Performance caching with multiple M.2 SSDs?

[JKunraid]

I have a ASUS Hypecard (PCIe 4.0) and some PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs . One of the (hypothetical) use cases for my Unraid server is as a Windows 10 VM that acts as a compile machine (Visual Studio) that I can connect locally to from my laptop using RDP. I'd like to allocate as much resources as possible to that VM to speed up compile times

 

Ideally I'd like to combine 4 m.2 ssds on the Hypercard + 1 M.2 ssd on the board into a single combined persistent cache that would allow an SSD to fail while also providing better read/write performance than a single or mirrored SSD drive. Is this possible with Unraid? Alternatively, could I somehow achieve the same effect by allocating multiple unassigned drives to somehow software raid them together in Windows to get better performance than standalone? Some other option?

 

 

[JorgeB]

You can create a pool with all the devices, then select a raid level appropriate for the performance/redundancy you prefer.

[JKunraid]

8 hours ago, JorgeB said:

You can create a pool with all the devices, then select a raid level appropriate for the performance/redundancy you prefer.

You mention "raid level". Do Unraid pools offer an exact software parallel to classical raid? (i..e Raid0 for read/write performance but no drive redundancy, raid 1 for mirroring but no performance benefit, raid 5 for increased read speeds but slower writes, Raid 10 better read/write with both stripping and mirroring because no parity,)

Edited July 29, 2021 by JKunraid
added details

[JorgeB]

26 minutes ago, JKunraid said:

You mention "raid level". Do Unraid pools offer an exact software parallel to classical raid?

It does if you assign them to a pool, if you were talking about array devices no.