Number of drives and configuration (raidz vs mirrors)

[logiboy]

So I went and bought my hardware before I decided which system I would use. Not exactly though, as I had thought I would just build a windows NAS. But I wanted to give Linux-ish systems another try to see if I could do something cool. Tried Ubuntu, CentOS, Mint. They all sucked, or more likely I suck and just couldn't get those systems to work the way I wanted.

I guess I should back up and explain the use case right?
I need a NAS to offload pictures, home movies, source media, an iTunes library, Plex and Unify, as well as provide a shared storage location to transfer files between all the computers in the house. My needs are actually pretty modest, only using less than 1TB for all the aforementioned workloads. But I also now want to install a bunch of security cameras around the house. At this stage thinking of getting 5 x Annke C800 4K devices (turret, no mic) or maybe the equivalent Amcrest 2669ew-ai devices. But I haven't settled on the cameras yet.

Current hardware is; Core i3-10105F on an Asus B560M-K, 2x8GB Corsair DDR4-3200, 3xSeagate 4TB storage disks (ST4000VX013-2XG104), 1xOS M.2 MZ-V7E250BW SSD 970 EVO.

To cut a long story short I thought I would try an appliance instead of a full-blown Linux distro. OMG, TrueNAS is unbelievably good! This thing does nearly everything I want right out of the box and it is ridiculously easy to setup and manage. I've got my SMB shares happening, the NFS mounts (assumed I would use that for the Cameras) and even got a Plex appliance happening (I can't believe how easy that was). Haven't set up my Unify controller yet, but it's on the to-do list.

So the problem is that I only bought 3 storage drives as I assumed I would make a Windows Raid5 array. But with TrueNAS it really sounds like I should get another 4TB disk and convert my storage pool to a zfs mirror deployment instead? If so what would be the best way to do that, drop one of the disks out of the pool (it's RaidZ, so should be safe) then build a new ZFS mirror pool, build my shares, copy content from old pool to new, delete old pool, expand new pool?

For backups, I was reading some content that advised if you care about your data you should have a backup for your ZFS pools. Should I get another single 8TB drive and use that as a backup disk, replicating the new pool to the backup disk? Thoughts, recommendations?

I have a spare 1TB SSD samsung hard drive, which I was hoping to re-use somehow. I tried to see if there was any value in using it as a cache volume for the ZFS pools, but this doesn't appear to be a legitimate use case. Is there anything I can do with this disk to help in some way?

One concern I have is that recording 4k cameras may fill up the 4TB disks I have pretty quickly. This is one of the reasons I wanted motion sensor cameras so it only records what is necessary instead of everything all the time. Any suggestions in this space, specific cameras I should buy, software I should use?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Any input, comments or suggestions are welcome.

Regards,
Paul

 

[sretalla]

I need a NAS to offload pictures, home movies, source media, an iTunes library, Plex and Unify, as well as provide a shared storage location to transfer files between all the computers in the house. My needs are actually pretty modest, only using less than 1TB for all the aforementioned workloads

These would suit RAIDZ very well. Mirrors would generally be a waste of capacity, but would also be fine (and would give you the chance to expand by 2 disks at a time later... before RAIDZ expansion finally arrives, maybe sometime this decade).

But I also now want to install a bunch of security cameras around the house

Depending on exactly how many and the resolution, you may find this would be better suited to a separate pool of SSDs (could be just 2 in a mirror), since continuous writing would be a potentially power-hungry and noisy use of spinning drives.

For backups, I was reading some content that advised if you care about your data you should have a backup for your ZFS pools. Should I get another single 8TB drive and use that as a backup disk, replicating the new pool to the backup disk?

Seems reasonable... a backup outside the server might also be good, but that's up to you and how much you want to spend on a second box.

I have a spare 1TB SSD samsung hard drive, which I was hoping to re-use somehow. I tried to see if there was any value in using it as a cache volume for the ZFS pools, but this doesn't appear to be a legitimate use case. Is there anything I can do with this disk to help in some way?

Maybe for the cameras...

One concern I have is that recording 4k cameras may fill up the 4TB disks I have pretty quickly.

You should really be using some kind of object detection and only record (or retain recordings) of interesting things rather than keeping it all. Maybe the 1TB SSD plus a second one to make a mirror would work well here.

Any suggestions in this space, specific cameras I should buy, software I should use?

If you're going to run it on TrueNAS CORE, Zoneminder is your best option. If you were running it in SCALE, I would recommend Frigate (when the guys over at TrueCharts get around to delivering that chart... get yourself a Coral dongle for it and you'll be even happier with it).

HikVision cameras have been reported to run pretty well with most software that uses RTSP (as with Zoneminder and Frigate) You can check out the website for Zoneminder, they recommend some brands/models that are known to work... https://wiki.zoneminder.com/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility_List.

 

[logiboy]

Thank you sretalla, I appreciate the feedback. I really like the idea of a second 1TB SSD for the cameras.

 

[ChrisRJ]

You should just make sure that your hard disks are no SMR drives