Btrfs RAID 5/6: Still Don't
The kernel docs still warn about it. The Btrfs wiki still warns about it. People still build it and lose data. Here's the write hole, why RAID 1/10 are fine, and what to use instead.
Tag: storage
All the articles with the tag "storage".
SnapRAID: Parity Without Real-Time RAID
Your media library doesn't write often enough to justify mdadm or ZFS overhead. SnapRAID calculates parity on a schedule, mixes drive sizes, and pairs with MergerFS for a unified pool. Here's the setup.
mdadm Day-2: Grow, Replace, Scrub
Creating a RAID array is the easy part. The drama starts six months later when one drive starts dying. Here's the survival guide for everything that happens after mdadm --create.
Hardware RAID vs Software RAID in 2026
Hardware RAID controllers used to be necessary. Now they're often a liability. Here's when to flash that LSI card to IT mode, when to keep it, and why ZFS specifically refuses to share.
RAID-Z and dRAID: ZFS Parity Explained
RAID-Z isn't just RAID 5 with a new name. Variable stripe widths, no write hole, and dRAID's distributed spares change the rebuild math entirely.
RAID 50/60: Nested Parity Done Right
RAID 5 and 6 don't scale gracefully past 8 drives. RAID 50 and RAID 60 stripe across multiple parity sub-arrays so rebuilds only stress one group. Here's when nesting actually pays off.
TrueNAS vs OpenMediaVault vs Unraid
Three popular NAS operating systems compared: TrueNAS Scale's ZFS, OMV's flexibility, and Unraid's mixed-disk magic. Which is right for your home lab?
Longhorn vs Rook-Ceph
Two ways to give your K8s cluster persistent block storage — Longhorn for simplicity, Rook-Ceph for scale. Real homelab tradeoffs, not vendor marketing slides.
DIY NAS Build: Compute, Drives, Power Walkthrough
Build a proper DIY NAS in 2026: case selection, CPU choice, drives, HBA card, ZFS pool layout, UPS sizing, and a real power budget that will not fail you.
NVMe Heatsinks That Actually Cool
NVMe drives throttle hard at 70-85C. Here is how to monitor temps, intentionally trigger throttling to confirm it, and pick a heatsink that fixes the issue.
SAS vs SATA in 2026: When SAS Still Wins
SAS drives are not dead — they are cheap on eBay right now. Here is exactly when used SAS3 hardware beats SATA for home lab storage builds on a budget.
ddrescue vs TestDisk vs PhotoRec
Drive is dying. Which tool do you reach for? ddrescue clones, TestDisk repairs partitions, PhotoRec carves files. They're a workflow, not rivals.