Quick check -- copying files to a degraded pool

[jonsd]

Hey guys, just need to see if what I'm doing is sane. Here's my scenario.

I have my data backed up on another drive that I'd like to restore to my FreeNAS box. The catch is I only have 6 SATA ports on my mobo, and I'm planning on setting up a 6 disk raidz2 pool.

Is it crazy/safe/okay to setup the 6 disk pool, detach 1 drive, attach the other disk with my data, and zfs send it over to the crippled 5 disk ZFS pool. Then add back the 6th disk. I'm copying about 8TB of data, so it's not an insane amount.

I suppose the alternative is to hook it up via USB (but I have ancient USB 2.0 ports) and wait forever for it to restore. Thoughts, any gotchas or is this A Terrible Idea?

 

[Ericloewe]

It works, but it's not a particularly good idea.

 

[Stux]

And as long as you understand the risks it should work fine.

 

[jonsd]

Since I have it backed up already on one drive, I suppose it's less risky. Thanks all.