XigmaNAS

Hello all,

I'm trying to minimize the power consumption of my NAS and debating between 2 options:

1) Set the ZFS hot spare disks to "Level 1 - Minimum Power Usage with Standby (Spindown)"
- Pros: Can start disk replacement remotely
- Cons: No SMART monitoring

2) Not have the ZFS hot spares configured, keep spare disks installed but disconnected. Controller supports hot plug.
- Pros: Guaranteed no wear on the spare
- Cons: Need to physically connect the spare before starting recovery

My question is - does Nas4Free/ZFS ever "touch" hot spare disks causing them to spin up ?

P.S. If NAS4Free had autoreplace daemon that could start replacement process automatically, I would have picked option 1 for sure.

Thanks !

Where are you using your NAS, for which purpose ?
In a private environment, I would simply disconnect them.

in my opinion it is better to increase the raid level than to use hot spares.

apollo567, it's a home setup. I'm home every day most of the year, so, can reconnect as needed.

b0ssman, I already have raidz2 (6x2Tb) - double resiliency is plenty. However if I ever decide to expand (swapping to larger disks one by one..) - will need one extra large disk.. therefore didn't want to go to z3.