S.M.A.R.T for FreeNAS Mini 2.0 RAID?

[DrJimPhDPMP]

I'm getting ready to configure my four 10TB drives as a RaidZ1 pool, LZ4 compression, type 'UNIX' (NFS share), enable atime 'on', S.M.A.R.T 'off', no encryption. I have a questionn regarding the choice to set S.M.A.R.T. to 'off'.

I am selecting S.M.A.R.T. 'off' because the FreeNAS 11.2-U6 User Guide section 7.4 states, “To prevent problems, do not enable the S.M.A.R.T. service if the disks are controlled by a RAID controller. It is the job of the controller to monitor S.M.A.R.T. and mark drives as Predictive Failure when they trip.” I am assuming if the FreeNAS Mini 2.0 can be configured as a Raid, it must have a hardware Raid controller. Is that a bad assumption, and I should set S.M.A.R.T. to 'on'?

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

I am assuming if the FreeNAS Mini 2.0 can be configured as a Raid, it must have a hardware Raid controller. Is that a bad assumption, and I should set S.M.A.R.T. to 'on'?

This advice only applies if you're using a hardware RAID controller, which is generally advised against anyway. If you're using an HBA SAS controller or a RAID controller flashed to IT mode you'll want to keep SMART monitoring on. ZFS is a software RAID solution and thus does not benefit, and can possibly be harmed by, the use of a hardware RAID controller.