1 hdd died... can I start a "slow upgrade"?

[xtralives]

I did some searching but wasn't able to find anything related to this topic....

I have a 4x2tb raid and it's been my first foray into software raids and freenas. I recently discovered one of my drives is bad and I was wondering if it's possible (or if it even makes sense) to replace the 2tb drive with a 4tb drive in the hopes that I can slowly upgrade or save up to replace the other 3 drives as they fail or as I can afford it. Whichever comes first. I'm 100% sure more info is needed but I'm not sure what will be pertinent so PLEASE let me know and I'll happily provide more info.

Ps. I've already backed up the data so this isn't a major rush. :)

 

[danb35]

Hardware information, RAID configuration, and FreeNAS version would all be helpful. But in short, yes, assuming your pool is in some sort of redundant configuration, you should be able to do as you describe. Follow the manual's instructions for replacing the drive, and just use the larger drive in place of the smaller drive. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE THE VOLUME MANAGER. No part of the drive replacement process calls for using that feature, and doing so is a great way to destroy your redundancy.

 

[diedrichg]

http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_storage.html#replacing-a-failed-drive

 

[xtralives]

I'll start with what I know now and add more when I get home.

I'm running freenas 9.3 and as of a few days ago it was fully updated.

my server is a lenovo thinkserver ts140
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F6EK9J2/?tag=ozlp-20

I upgraded to 8gb of ram though.

I'm not sure on the kind of raid atm but I'll add that info when in a few hours. Thanks danb35 for the help!

 

[SweetAndLow]

Does it seem the drive died prematurely? Might be worthwhile to post the smart data so people can tell you why the drive died. I'm curious to know if it overheated or just got old.

 

[DrKK]

I did some searching but wasn't able to find anything related to this topic....

I have a 4x2tb raid and it's been my first foray into software raids and freenas. I recently discovered one of my drives is bad and I was wondering if it's possible (or if it even makes sense) to replace the 2tb drive with a 4tb drive in the hopes that I can slowly upgrade or save up to replace the other 3 drives as they fail or as I can afford it. Whichever comes first. I'm 100% sure more info is needed but I'm not sure what will be pertinent so PLEASE let me know and I'll happily provide more info.

Ps. I've already backed up the data so this isn't a major rush. :)

The OP uses language like "I recently discovered one of my drives is bad", which implies that the drive has been bad for quite some time, and his NAS has been running in a degraded state. Then, he asks a question that anyone who has even remotely tried to read the documentation would already know.

I just want to point that out for anyone helping him to keep in mind that this user should not be given much rope lest he hang himself.

 

[xtralives]

ok. sorry for the delay, but I finally have the raid info. I'm running a raidz2-0.
Considering that I needed to backup all of my data (and have done so) I'm open to the idea of changing the raid format and starting from scratch too which is why I'm asking for advice.

 

[xtralives]

The OP uses language like "I recently discovered one of my drives is bad", which implies that the drive has been bad for quite some time, and his NAS has been running in a degraded state. Then, he asks a question that anyone who has even remotely tried to read the documentation would already know.

I just want to point that out for anyone helping him to keep in mind that this user should not be given much rope lest he hang himself.

I'm relatively new to the freenas environment and haven't had much time in linux either so I'm sure I could have passed the appropriate section of the documentation. I apologize if you feel I'm not doing a good job of describing the issue but I assure you after a failure on a 3ware raid about 8 years ago that led to a major data loss I take my data VERY seriously and I often check my server a few times a week for issues. In fact I canceled a family event I was to attend so I could start the backup of my data the minute I found out about this issue. I'd love to work on getting alerts emailed to me but I have only had this server setup for a month or so and wanted to know of it's stability before spending a substantial amount of time setting it up.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Your system looks fine, just follow the documentation for replacing a drive.

 

[xtralives]

Your system looks fine, just follow the documentation for replacing a drive.

So I should be able to expect that if I start replacing the drives as they die with the same model 4tb drive I will be able to expand the space once I have all 4 drives as 4tb?

 

[BigDave]

Done that way (following manual) Yes!