Best redundant storage configuration

[deeya]

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[danb35]

I should either use RaidZ2 or Raid6,

They are comparable, but if you're using FreeNAS and therefore ZFS, you'd be using RAIDZ2. There's really no practical use for any of the SSDs, though you could put the OS on the smaller one (it's at least 4x larger than needed, but if you already have it you might as well use it). If you're going to use RAIDZ2 (which is generally a good choice), you could put all 8 of your 1 TB drives into a single RAIDZ2 vdev, which would give you about 6 TB, or 5.4 TiB, of capacity. There's no good way to combine the existing drives with two 6 TB drives using RAIDZ2.

 

[deeya]

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[Mirfster]

For the most part RaidZ1 (equivalent to Hardware Raid 5) is not recommended. You can search the forums for references as well as see this link: http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-raid-5-stops-working-in-2009/

As far as a PCIe SATA card, you may want to consider a HBA with break-out cables instead if you want. This is since from the system data sheet it states that the integrated controller is "SATA 3 GB/s".

Also from the data sheet it shows

• The NIC as "Integrated Broadcom 5764 LAN"; so YMMV with that NIC
• RAM for that system maxes out at 24 GB, not a show-stopper but worth mentioning

 

[danb35]

Would it be safe to setup a RAIDZ1 array of the 512gb SSDS for fast storage?

You can't form a RAIDZ1 array with only two devices; you'd be creating a mirror instead. That should be safe enough if you put that into its own pool. Whether it would be useful would depend on how you'd be using it.

 

[deeya]

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[Spearfoot]

Also, any recommendations for the cheap HDD cage? I was thinking this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SC540...515107?hash=item2c9bdd0863:g:rB4AAOSw~OdVbiNg

I don't see any provision for mounting fans on this cage. Without good cooling, it probably won't be a good solution as it will likely toast your drives.