SOLVED Storage Problem

[DarkSorrow]

I have 2 FreeNAS servers. This one is my 2nd server. It has 3 x Seagate 4TB BarraCuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive (ST4000DM005). When I click on the Storage it says 10 TB but it's only showing 6.4 TB available for use. I'm confused to where the 3.5TB has gone?

 

[nightshade00013]

This is due to how FreeNAS and the ZFS file system do things, what is being shown on the first line is the raw disk storage. If you add up what is shown on the first line as used and available you will get the total RAW disk storage space in TiB.

Everything below that point is the pool space available for your actualy use. You are using a RaidZ1 so you lose one disk for redundancy so that is the actual space available for YOU as the end user to use.

Basically nothing is wrong and your system is working as intended.

 

[DarkSorrow]

Ok sounds good then. If I was to add an additional 4TB drive would I have to wipe the 3 and readd from scratch the RaidZ1?

 

[nightshade00013]

Yep, once a vDev is established you can not add to the vDev in a RaidZ environment. You could add another 3 drives and create a second vDev to the pool but it's probably not the best idea as if any one vDev in a pool fails the pool is then lost.

 

[DarkSorrow]

So I'm new to Raid. With the 3 I have in RaidZ1 now if a drive fails I just replace the drive with the serial number in the GUI and it will start to rebuild it since I drive is the backup?

 

[nightshade00013]

https://doc.freenas.org/9.3/zfsprimer.html

 

[DarkSorrow]

Ok thanks

 

[Stux]

This one is worth checking out too:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Consider using RaidZ2 when you have more disks.

 

[DarkSorrow]

This server has 8 Sata connectors but only room for 3 harddrives drives + cdrom or 4 harddrives with no cd room. I installed a swappable tray in the slot below the cdrom and can always buy one for the cd rom spot to use 4 disks. I'm not sure why it has 8 sata connectors but room for so few drives!

 

[nightshade00013]

Sounds like a HP or Dell or IBM or other big name production computer... Basically they put in just enough space to sell it. I have seen ITX boards crammed in a case with just enough room for a single HDD and single Optical drive have four to six sata ports.

My suggestion case swap, get something with a lot more space and utilize it. The more case space the more drives, the more drives the more capacity, speed and with a higher level of RaidZ the more redundancy. Don't let a flimsy piece of tin hold you back.

 

[DarkSorrow]

I was going to build a new one soon. My other NAS server is more modern. This one is just a Z600.

 

[nightshade00013]

LOL, HP.... Nailed it!

 

[DarkSorrow]

LOL, HP.... Nailed it!

Yup, picked it up on Amazon for $200 lol. Was cheap for my CentOS webserver. My other NAS server is much better. I will eventually upgrade to better hardware for this server.