From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Nov 1 11:38:01 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CEA5B1065674 for ; Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:38:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lars@e.0x20.net) Received: from mail.0x20.net (unknown [IPv6:2001:aa8:fffb::3]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6667C8FC0A for ; Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:38:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lars@e.0x20.net) Received: by mail.0x20.net (Postfix, from userid 1002) id EDD543A66A; Sat, 1 Nov 2008 12:37:59 +0100 (CET) Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 12:37:59 +0100 From: Lars Engels To: Nicolas Martyanoff Message-ID: <20081101113759.GW8256@e.0x20.net> References: <20081101114717.0ffc2ec8@valhala> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="K0M4iRgkWWXhiQ9N" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20081101114717.0ffc2ec8@valhala> X-Editor: VIM - Vi IMproved 7.1 X-Operation-System: FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE-p19 User-Agent: mutt-ng/devel-r804 (FreeBSD) Cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ZFS for a desktop computer X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Lars Engels List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:38:01 -0000 --K0M4iRgkWWXhiQ9N Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sat, Nov 01, 2008 at 11:47:17AM +0100, Nicolas Martyanoff wrote: >=20 > Hi, >=20 > I'm thinking about switching my main desktop to FreeBSD for various > reasons (main one, I love it on my laptop and server), and I've been > considering using ZFS. I'd like to have a disk-modular system, ie.: >=20 > - Being able to have mirroring. > - Being able to add new disks without effort. > - Being able to add new disks AND mirroring disks (spare disks ?) at > the same time. >=20 > I'm gonna begin with 2x 1TB disks with mirroring, and I'd like to be > able to add, if needed, new disks, for example 2x 1.5TB to get 2.5TB > diskspace fully mirrored. The whole process shouldn't need to reinstall > the system, or to change the slice/partition layout, ie. be totally > transparent for the data. > And for this particular need, ZFS seems to be the way to go. >=20 > However, I'm a bit worried about FreeBSD's ZFS implementation: >=20 > - I've got a 64bits dual core 2GHz CPU, but can't use an amd64 FreeBSD > since Xen, NVidia drivers and wine don't work on it; but ZFS is said > to be unsuitable for i386. >=20 > - It's said you can't boot from a ZFS pool. >=20 > So could you please tell me if using ZFS is ok for me, or should I use > a gmirror system (but I don't think I can easily add new disks to this). >=20 > Thank you. You could try PC-BSD. There you can install the system with ZFS from the graphical installer.=20 --K0M4iRgkWWXhiQ9N Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkkMP5cACgkQKc512sD3afjzpwCgmybxLjKeTYc++uaY7btQZHw0 LFwAoIBBgi6vhERN7sKi6Suz8os+IyIY =rmh6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --K0M4iRgkWWXhiQ9N--