BUILD X11SSL-CF 10xraidZ2 with old drives.

[Ikler]

I have been reading this forum for a while up and down. Now and I’m hoping to get your thoughts on my FreeNAS server rebuild.

Intended Use

• Video storage for photos and videos (4k) [Work important]
• Backup (TimeMachine) target for up to 3 machines [Work important]
• Media library to maximum 2 fire tv's at one time

Proposed Build
Motherboard: X11SSL-CF
CPU: Intel G4040 or i3-6100
Memory: Samsung DIMM 16GB, DDR4-2133 ECC
SAS Onboard Controller(s): Flashed to IT mode
System Disk: 2x Intel X-25 80GB SSD [I have this two]
PSU: SeaSonic 480W
Case: Fractal Design Define R5
Hard Drives (10x raidZ2):

• 3 x Toshiba 3 TB
• 2 x WD Green .75TB
• 2 x WD Green 2 TB
• 2x Samsung 1 TB
• 1x Samsung 1.5 TB

Reasoning behind the Proposed Build
The overall goal is to build a server that will last me for the next 5 to 8 years and not require a complete rebuild.

I have in this configuration 4.6 TB usable space. I need something around 7 TB for my work every year. My plan is that i start with all the disks i have an replace each every time i hit the 75% barrier. I will replace the drives with new 6TB WD Red drives. After all replacements i will have 37TB usable space. This will last for 5 Years. After that i can delete old files or put it on an archive drive.

I backup this machine to my unlimited Dropbox Account.

Questions

1. Does anyone see anything immediately wrong with the above build?
2. Is it OK to use old drives an replace it step by step

 

[Dice]

Welcome to the forums.

Your conception of 'usable space' is heavily optimistic.
I'll need you to read and pay close attention to the newbie tutorial:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Once you've really gotten the hang of how much storage that is lost when having this wild gang of differently sized drives, you should play around with this:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/zfs-raid-size-and-reliability-calculator.28191/

cheers /

 

[Ikler]

Thanks.

This is my calculation. I used the smallest disk. After i replaced the .75TB drives the smallest will be the 1TB drive and my disk space will grow.

 

[Dice]

Good.
You're on the right track: raidz2.
When doing the upgrades, read up on how to do it the most safe way. It is in the manual.
It will come in handy since you are using mostly (what looks to be fairly to really old drives), to minimize risks during migrations.

Have you planned on a neat little hotswappable case (now that you've forseen a boatload of screwing in and out drives of the case?). -- avoid hotswapping the freenas system if downtime is acceptable during the repair, that will minimize risks for problems.

Cheers,

 

[Ikler]

Thanks for the Answer. No i will not use a hotswappable case. I dont see the usecase for me.