Recommended Vdev Configuration

[jarrod1024]

I am looking to build a new freenas server to replace an old one which currently has 2X 10Tb reds mirrored.

I have 5X 10Tb reds for the new server but I am also hoping to use the 2X 10TBs from the old server for a total of 70Tb raw.

The server I am planning on using has 12X 3.5" drive bays and an H200 HBA.

I am looking at doing 1 RaidZ2 Vdev with the 7 drives. This will leave me 5 drive bays to add another 5 disk vdev for future expansion.
Is this a good configuration or am I better to do 6 drives for my first vdev so that in the future if i add another vdev they have the same number of disks?

 

[Heracles]

Hey Jarrod,

I would not use Raid-Z1 for anything valuable, even less with hard drives as big as 10G.

When you need to re-silver a Raid-Z1, you need to read everything on every drive. Should anything be wrong like a flipped bit, a read error or anything, the situation can drop to as bad as complete pool corruption. In this case, it means you need to read up to 60TB of data and hope for not having a single error.

I would go Raid-Z2 in your case.

 

[jarrod1024]

I'll definately be going RaidZ2. just wondering if I am best to have an equal number of disks in each Vdev.

 

[Jessep]

Yes for future expansion it would make more sense to make a 6 drive vdev now and add a 6 drive vdev to the pool later.