Port Multipliers - Are they OK for Unassigned Devices?

[Vetteman]

I understand port multipliers are not to be used in Unraid. But it is my understanding (right or wrong) that is is because of fear of corrupting the array or parity disks. 

 

However can it be used in Unraid for Unassigned Devices only?

 

I have a MediaSonic ProBox, 4 bay enclosure with it's own e-sata card sitting idle on a shelf. Could this be attached via the Mediasonic e-sata card to my Unraid server for the Unassigned Devices? I've pulled some 2TB and 4TB disks from an older Linux computer I am no longer using. I would like to mount the disks as Unassigned Devices and see if there is any data I've over looked on them.

 

Thanks very much and all the best in the New Year....

[JonathanM]

It's not necessarily corruption, but that is possible. More likely are speed and reliability issues when accessing all disks on the multiplier at the same time, such as when rebuilding a failed disk.

 

As long as the enclosure doesn't mangle drive ID's (many do) it's not an issue to use them with UD. Many multi bay enclosures assign their own ID's instead of passing the disk through intact, causing issues with using multiple disks. You may end up only being able to populate 1 of the 4 bays at at time.

[Vetteman]

Thanks kindly JonathanM for your quick reply. Much appreciated.