Upgrade then HW replace, or vice versa?

[HolyK]

Hi!

I have a small dilemma here and i'd like to share it with all of you :D ^^

So, i have MSI MoBo, G2020, Corsair RAM, 6x WD Green (3TB) in RAIDZ2 + 1x WD 1TB as UFS and i am running FreeNAS 8.3.1.
- RAIDZ2 is just a storage pool for periodic backups and archived files
- 1TB UFS is the disk where plugins resides and also where the Transmission Download directory is.

I have Supermicro X10SL7-F, i3-4130 and pair of the ECC Kingston on the way to my place as an replacement of the parts above. Since the MoBo is based on new chipset, i will also need to upgrade FreeNAS to 9.x version (i would do that anyway). Also i will be using on-board SAS2 controller flashed into IT mode.

I'd like to stick with the storages which i have, but since plugin system in FreeNAS 9 requires ZFS, i will need to trash the whole UFS and create ZFS partition.

And, i need to decide what is the better approach ...
a) Upgrade FreeNAS on the actual hardware, then replace parts, wipe that 1TB disk and re-install Plugin system on ZFS.
b) Just shut down the NAS, replace parts, wipe the USB flash, install new FreeNAS and auto-import ZFS pool + do the UFS->ZFS replacement. My system is not so modified (yet), so setting all things again will not eat so much time.

Thanks!

HolyK

 

[HolyK]

And one bonus question ...
I'd like to test GELI encryption, but i don't trust it 100% (yet) and also i don't have enough space where i could temporarily store all of the data from actual pool to be able to destroy and re-create new one as an encrypted drive. So i'd like to test it on that single 1TB drive, which i will be using for plugins. If something will happen with this 1TB pool, i will not loose any important files ...
So, are there any catches which i am not aware of? Intel 4130 is supporting AES-NI, so this is not a issue.

 

[cyberjock]

I'd probabbly do option B just to preclude any possibility of database problems being carried forward. It shouldn't be a problem normally,but that's the only difference I see between option a and b.