I have 32 GB at hand, so that would be okay with performance then.You don't need 1GB of RAM for every 1TB with ZFS. That's an old recommendation for enterprise customers. If you have 16GB, you should be fine, the only thing that would suffer with the lack of RAM is performance.
With your family photos recovered off the big array, I would strongly consider moving to a different storage platform. I used to love mdadm (created tutorials, helped other's troubleshoot issues on the Ubuntuforums, etc.), but I'm only using ZFS or SnapRAID at home anymore. I use ZFS where I need fast storage (mirrors of SSDs with an Intel S3700 for my log device). ZFS is my vm storage medium. I use SnapRAID for everything else that's bulk storage (this is super flexible, supports mixed drive sizes, and up to 6 parity disks). SnapRAID + AUFS/mhddfs handles my movies, pictures, tv shows, home movies, document archives, etc.
This combo works great and can both be managed in Linux. But, you will need to get your hands dirty with the command line to manage these (they are both VERY easy to manage though).
A lot of those commands you saw me enter were just to partition the disks and check the health of the array after I made it (oh, and I added the filesystem on top of the array)I have 32 GB at hand, so that would be okay with performance then.
When you say easy to manage: Are you saying more easy then mdadm? Because when I wasn't able to setup the array and seeing all the commands you entered: I am pretty shure I will never be finished with that.
So let me summarize:
So its either ZFS with FreeNAS (hoping I can manage that) or
OMV with SnapRAID
FreeNAS with ZFS
+ is better on the performance side,
+ rock solid storage for our data
- No HDD spin down possible, so server will draw 200w 24/7
OMV with aufs + snapraid
+ energy saving possible
+ solid storage for our data
- performance is disk speed (is it?)
The best of both worlds could be archived with nearly any Linux distro, but that seems to be way to advanced for me.
Running FreeNAS or OMV in HyperV is not a good idea.
Running both in ESXi is not possible because the Avotons lack VT-d
I think the new OS of my AIO will be OMV then.
Mainly because I hope to recover some more files and I can't afford the extra spinners I would need to empty all my HDDs to start from scratch all at one.
Have to start with a small array and then start moving my files to the new array to then expand the array
VT-d and pass-through the whole storage (HBA+disks) is the professional way for a storage VM.Running both in ESXi is not possible because the Avotons lack VT-d
If you are that strapped for time and you don't have the time/desire to learn how to run all of these things, I think you may be better off to sell off your hardware and just go the managed services route. You can't get back time lost with your family and children when they are small.Of course RDM would be possible. I tried to do that with ESXi 5.0 2 years ago (when our twins were still - lets say - in delivery) and I had super HowTos (at least that's what I thought) and I didn't manage to do it for weeks(!) until I quit.
No matter what I did: I always failed at the "vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____ST3000VX0002D1CU166__________________________________" part.
So that was the point when I accepted that
- I am late to the Linux party and
- spent the years that my brain was able to learn something
* using a windows machine
* playing world of warcraft and
- that I am apparently
* to stupid or
* impatient
* or both.
And that is what's actually limiting me.
I would like to learn and tinker around, but time is limited.
When I try to learn something about SnapRAID with aufs
or OmniOS or Snap-it
and all the tutorials I get afraid first of all and I am asking myself:
how should I manage to do that with 2 hours of free time a day and a wife that would like to spend the evenings with me?
Actually my wife already makes fun of me saying: Since 2009 every other week the "server" is down and you are mad because of it.
Why don't you sell it all on eBay and live a happy life.
After the XPEnology experience (that was a nice one throughout the last 6 months)
I think she could be right.
Buy a dropbox 1TB account for the photos.
Buy amazon prime, Netflix, Sky, HBO and whatnot and I would be probably cheaper off.
So OMV or FreeNAS seem to be the only appliances (if that's what they are called)
that can be set up in a reasonable amount of time.
If you are that strapped for time and you don't have the time/desire to learn how to run all of these things, I think you may be better off to sell off your hardware and just go the managed services route. You can't get back time lost with your family and children when they are small.
Or go with something that is completely managed that has service if something goes wrong (Synology, QNAP, iXSystems FreeNAS, etc.)
That being said, if you are willing and able to invest the time, having your own server can be extremely stable and a great way to store your files and have access to all your content, whenever you would like, without restrictions. If you want help trying to setup a good system going forward, let me know. But, as you said, even if the foundation is setup correctly, it's still up to you to manage it going forward, so if something goes wrong, you need to understand how it works.