XigmaNAS

I am considering adding 3 more HDDs to my N4F box. My MB has only 4 SATA3 ports, and I currently have 3 x 2TB HDDs. I was looking around at SATA3 expansion cards and came across the Asus U3S6 but I'm not sure of the performance in N4F. Can anyone comment or recommend a cheaper card with equal or better performance?

Current setup: Asrock AMD e350, 4GB ram, 3x2TB HDD. Running out of space for large media file. I wanted to expand adding 3 x 3TB HDDs just for movies.

we a have confirmed report that the marvel controllers on the Asrock C2550D4I
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=6275

the conrtoller is for example in the DIGITUS DS-30104-1

but the m1015 (LSI 9210-8i) is still the best supported card

The m1015 is about £100 compared to the U3S6 which is £20. The m1015 also seems a bit overkill. I just need an expansion card with a 2-3 Sata3 ports, that is well supported by BSD/N4F.

I had good experience with the Dawicontrol DC 624e

Also refer to this list for choosing one:
http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=na ... s_hardware

But as the SATA controller is one of the foundation stones of a NAS system, you shouldn't just judge by the price.

I haven't really played with the config of my NAS since setting it up. Back then it was impossible to expand a zpool. Is it now possible to expand my zpool from 3 x 2TB to 4 x 2TB drives? I couldn't find any info on the wiki except for it saying that as of 2012 it wasn't easy/possible to do this.

yes you can extend a pool by adding a vdev.
however if you add a single drive you will loose any redundancy.

you can not extend a vdev, which is probably what you are asking.

see this documentation for a good beginner guide.
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?thr ... oobs.7775/