Newbie question - If I have 3x 3TB HDD, 9TB, how many TB actually I can use for media storage?

 

 

3TB drives are not currently supported. You can partition the drives using a Host Protected Area so that they are 2TB in capacity. (When they are supported you can revert them to 3TB). UnRAID requires a single parity drive to provide protection against a single drive failure. The remaining 2 2TB drives will be used for data. This will give you 4TB of data storage.

3TB drives are not currently supported. You can partition the drives using a Host Protected Area so that they are 2TB in capacity. (When they are supported you can revert them to 3TB). UnRAID requires a single parity drive to provide protection against a single drive failure. The remaining 2 2TB drives will be used for data. This will give you 4TB of data storage.

 

thanks for the help dgaschk!

 

just to make sure I get the idea... since 3TB HDD is not support today, I should make all 3 3TB HDD to 2TB partition in each drive and when it is supported, I can revert/expand it back from 2TB to 3TB, right?

 

also, in my example here today, 2TB X 3, media storage will be 4TB and last 2TB will be parity, right?

 

later on it will be 3TB X2, 6TB media storage and 3TB as parity, right?

 

if above are right, can I use smaller than 3TB for my last parity drive to save some money?

 

thanks again

just to make sure I get the idea... since 3TB HDD is not support today, I should make all 3 3TB HDD to 2TB partition in each drive and when it is supported, I can revert/expand it back from 2TB to 3TB, right?

The general gist is correct but you do not partition the drive, you create a Host Protected Area on the drive that makes unRAID think the drive is only 2TB's in size.

 

also, in my example here today, 2TB X 3, media storage will be 4TB and last 2TB will be parity, right?

you would have a 2TB parity drive that protects 4TB of data.

 

later on it will be 3TB X2, 6TB media storage and 3TB as parity, right?

you would have a 3TB parity drive that protects 6TB of data.

 

if above are right, can I use smaller than 3TB for my last parity drive to save some money?

No, if you have a 3TB drive as a data drive your parity drive must be as large or larger than the largest data drive.

 

 

If you get a a chance have a look through the unRAID Wiki for some general info.

There in a thread I created in the Lounge called 3T -> 2T that explains how this works. The max size is actually 2.2T, not 2T.

 

Setting up a smaller drive for parity would not be recommended. 1.  It would mean each of your 3T drives would be 10% smaller, and 2. when 3T drives are supported, converting over would be more difficult. It you wanted to buy a 2T and use it in the array, you could have a 2.2T parity, two 2.2T data drives, and one 2T data drive = 6.4T (would grow to 8T when the 3T are supported).

 

You might want to send an email to Tom at Limetech to let him know you are waiting for 3T drive support. Unless he knows there is demand it may not be a priority at the moment.

just to make sure I get the idea... since 3TB HDD is not support today, I should make all 3 3TB HDD to 2TB partition in each drive and when it is supported, I can revert/expand it back from 2TB to 3TB, right?

The general gist is correct but you do not partition the drive, you create a Host Protected Area on the drive that makes unRAID think the drive is only 2TB's in size.

 

also, in my example here today, 2TB X 3, media storage will be 4TB and last 2TB will be parity, right?

you would have a 2TB parity drive that protects 4TB of data.

 

later on it will be 3TB X2, 6TB media storage and 3TB as parity, right?

you would have a 3TB parity drive that protects 6TB of data.

 

if above are right, can I use smaller than 3TB for my last parity drive to save some money?

No, if you have a 3TB drive as a data drive your parity drive must be as large or larger than the largest data drive.

 

 

If you get a a chance have a look through the unRAID Wiki for some general info.

 

thanks for the info prostuff1