Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:23:40 -0700 From: Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.org> To: Nicolas Martyanoff <khaelin@gmail.com> Cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ZFS for a desktop computer Message-ID: <490CACBC.9050805@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <20081101114717.0ffc2ec8@valhala> References: <20081101114717.0ffc2ec8@valhala>
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Nicolas Martyanoff wrote: > Hi, > > 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.: > > - 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. > > 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. > > However, I'm a bit worried about FreeBSD's ZFS implementation: > > - 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. > > - It's said you can't boot from a ZFS pool. > > 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). It is tough to get ZFS to fit on an 32-bit system because of memory and address space limitations of the architecture. Kris
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