Question about ZFS

[pkhoenixcomm]

In the docs, the minimum drives is 2 which is "Mirrored", and with one more drive, I can use ZF1
Question: I have to start with a mirrored configuration as I only have 2 2gb Barracudas, but I am curious by adding the third drive down the road could
I convert the Mirrored Raid to a ZF1 Raid???
Thanks
Cris H.

 

[nightshade00013]

Nope, to change from mirrors to a RaidZ1 you would have to destroy the pool and create a new one.

You can setup a pool with a single drive or even run multiple drives in a pool on separate vDev's however it is not recommended to do so as the data is more at risk. If you are wanting to set something up to try out and get your feet wet don't worry so much about it. Just don't trust that your data will be safe on the pool but honestly you would be no worse off than having the same type of configuration on a windows computer. Make sure you have backups and then when you build out a complete system use a RaidZ pool.

Just remember that once you get past the 2TB drives RaidZ2 is recommended and at a certain point RaidZ3 is the better idea.

 

[styno]

Hi, it is really important to use the correct terms, especially when seeking advice on a technical forum. There is no such thing as ZF1, I understand that you would like to start with a 'MIRROR' (~raid1) and convert it to a 'RAIDZ1' (~raid5) later. This is currently not supported, ideally you would start with the needed number of drives at once.
Also, I assume the disks are 2 terabytes in size, not gigabyte. RAIDZ1 with drives > 1 terabyte is not recommended.

(Relevant documentation: http://doc.freenas.org/11/zfsprimer.html)

 

[danb35]

This is currently not supported,

...and it is not expected to be supported in the future either. They're working on adding disks to an existing RAIDZ vdev, but changing from mirrors to RAIDZ is not in the scope of that project.