Re: SMART, RAID and real world experience of failures.

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I got a SMART error email yesterday from my home server with
a 4 x 1Tb RAID6. [ ... ]

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That's an (euphemism alert) imaginative setup. Why not a 4
drive RAID10? [ ... ]

The main reason is the easy ability to grow the RAID6 to an
extra drive when I need the space. I've just about allocated
all of the array to various VMs and file storage. One thats
full, its easier to add another 1Tb drive, grow the RAID, grow
the PV and then either add more LVs or grow the ones that need
it.

That's indeed an (euphemism alert) audacious plan. It has all
the popular ideas that I consider very brave indeed: RAID6,
LVM2, growing arrays in-place, growing filesystems in-place, and
of course VM images on top (following the usual logic I guess
that they will be sparse).

It has been my misfortune to see much the same audacious plan
setup by optimistic predecessors in a few workplaces, and then
having to turn that plan into a less brave one in a hurry when
it ended up as it would. But at least in your case it is just a
home setup.