.5" hard drive? Then using that data offsite and bringing back a different hard drive to resilver and then repeating this process once per month? Im not trying to be funny, but you optimally only want to move and or replace hard drives unless you HAVE to. Like if they fail or are failing. That RAID toaster you have now is woefully ancient, especially that you can get multiple TB drives in USB3 for around a hundred bucks that fit in your pocket. You dont want to move internal hard drives anywhere, except to the recycle bin when they fail.

Now with all that said FreeNAS is a superior product to any RAID toaster. Yes there are numerous fanless options, hot swap capabilities, drive sizes and configs. It would certainly do anything you need it to, but to be clear, you should not be moving around drives more than is absolutely necessary, especially if the data has any importance at all.

Keep your array built, and use a USB3 external/portable drive.

 

[wblock]

"Raidon" meaning RAIDZ1? That will not duplicate files. It takes any two of those drives, not just one.

This appears to be an offsite backup scheme, but it has several problems. First, you would need to use a mirror for each drive to have a copy of everything. The mirror would only have the capacity of a single drive.

The second and bigger problem is that RAID is not a backup. Backup lets you get to older files. A RAID just protects against drive failure.

@John Digital's suggestion of using an external drive is a much better and easier solution. Copies of files can be synced to and from it with rsync or zfs send/recv. Files can be kept in dated snapshots or directories, so when you find out that file that was deleted six months ago is really important, it can be recovered.

 

[nixbin]

I know the Raidon I have now isn't a great solution but I set it up long before ZFS was really an option. Since I don't use it much it still "works".

The way its setup I'm only trying to keep a snapshot of the drive offsite. I am only adding files so I'm not worried about an accidentally deleted file. The drives are setup as a RAID-1 so its basically 3 drives with the same data which works because the dataset is small.

Your responses really helped since I was unsure an external USB drive would be a good option for the offsite backup. Is there any guide about how to use ZFS send/recv with an external USB drive? And can it be setup so when it sees the HD it mirrors it to the external?

 

[DrKK]

Just for clarification, gentlemen, a "RAIDon" is a thing this one Taiwanese company makes, it's some kind of JBOD contraption that connects to your computer via USB, if I'm not mistaken.

Everything the OP is saying means that FreeNAS is not for him, in my view, but carry on.

 

[nixbin]

Everything the OP is saying means that FreeNAS is not for him, in my view, but carry on.

You do realize I'm saying that I currently have the RAIDon and am trying to replace it right? The RAIDon is something I setup ~6-7 years ago and I'm trying to build a better solution not reuse the RAIDon.

 

[DrKK]

You do realize I'm saying that I currently have the RAIDon and am trying to replace it right? The RAIDon is something I setup ~6-7 years ago and I'm trying to build a better solution not reuse the RAIDon.

Sir:

One of the people responding to you evidently thought "RAIDon" was a misspelling of "RaidOne" or I guess "RAID-Z1", I was clarifying for him.

And also, you will find in the forum at least 1500 posts where the most experienced members of the Community advise you to never even remotely consider using a USB drive for anything having to do with FreeNAS.

 

[nixbin]

Sir:
And also, you will find in the forum at least 1500 posts where the most experienced members of the Community advise you to never even remotely consider using a USB drive for anything having to do with FreeNAS.

OK so what would you recommend then for keeping a full copy of the system offsite? The only two options that I can think of is either a hot swap drive that is removed or an external USB drive. I haven't found many people who have a off-site backup plan here (excluding internet based setups) so I'm just trying to figure out best practices.

 

[wblock]

One of the people responding to you evidently thought "RAIDon" was a misspelling of "RaidOne" or I guess "RAID-Z1", I was clarifying for him.

That would be me. Sorry.

 

[wblock]

OK so what would you recommend then for keeping a full copy of the system offsite? The only two options that I can think of is either a hot swap drive that is removed or an external USB drive. I haven't found many people who have a off-site backup plan here (excluding internet based setups) so I'm just trying to figure out best practices.

eSATA is sometimes suggested, or some kind of external SAS drive. Replication to another FreeNAS system might be an option, depending on the network bandwidth available.

 

[nixbin]

eSATA is sometimes suggested, or some kind of external SAS drive. Replication to another FreeNAS system might be an option, depending on the network bandwidth available.

eSATA is a good idea, haven't seen it around for a while so I forgot about it. How would you configure it so that it could get a copy (incrementally updated) of the data on the internal disks?

Copying to another box isn't an option as internet is limited and un-reliable, thats why I want a "sneaker net" approach.

 

[wblock]

Replication of snapshots works, even when the destination machine ("Beta") is the same as the host machine: http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/storage.html#replication-tasks.

Connecting and mounting the volume is going to be a bit of a hassle, but might be scriptable. For that matter, the whole thing might as well be a script. See the end of that replication section for a sample command line.

 

[DrKK]

Just for clarification, gentlemen, a "RAIDon" is a thing this one Taiwanese company makes, it's some kind of JBOD contraption that connects to your computer via USB, if I'm not mistaken.

Everything the OP is saying means that FreeNAS is not for him, in my view, but carry on.

lol. My post was edited because "piece of cr*p" was too offensive.