Options for Transitioning of Data to FreeNAS?

[PainIs4ThaWeak]

Gentlemen/Ladies,

Forgive my relative ignorance on the matter - I've read through many setup guides for FreeNAS, but one question still lingers:

What are my options for migrating current data to a new FreeNAS box?

I currently do not have any empty spare drives (internal or external) large enough to migrate in one fail-swoop. My thought was to upload all data to a cloud service and then download said data from the FreeNAS box. Is there provisions in FreeNAS for doing such a thing?

All input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

You can create small pools as you make drives available. That sucks. I recently went from a 6 drive raidz2, to a 10 drive raidz2. I bought 4, 4 Terabyte external drives to do it.

Might be worth noting, Walmart has a 15 day return policy.

 

[PainIs4ThaWeak]

Unfortunately, this setup will only be (at least initially) a 4 disk, 2-way mirror. I have an existing 3-drive RAID5, (utilizing a Marvell mobo-integrated controller - hence part of the reason for my transition) - However, the chassis that houses the current RAID5 will be scrapped in favor for the new FreeNAS 4 disk mirror. The only thing I can't seem to mentally harness, is the best way to move the existing RAID5 array's data, to the new FreeNAS mirror. Hence the reason I mentioned utilizing a "cloud" service for just long enough to transfer the data.

Which brings me back to the original question - Does FreeNAS even have provisions to do so? (I assume all it would take is a web-browser interface, with which I could navigate to said "cloud" service, and download all current data to the new array?)

EDIT: Thank you 9C1 for your input. Though I'd prefer to save cost on further drives for now - as my budget for this endeavor is somewhat limited. (The hardware has already set me back ~$1100 USD; which is all I can currently commit to this new solution.)

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I don't think FreeNAS has such a feature for a cloud service that will do what you want to do.

How much data? A cloud service would have taken months at my maximum upload speed. My internet provider would have canceled me at some point as well. Unless your data collection is tiny, cheapest way to move your data off your drives is other drives. In the end, it cost me $0 to try out some USB drives for 15 days. Not sure how you will beat $0. I am curious how it turns out.

 

[pirateghost]

Freenas itself doesn't really have a good way to facilitate a transfer with a cloud service but being a network attached storage device, you can facilitate the transfer from any machine on your network.

I don't know where you will come up with a cloud service to handle that much data for free since you say extra hard drives are out of the question.

 

[PainIs4ThaWeak]

:facepalm: My apologies guys, the suggestion of RETURNING the externals to the brick and mortar store after transferring didn't quite "click" when reading the first time.

Definitely a good idea, and one soo obvious I'm shocked I didn't think of it prior to.

Thank you for setting me straight.