Steve L

Thanks for the reply. Just wondering if there might have been something I missed as to why unraid might make a better vm host. (other than the obvious storage array capabilities)

Is unraid better for my use than just plain linux + virtualbox for my personal vm host. (or some other lightweight low $ VM host) I do not even qualify as an unraid newbie, but thought it might be worthwhile to ask for an opinion from the unraid community. I am planning a build for a personal VM host and a friend suggested unraid. My question: Is unraid still a better choice for my vm host even though I will not be using the hdd array or a nas (I'll set up a dummy array just to make it work) Based on the very little I've read, if I use unraid, my storage will be set up as follows: pair of nvme ssd raid 1 as a cache pool set to "only" pair of sata ssd raid 1 as a cache pool set to "only" hdd (no raid) as a cache pool set to "only" (for internal scheduled backups) hdd's for dummy array not to be used for anything that I can think of. (for now) As a comparison, if I go with the linux + virtual box, I may also get another smal nvme ssd just for the host os. Other than that storage will be the same as above minus the dummy hdd array. The computer will normally be powered off daily I "want" fast OS boot plus fast vm boot (most vm's will be on the nvme ssd) While I have a few VM's that are planned, none are for gaming, streaming server, or nas centric activities. This will (mostly) be my 1st experience creating a vm host. I have decades of experience as a consumer of vm's, but these were all hosted by corporate server teams that created the vm's that I requested. (I write code for a living.) This will be for my personal computing needs at home. Thanks in advance for any opinions you may offer.