I currently have my storage pool on a mirrored vdev consisting of 2 4TB disks. I need more storage.
My MB has 6 sata connectors, but the chassis only takes 2 drives.
My first thought was to simply replace the drives one at a time with e.g. 16TB. But is there a good available solution for using the remaining satas and storing the disks in an expansion chassis of sorts? And would it then be preferrable to add another mirrored vdev instead?
What is least error prone and most cost effective?
No, there really isn’t. I’ve seen three technologies used for such things:
USB
Bad idea for any storage that’s going to be connected for the long term, as it just isn’t stable enough.
eSATA
Fine for a single disk (so long as cable length limits are observed), but if it involves a port multiplier (to get several disk connections rather than one), dangerous.
SAS
Very enterprise-y. Safe, stable, and performant, but you’re generally looking at rack-mount hardware for these.
Your first thought was best–replace the drives once at a time with larger ones.
