USB drives?

[b0redom]

Hi All,
So I currently have a Lenovo TS140 with 5x4TB spinning drives in it. I'm starting to run out of space, and am considering my next steps.

Replacing all of the internal drives with much bigger capacity ones seems VERY expensive. To be honest the lion's share of the space is taken up by media like ripped TV series and films I've watched and I don't really care if I lost.

It would be a pain to rerip it, but I could live without it for a protracted period.

Is there anything stopping me buying a couple of very big external USB3 HDDs, attaching them to FreeNAS and archiving the media off to them? Would my Plex install on FreeNAS still be able to see the drives?

Are there any recommended USB drives?

I don't care if the USB drives are not readable by Windows/Linux/OSX once they're used by FreeNAS.

Thanks...

 

[nojohnny101]

How pressing are your storage needs? Are you currently running a radiz2 vdev with those 5 x 4TB drives?

While possible, FreeNAS really doesn't like USB drive because they don't pass along smart data and other things that FreeNAS wants to see about drives connected to the system. In addition, a USB is just no where near as stable and reliable as SATA connections. This causes problems when you are connecting a bunch of USB drives and then suddenly two of the drop off because of loose connections or whatever, then poof, there goes your pool and all of your data.

If you needs are pressing, I would recommend just saving up for maybe like 4 more drives (make then 3TB or 2TB if that is cheaper for you) then stripe a second vdev to your current pool. Just make sure you make it the same raidz level as your current vdev.

Another option, much cheaper, would be to just buy a big USB drive, connect it to one of your computers, create a share and then archive (move) files you don't need to it. This would free up your FreeNAS storage without compromised redundancy. Obviously though, plex wouldn't be able to see anything on that USB drive because it is not part of your pool. But then again, you said you never watch them anyways, so no loss there.

 

[b0redom]

Ah, I should have been a bit clearer. I am not proposing adding USB drives to an existing pool. I'm proposing adding a single disk pool per USB drive, maybe even UFS rather than ZFS. I guess if the connections from these failed FreeNAS would just complain, and then import them again when they appear?

Whilst I'm unlikely to want to watch a bunch of old movies at once, I might want to watch, an archived movie I have, or a random episode of The Outer Limits.....

I can't create another vdev as I don't have space, power or SATA ports inside the TS140. So assuming I can't do what I'm proposing, my options are either replace all the disks, or buy a new server and load that up, both of which are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than attaching a couple of USB drives.

 

[BigDave]

Ah, I should have been a bit clearer. I am not proposing adding USB drives to an existing pool. I'm proposing adding a single disk pool per USB drive, maybe even UFS rather than ZFS. I guess if the connections from these failed FreeNAS would just complain, and then import them again when they appear?

Whilst I'm unlikely to want to watch a bunch of old movies at once, I might want to watch, an archived movie I have, or a random episode of The Outer Limits.....

I can't create another vdev as I don't have space, power or SATA ports inside the TS140. So assuming I can't do what I'm proposing, my options are either replace all the disks, or buy a new server and load that up, both of which are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than attaching a couple of USB drives.

Under your current constraints of space/data ports/power, you have
to use the USB interface to add a seperate pool. UFS will not work with
the later versions of FreeNAS, but if ZFS is good for you then it will
work, BUT the usb interface is unreliable as hell and is not recommended!
You must be careful and only copy the files you wish to move onto the
external hard drive and then only delete them from the original pool
once the copied data has been verified. The reason we don't recommend
an external usb pool is the total lack of any kind of redundancy. As long
as you understand the risk that usb can and does just go bad for no
particular reason, you can do what you are proposing. In the end, as you
said the ripped files are replaceable.

 

[Stux]

Have you got a spare PCIe slot?

You could run a jbod chassis via an lsi SAS HBA.

The USB thing you propose isn't recommended for 24/7 access but can be used for backups etc

 

[Arwen]

One thing to note is that even with USB attached drives, using ZFS is way more reliable.

I would say yes that your intended use would likely work.

Just understand that USB attached drive's interface is slower, and less reliable than SAS
or SATA. Try to get an USB enclosure that supports UASP, (USB Attached SCSI Protocol). It's
faster than the older, original USB block interface. Still compatible with USB 2.0, if the host
supports it. I don't know off hand if FreeNAS 9.10 supports UASP, but try anyway for the
future.