USB Thumb Drive question


Recommended Posts

So I am brand new to unraid and haven't set it up at all yet. But was looking to setting it up this evening, Sadly I don't seem to have a optimal USB thumb drive sadly, and some misc googling wasn't able to come to a great conclusion.

 

I have 3 possible thumb drives listed below. Which of the following would be recommended? Or none?

 

32GB USB 3.x

2GB USB 1.x
1GB USB 2.x

(Just put .x on all because I know the major but not the minor version)
 

Thank you in advanced for the help

Edited by thors1982
Link to comment

USB 2.0 drives attached to a USB 2.x  port on server is usually best.  There have been reliability problems in the past with USB 3.0 thumb drives on USB 3.0 ports.

 

You don't really need USB 3.0 speeds for anything related to the flash drive but you probably would notice a difference between USB 2.0 and USB 1.0.

 

Having said that, 1 GB may be a bit tight on space if you install lots of plugins, run several user scripts, need to mirror the syslog to the flash drive for troubleshooting, etc.  I have an 8GB flash drive but I have only used 838 MB space on that thumb drive.  I have lots of plugins but only 2 user scripts.  There is undoubtedly some junk on that drive I could clean up. I mirror the syslog elsewhere.

 

You could use the larger USB 3.x thumb drive and connect it to a USB 2.0 port for increased reliability.

 

I have two servers; one has a USB 2.0 flash drive in a USB 2.0 port and the other has a USB 3.0 flash drive in a USB 2.0 port.  Neither has given me problems and I have been running the first server since 2011 and the second since 2015.

 

The flash drive is generally accessed in the following situations:

  • At boot (reading)
  • Saving configuration changes (writing)
  • Running user scripts (reading)
  • Writing syslog info if so configured (writing)

You can also get started with one of those flash drives and then transfer the license to another flash drive if needed.  You can do that once a year very easily.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.