NSA325 v2 - post install questions

Hi,
I successfully install the latest u-boot and rootfs (using an external SSD) on a NSA325. Thank you for your work!

I see on some tutorials the move/install of rootfs into HDD. Doesn't this prevent HDD to spin-down?
Also, using mdadm I can "recover" my old partition. Is it any technical reason to create from zero new partitions instead of using existing ones?
Did anyone using btrfs on these boxes see improved performances over mdadm? Does make sense to change from mdadm?

Thank you

cata@debian:~$ cat /etc/debian_version
12.12
cata@debian:~$ uname -a
Linux debian 6.17.7-kirkwood-tld-1 #1 Mon Nov  3 16:38:22 PST 2025 armv5tel GNU/Linux
cata@debian:~$ lsblk
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
sda       8:0    0   2.7T  0 disk
|-sda1    8:1    0   487M  0 part
`-sda2    8:2    0   2.7T  0 part
  `-md0   9:0    0   2.7T  0 raid1
sdb       8:16   0   2.7T  0 disk
|-sdb1    8:17   0   487M  0 part
`-sdb2    8:18   0   2.7T  0 part
  `-md0   9:0    0   2.7T  0 raid1
sdc       8:32   0 119.2G  0 disk
`-sdc1    8:33   0 119.2G  0 part  /

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2026 01:45AM by tmcatalin.

Quote
tmcatalin
Is it any technical reason to create from zero new partitions instead of using existing ones?

Nope. Except that you can create a somewhat bigger array, by reclaiming the 2 487MB partitions. But

Quote

Did anyone using btrfs on these boxes see improved performances over mdadm? Does make sense to change from mdadm?

I can't say anything about performance, but it does make sense to change. In case of btrfs the filesystem itself does the raid, instead of some under-laying mechanism. When a 'classic' raid1 array finds an unreadable/damaged sector, it will drop the disk, and you'll have to rebuild the array. In case of btrfs, the filesystem will use the data from the other disk to repair it. That apart from other advantages of btrfs like checksumming and snapshots.

@tmcatalin,

> I see on some tutorials the move/install of rootfs
> into HDD. Doesn't this prevent HDD to spin-down?

Yes. When the rootfs is on an HDD, you can't spin down that HDD. Logging and other activities will bring it back active frequently, so there is no point to put it to sleep. HDD rootfs is for systems that actively running applications and optimum performane is needed.

USB rootfs could be used for systems that are idle most of the time, such as NAS (the HDDs are in standby until there is access through the network). I use USB rootfs for all my media streaming NAS and Backup severs.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2026 03:46AM by bodhi.

Thank you both!