Different size HDD for RAID

[Snifferdog3]

so I have a few HDDs and i want to set them in a raid 5 config, the issue is that all 3 are different sizes, the first is 400GB the second 300GB and the third is 200GB (just noticed they go in order haha) so how much usable storage would i get in a raid 5 config.

 

also a side question is do i need to have them in a raid set up for a NAS or can i have them as 3 different hard disks so i can use all the storage like I currently do in my main windows desktop?  

[Acedia]

A traditional RAID5 is limited to the size of the smallest disk. So you'd get 400GB. I don't know if FreeNAS offers any solution for that.

[Snifferdog3]

6 minutes ago, Acedia said:

A traditional RAID5 is limited to the size of the smallest disk. So you'd get 400GB. I don't know if FreeNAS offers any solution for that.

I might not actually use freenas now as i recommends 8gb ram, i only have 4GB

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, Snifferdog3 said:

I might not actually use freenas now as i recommends 8gb ram, i only have 4GB

You can run freenas on less than 8gb of ram, the extra is just used as a disk cache.

 

But with that hardware you might want to use unraid.

[Snifferdog3]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can run freenas on less than 8gb of ram, the extra is just used as a disk cache.

 

But with that hardware you might want to use unraid.

ok, so my final question is, do i HAVE to use raid for FreeNas or any other nas OS? or can i use them as 3 separate HDDs? 400GB is just so small compared to the 900GB total they have all together.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Snifferdog3 said:

ok, so my final question is, do i HAVE to use raid for FreeNas or any other nas OS? or can i use them as 3 separate HDDs? 

you can use them as seprate drives, but its easier to have one seprate volume.

 

Also why not just get one bigger hdd?

[Snifferdog3]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you can use them as seprate drives, but its easier to have one seprate volume.

 

Also why not just get one bigger hdd?

well the thing is, i currently have the 3 HDD in my pc right now. but im going to buy a new 2TB HDD for my pc, so i will have these 3 hdd left over doing nothing, so i thought i might as well use them for a NAS as i have some spare pc parts. i could possibly just put the 2TB hdd in my new nas and keep my old hdds in my current pc, as i have a 500GB SSD, but would prefer it the other way around.

[Snifferdog3]

24 minutes ago, Acedia said:

A traditional RAID5 is limited to the size of the smallest disk. So you'd get 400GB. I don't know if FreeNAS offers any solution for that.

wouldn't it be 600GB? becuase if it goes to the smallest HDD then it would be 3x200 and thats 600GB? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Snifferdog3 said:

wouldn't it be 600GB? becuase if it goes to the smallest HDD then it would be 3x200 and thats 600GB? 

well one drives worth of space is parity, so you have 400gb usabe

 

4 minutes ago, Snifferdog3 said:

well the thing is, i currently have the 3 HDD in my pc right now. but im going to buy a new 2TB HDD for my pc, so i will have these 3 hdd left over doing nothing, so i thought i might as well use them for a NAS as i have some spare pc parts. i could possibly just put the 2TB hdd in my new nas and keep my old hdds in my current pc, as i have a 500GB SSD, but would prefer it the other way around.

Do you need the space? Id save the power and not run the nas unless you need it.

[191x7]

3 minutes ago, Snifferdog3 said:

wouldn't it be 600GB? becuase if it goes to the smallest HDD then it would be 3x200 and thats 600GB? 

And you forgot to calculate the space used by the parity for data redundance. 

[Snifferdog3]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

well one drives worth of space is parity, so you have 400gb usabe

 

Do you need the space? Id save the power and not run the nas unless you need it.

Yep I forgot about the parity my bad.

 

well I wouldn't have the Nas running 24/7 just when I need it really.

[Snifferdog3]

1 hour ago, 191x7 said:

And you forgot to calculate the space used by the parity for data redundance. 

Yep, sorry I completely forgot about that!

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Snifferdog3 said:

Yep I forgot about the parity my bad.

 

well I wouldn't have the Nas running 24/7 just when I need it really.

Id just store the drives in your desktop then. A nas makes the most sens when it needs to be shared across systems or you need lots of storage.

[Snifferdog3]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id just store the drives in your desktop then. A nas makes the most sens when it needs to be shared across systems or you need lots of storage.

Well my HDDs are pretty much full, and I don't have anymore rails for another HDD in my case without removing the old 3. Its not something I'll be building right now as I don't have a case or psu for one, don't really need it but I have a bunch low end parts that I might as well use and it would be a good little project, what else would I use a spare mobo cpu, gpu and HDDs for? Sitting around collecting dust? 

 

Edit: been as I'm buying a new HDD it would condense 3hdds into one taking up less room in my case, I can't fit another HDD in with the 3 I already have as i don't have any rails for them.

[dalekphalm]

18 hours ago, Snifferdog3 said:

Well my HDDs are pretty much full, and I don't have anymore rails for another HDD in my case without removing the old 3. Its not something I'll be building right now as I don't have a case or psu for one, don't really need it but I have a bunch low end parts that I might as well use and it would be a good little project, what else would I use a spare mobo cpu, gpu and HDDs for? Sitting around collecting dust? 

 

Edit: been as I'm buying a new HDD it would condense 3hdds into one taking up less room in my case, I can't fit another HDD in with the 3 I already have as i don't have any rails for them.

If you don't need the spare hardware, list it for sale in the FS subforum here (or on Kijiji/craigslist/ebay/Facebook marketplace, etc).