Storage/Raid Z1 upgrade (with temp drive) question

Hi,

I prematurely set up my TrueNAS with one stripe 2TB SSD. Then I added a few apps, and as I’m a newb, this was a steep (but fun) learing curve. I have 1TB filled up already and saw the writing on the wall- so I ordered 2 x 2TB.

The plan is to have 3 x 2TB SSD drives in RAID Z1. The 2 new drives are already physically installed.

I also have a 128G USB stick installed if needed (maybe to temporarily hold 61G of photos to save a re-upload from the phones themselves).

The rest of the data is shows, music etc. that is currently on my laptop (not the NAS) and can be re-downloaded to the NAS after I have the new drives added in Z1.

True NAS version 25.04.2.1

  1. Do I need to just nuke everything and start over? Meaning- delete the current pool, and start a new pool in the new RAID configuration?

  2. Is there any way to avoid reinstallation of the apps? Jellyfin, Immich, Filebrowser if that matters

  3. Am barking up the wrong tree here? Anything you would be doing differently?

Thanks, I appreciate the input and hope this was presented in a palatable manner.

EDIT: Am thinking of moving the pool as outlined HERE to the USB, re-doing the 3 SSD drives, then moving it back…