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Home NAS issue

D

DisgruntledVirus

Lifer
Ok, so I'm finally moving off WHSv1. I loved the storage pools and am looking for similar functionality. I also want to use ZFS (core i5 3xxx series cpu, 10 gb ram). So looks like FreeNAS, NAS4Free, Openfiler, or OpenMediaVault are the options. I downloaded the FreeNAS installer and am playing around with it, and I like a lot about it. Unfortunately here is my issue: I can't dynamically add drives to a ZFS volume.

So I have 4x 2TB disks. I have data on them I can't move off (no spare drives for the amount of data to store off). In WHSv1 world I'd create the pool, in this case ZFS RaidZ1 configuration, with 3 drives. Then I'd add in the 4th and expand the pool. It looks like in ZFS/FreeNAS world this isn't an option to expand volumes. I find it hard to believe that people pull off all their data, recreate the pool with a new HD added in, then move all their data back. So what am I missing here? Is there a way to expand the volume live?
 
I was looking at this as well. It's one of the main reasons I haven't adopted ZFS yet. There are a lot of nice features for datacenter-level operations, but in the typical home server scenario, people don't go and buy 4-10 hard drives at a time when they need to expand their storage.
 
Zxian said:
I was looking at this as well. It's one of the main reasons I haven't adopted ZFS yet. There are a lot of nice features for datacenter-level operations, but in the typical home server scenario, people don't go and buy 4-10 hard drives at a time when they need to expand their storage.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's great for enterprise level storage, but most home users don't have the ability to just go "oh I'm running out of space... I'll go buy 3 or 5 more drives to create a new vdev to add to the zpool."

Storage spaces in server 2012 is possible, but looks like performance is shit (~25 mb/s on writes with parity mode). One thought is server 2008 r2 with Stablebit Drivepool software http://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Features.
 
Yep, ZFS is awesome but you have to plan ahead. Any RAID solution that stripes data will have this limitation.

If you just want a RAID 5 type solution that is cheap but not as quick, get unRAID. Like FreeNAS it runs off of a flash drive, but data on the drives is recoverable even if the array is broken. If you lose more than 1 drive, you only lose the data on those drives. It's free up through a 3 drive setup and then you can purchase a license when it's time to add more. Add'l drives can be dunmped into the array at any time. The drive must be cleared, however. unRAID is rock solid and stable. You can build it with just a handful of old parts you probably have lying around. A single core Sempron with 1GB of memory seems to be the config of choice. It is probably the slowest option out there, though.

Like someone just recommended, you could go with StableBit's Drive Pool under a Windows environment. I would recommend WHS 2011 because it's only about $50 and gives you a complete 64-bit Windows environment to run in. If you need parity, you can add SnapRAID. It's free and runs from CLI but you could use Elucidate as a GUI.

In the end, I ended up with WHS 2011 and FlexRAID. Drive Pooling and unlimited parity levels (RAID 5, RAID 6 or more) are part of a single package and it runs about $60. You'll need an OS to run it under, I chose WHS 2011 but you could just as easily use a Linux distro.

Both SnapRAID and FlexRAID store the files entirely on single drives so if you have catastrophic failure, the data is conpletely recoverable from drives that didn't crash. Plus, you can import populated disks into the array and the data just gets integrated right in. Speed depends on your drives. I'm using 2TB Seagates so I'm getting better than 140MB/s which is better than most RAID 0 setups from a coupke of years ago.

unRAID - Rock solid, mature, light equipment requirements, will top you out at around 60-80MB/s (plenty fast for most home use). Drives can be any size or type that you'd like. Free up to 3 drives and no drive necessary for OS. Really good support forum. www.lime-technology.com

FlexRAID - Drivepooling and parity in one pkg. Requires an OS, so your equip requirements will be determined by that. Import and export drives from the array and maintain all data integrity. Unlimited RAID parity levels. As fast as the drives you are using and they can be whatever size you want. $60 + cost of OS. www.flexRAID.com

StableBit DrivePool + SnapRAID - See FlexRAID. $20 for DrivePool and SnapRAID is free. See post above for link.
 
Yes it's zfs limitations, we cannot add new drives to existing raid set, but we should create new raid set for expand the zpool so it's cost more for buying drives...
 
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