Adding and replacing drives in a NAS

[DR4GONSTEAR]

I'm Australian. I'm not sure if that matters, but before people start talking about US/Canada all in one solutions, it's impossible to freight something for cheap.

 

I've tried searching the forum, and and I can't seem to find a comprehensive answer to a question I only just realized I need to ask before buying a home server.

I'm looking at picking up on Ebay an old 16Bay rack mount NAS server. It's internals are unimportant for now because they are all up-gradable and I haven't bought anything yet, I've just been looking for a case on the cheap for a while, but I'll list them for the sake of something to work with:

• ASUS Z8NA-D6C
• Xeon E5620 x2
• 24GB ECC RAM
• 10GbE

 

Now, my question is in regards to drive maintenance, and adding drives to the pool after initial setup. Everyone seems to be in agreement that you cannot add more drives to a FreeNAS pool, except when you can in a specific way. *Confused face*

My plan is to use the server to stream TV, Movies and music to the rest of my house.

My current setup:

• 2011 MacMini
• 500GB HDD via Sata - OS
• 1TB HDD via USB2 - Music Storage
• 3TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Burstcoin
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Burstcoin
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Downloading drive and TV Show overflow
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Movie Storage
• 8TB HDD via USB3 - TV Show Storage
• Sonarr for TV Shows
• Safari for everything else
• PIA for VPN
• Plex for streaming

 

I'd like my new system to emulate the same functionality that I've been working with since 2016, as this system just works. I would like to, however, enhance the capabilities somewhat. I have no backups. I don't have any more hdds, and if i did I have no more ports to use *facepalm*

My biggest concern moving into the NAS arena, is expandability. I'm obviously not going to go out and buy 16 brand new 12TB drives just so I can have the best system from the start. I want to have something serviceable with little upfront cost, and expand as my needs do. My initial purchase will most likely include 2x8TB drives, but I might be able to get 4x4TB for a cheaper per TB price, so that's not set in stone. Then once I have something set up and move all my current data onto the server, I think I plan on cannibalizing the rest of the HDDs in my house for extra space "for now" with a big plan to replace all repurposed drives, but don't know how that is exactly going to work.

 

All I want is a server that has enough redundancy that if I pull out 1 drive, I can replace it without loosing all the data. A system I can add a drive to, two to three times a year without requiring I obtain just as many TB of external HDDs to backup all my data too. Something like this https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/919-expand-a-raid-volume sounds right up my alley, but this is talking about Windows 2003 Server. Is this possible on FreeNAS?

 

I'm new here, be gentle if this is in detail somewhere on the forum.

[Spotty]

21 minutes ago, DR4GONSTEAR said:

• 1TB HDD via USB2 - Music Storage
• 3TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Burstcoin
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Burstcoin
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Downloading drive and TV Show overflow
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Movie Storage
• 8TB HDD via USB3 - TV Show Storage

Since you're planning on shucking your externals, you could shuck them then stick those drives in the NAS as its own separate array to do your burstcoin mining on. Have a separate array with new drives for your media storage. I wouldn't recommend re-using the externals for your storage, especially if the have previously been used for burstcoin mining.

If you're already using up to 17TB for your movies, TV and music, I'd look at going at least 20-24TB usable mark for your storage. For your use I'd go 6x6TB drives (probably Ironwolfs or WD Reds), and having RaidZ2 (like Raid6) on it to give you 24TB storage and 2 drive failure protection. You can also probably get away with RaidZ1 (Raid5) with just 1 parity to save on HDD cost/increase usable storage space, but you will only have redundancy for 1 drive failure.
You can get the Ironwolf 6TBs for about AUD$230 each on ebay with the 20% off coupons, so 6x6TB HDDs will set you back about AUD$1400. If you think you will need more for your movie/TV storage then add in another 6TB drive or two..
 

 

24 minutes ago, DR4GONSTEAR said:

All I want is a server that has enough redundancy that if I pull out 1 drive, I can replace it without loosing all the data. A system I can add a drive to, two to three times a year without requiring I obtain just as many TB of external HDDs to backup all my data too. Something like this https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/919-expand-a-raid-volume sounds right up my alley, but this is talking about Windows 2003 Server. Is this possible on FreeNAS?

Have a look in to UnRaid and see if it will meet your needs. Unlike FreeNAS it's not free, but you can expand existing arrays using UnRaid.

 

[dalekphalm]

18 hours ago, DR4GONSTEAR said:

I'm Australian. I'm not sure if that matters, but before people start talking about US/Canada all in one solutions, it's impossible to freight something for cheap.

 

I've tried searching the forum, and and I can't seem to find a comprehensive answer to a question I only just realized I need to ask before buying a home server.

I'm looking at picking up on Ebay an old 16Bay rack mount NAS server. It's internals are unimportant for now because they are all up-gradable and I haven't bought anything yet, I've just been looking for a case on the cheap for a while, but I'll list them for the sake of something to work with:

• ASUS Z8NA-D6C
• Xeon E5620 x2
• 24GB ECC RAM
• 10GbE

 

Now, my question is in regards to drive maintenance, and adding drives to the pool after initial setup. Everyone seems to be in agreement that you cannot add more drives to a FreeNAS pool, except when you can in a specific way. *Confused face*

My plan is to use the server to stream TV, Movies and music to the rest of my house.

My current setup:

• 2011 MacMini
• 500GB HDD via Sata - OS
• 1TB HDD via USB2 - Music Storage
• 3TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Burstcoin
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Burstcoin
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Downloading drive and TV Show overflow
• 4TB HDD via Thunderbolt - Movie Storage
• 8TB HDD via USB3 - TV Show Storage
• Sonarr for TV Shows
• Safari for everything else
• PIA for VPN
• Plex for streaming

 

I'd like my new system to emulate the same functionality that I've been working with since 2016, as this system just works. I would like to, however, enhance the capabilities somewhat. I have no backups. I don't have any more hdds, and if i did I have no more ports to use *facepalm*

My biggest concern moving into the NAS arena, is expandability. I'm obviously not going to go out and buy 16 brand new 12TB drives just so I can have the best system from the start. I want to have something serviceable with little upfront cost, and expand as my needs do. My initial purchase will most likely include 2x8TB drives, but I might be able to get 4x4TB for a cheaper per TB price, so that's not set in stone. Then once I have something set up and move all my current data onto the server, I think I plan on cannibalizing the rest of the HDDs in my house for extra space "for now" with a big plan to replace all repurposed drives, but don't know how that is exactly going to work.

 

All I want is a server that has enough redundancy that if I pull out 1 drive, I can replace it without loosing all the data. A system I can add a drive to, two to three times a year without requiring I obtain just as many TB of external HDDs to backup all my data too. Something like this https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/919-expand-a-raid-volume sounds right up my alley, but this is talking about Windows 2003 Server. Is this possible on FreeNAS?

 

I'm new here, be gentle if this is in detail somewhere on the forum.

So with FreeNAS/ZFS in general, there are two current methods of expanding your pool:

 

1. Buy new set of drives, create entirely separate pool, then vdev stripe the new pool with the old pool.

Result: Your total capacity will be the capacity of the old pool + the capacity of the new pool.

Downside: There's a reduction in redundancy. You also need enough empty drive bays to run both pools at once.

 

2. Buy new HDD's. Replace one HDD with new one. Rebuild pool. Replace next HDD with new one. Rebuild pool. Repeat process until you've replaced, then rebuilt, every drive in the pool. Then, expand the volume to take advantage of the new capacity.

Result: You get a fully sized, larger pool, with the same number of drives.

Downside: This takes foreverrrrrrrrrrr, as you need to rebuild the pool for each drive in said pool (Eg: 6 drives? Rebuild the array 6 times). There's also a small risk of drive failure during every rebuild.

 

With that in mind, ZFS devs ARE working on an Expand Pool feature. It's expected release is sometime late this year. But there are no guarantees how well it will work, or when it'll be ready. The Expand feature should work on RAIDZ1, RAIDZ2, and RAIDZ3, and should work on existing pools.