Hey all. Been a while since I’ve posted so if this is under the wrong area, please feel free to move and let me know.
In the very near future, I will be doing a full fresh TrueNas install and moving from Core to Scale. When I do so, I want to restructure my raid storage. I plan on using 15 x 18Tb drives. With this many drives, I am interested if anyone has any suggestions on how I could configure them. I would like to hit over 200Tb of usable storage. I considering either 1 VDev of all 15 drives in Z2, or 3 VDevs of 5 drives each in Z1. Oh, and drives are a mix of Seagate Ironwolf and WD drives that were shucked from their Easystore externals. All drives have been used for a few years between my main server and my backup server with zero issues and all pass their smart tests.
I understand all replies will be subjective, but I am open for thoughts and considerations in case there may be something I’m not thinking of. Main data will be Plex, and all critical data (personal files, etc) will be backed up to a separate system. So, down the road if I do end up loosing everything, sure it will be frustrating, but no critical data will be lost and I can always rebuild my Plex library over time.
Guessing you will not have a backup of all the data. Raid-Z1 and large drives is not recommended. 15 drives in Raid-Z2 is the lesser of the ‘bad choices’ and will give you better redundancy.
15-wide is wider than most would be comfortable with, but if you’re considering losing 3 drives to parity in 3*5z1 (at risk of losing all is there are two issues in the same vdev) you may try 15-wide raidz3.
Typically recommended layouts would be 2*7z2 + 1 spare, or 2*8z2 with a 16th drive.
My Chassis only has 15 bays, but there’s a top railabove the motherboard area that I plan on attaching my 2xSSD’s (mirrored for the jails, or containers after I upgrade to Scale) and the WD 1Tb as a transmission working drive. I don’t think I would have the physical space for 16th pool drive. However, it’s been so long, I admit I completely forgot all about the concept of using a spare drive! And given the shortage and skyrocketing drive prices right now, that’s actually not a bad idea at all! Thanks for the suggestion and reminder!
I much appreciate the input guys! However, I have to admit I made a bit of a boo-boo and I miscounted my total 18Tb drives. It turns out I only have 13 and not 15… Now I’m going to bring the domestic boss up to date on the shortage of media throughout the industry in order to get approval for another 2 or 3 drives… Best Buy Canada currently has the best rate on 18Tb drives via shucking the Easystore, but that will still cost just under $2K… So, slight delay on the project… lol
You only need one more drive for 2*7-wide, forgetting the spare for now. With raidz expansion you could even begin with 7-wide + 6-wide and add drives later, though that would come with the usual caveat about space reporting.
