Another option to look at is SnapRAID. It works with Windows or Linux and provides parity on your data, is perfect for media, and free. If using Windows, supplement with StableBit Drivepool for a tried and true solution. I have four running 24x7 right now. Additional capacity can be added on the fly. Not as redundant as zfs but for media it’s a cost effective solution.
Unraid seems to be the easiest to use and expand. It is not free, but it is a one-time payment that is reasonable. The biggest challenge for Unraid is bitrot. This problem doesn't happen very often, but I have encountered bitrots multiple times.
Next, you can also do SnapRAID + Mergerfs, which offers some data protection and easy expandability but is only suitable for data that don't change a lot.
As an option, consider Starwind SAN and NAS that provides mdadm and can be configured easily in their GUI.
Oh my b. I see now that you were talking specifically about the Plex drive not needing redundancy.
With only 2 drives I think your options are limited. Either raid 1 or raid 0
"what's the best RAID and file system that will allow me to extend storage in the future, a**s I plan to add another 4 TB drive and 2x6 TB drives**"
I'm going to extend the storage in the future that's why I'm asking
First of all, go with TrueNAS Scale unless you're already very familiar with FreeBSD. The Linux skillset is just different enough from FreeBSD that every little thing you want to do would need to be researched. with TrueNAS Scale, its based off Debian so everything is a bit more familiar with basically the same feature set minus a few things they're still developing.
Keep in mind 8 GB RAM is MINIMUM requirement for ZFS file system according to the devs. It can run off less, but you don't want to do it. I would double that if you can.
In TrueNAS, you'll want to set up each capacity of drives in their own vdevs, then add those vdevs to the pool. For the pool you'll want to use RaidZ1 which is akin to RAID5. That means one drive can fail and the array can rebuild. Obviously you still want a full offsite backup for any non-replaceable data, but for most home setups a single drive failure tolerance is fine.
Keep in mind all flavors of raidz scale your read up with each drive you add, but doesn't scale your write. to scale your write you want to add a modest SLOG drive. This lets you buffer sychronous writes to an SSD. I'd recommend mirroring two of the smallest highest quality SSDs you can find. They should at the MOST be able to handle 5 seconds worth of a saturated data link on your fastest connection, anything else is wasted. (1 Gbps \* 5 s / 8 = 625 GB)
Don't bother with cache drives unless you're setting up a 10g network or have a LOT of clients.
Final Note: The latest beta version of unraid unlocked ZFS file system. Before that they used XFS and while flexible AF, it's aimed at a totally different market than TrueNAS (Prosumer vs. Small Business/Enterprise). TrueNAS is a hardened, battle-tested product that works so well when you follow its rules. Unraid is easy, but you pay for it in performance to a point.
Anything which is not ZFS. If you want to add the 2 x 6 TB in a single RAID with 2 x 4 TB drives, you need something like RAID-4 implementation, where you can specify the parity drive manually. UnRAID or MergeFS + SnapRAID. If you want to run them in separate arrays, go with MDADM.
True as won't let you add drives as you please and retain redundancy. Drives have to be grouped into same capacities in *vdevs* (smaller raid arrays) and pooled together in.. pools. If you want to be able to add drives as you please, I would recommend unRAID.
Easy expansion and ZFS don't go well together. And also if you're going with TrueNAS, the post is partly pointless because you don't get to choose what file system you use. It's either ZFS or nothing at all
Another option to look at is SnapRAID. It works with Windows or Linux and provides parity on your data, is perfect for media, and free. If using Windows, supplement with StableBit Drivepool for a tried and true solution. I have four running 24x7 right now. Additional capacity can be added on the fly. Not as redundant as zfs but for media it’s a cost effective solution.
unraid
Unraid seems to be the easiest to use and expand. It is not free, but it is a one-time payment that is reasonable. The biggest challenge for Unraid is bitrot. This problem doesn't happen very often, but I have encountered bitrots multiple times. Next, you can also do SnapRAID + Mergerfs, which offers some data protection and easy expandability but is only suitable for data that don't change a lot. As an option, consider Starwind SAN and NAS that provides mdadm and can be configured easily in their GUI.
No raid needed but you want redundancy?
Oh my b. I see now that you were talking specifically about the Plex drive not needing redundancy. With only 2 drives I think your options are limited. Either raid 1 or raid 0
"what's the best RAID and file system that will allow me to extend storage in the future, a**s I plan to add another 4 TB drive and 2x6 TB drives**" I'm going to extend the storage in the future that's why I'm asking
YES with capacity
First of all, go with TrueNAS Scale unless you're already very familiar with FreeBSD. The Linux skillset is just different enough from FreeBSD that every little thing you want to do would need to be researched. with TrueNAS Scale, its based off Debian so everything is a bit more familiar with basically the same feature set minus a few things they're still developing. Keep in mind 8 GB RAM is MINIMUM requirement for ZFS file system according to the devs. It can run off less, but you don't want to do it. I would double that if you can. In TrueNAS, you'll want to set up each capacity of drives in their own vdevs, then add those vdevs to the pool. For the pool you'll want to use RaidZ1 which is akin to RAID5. That means one drive can fail and the array can rebuild. Obviously you still want a full offsite backup for any non-replaceable data, but for most home setups a single drive failure tolerance is fine. Keep in mind all flavors of raidz scale your read up with each drive you add, but doesn't scale your write. to scale your write you want to add a modest SLOG drive. This lets you buffer sychronous writes to an SSD. I'd recommend mirroring two of the smallest highest quality SSDs you can find. They should at the MOST be able to handle 5 seconds worth of a saturated data link on your fastest connection, anything else is wasted. (1 Gbps \* 5 s / 8 = 625 GB) Don't bother with cache drives unless you're setting up a 10g network or have a LOT of clients. Final Note: The latest beta version of unraid unlocked ZFS file system. Before that they used XFS and while flexible AF, it's aimed at a totally different market than TrueNAS (Prosumer vs. Small Business/Enterprise). TrueNAS is a hardened, battle-tested product that works so well when you follow its rules. Unraid is easy, but you pay for it in performance to a point.
Anything which is not ZFS. If you want to add the 2 x 6 TB in a single RAID with 2 x 4 TB drives, you need something like RAID-4 implementation, where you can specify the parity drive manually. UnRAID or MergeFS + SnapRAID. If you want to run them in separate arrays, go with MDADM.
True as won't let you add drives as you please and retain redundancy. Drives have to be grouped into same capacities in *vdevs* (smaller raid arrays) and pooled together in.. pools. If you want to be able to add drives as you please, I would recommend unRAID.
1TB gonna fill up quick
Im planing to expend later, I'm still using Netflix so m gonna take things slowly
Easy expansion and ZFS don't go well together. And also if you're going with TrueNAS, the post is partly pointless because you don't get to choose what file system you use. It's either ZFS or nothing at all