Setup opinions - Migrating from DrivePool

[KRiSX]

Hey all, 

 

I'm currently planning out/deciding on migrating to unRAID from my old trusty DrivePool setup. I've just spent the last couple days moving to a new motherboard, cpu, etc which was a bit of a nightmare partly due to my own stubborness and Windows being Windows, but anyway I am currently trying to work out the best way forward and as much as I can get away with the devil I know. I started playing around with unRAID on the new board before swapping it out and I can certainly see why people rave about it. Just about anything I could think of, I found a solution for or another way to think about it and I feel that a platform like unRAID is more likely to work when upgrading hardware in the future without hours of hassle? 

 

On to the main point of my post... I currently have the following disks in my DrivePool...

 

5 x 6tb

12 x 8tb

6 x 4tb

 

23 drives total

 

I don't currently run with any kind of duplication or parity, but I feel if I go to unRAID I probably should/may as well. I'm slowly working on removing the 4tb's and replacing them with 8's but for right now it all needs to stay in the box as I need the space (was about 7tb free but I'm cleaning up and should have about 15-20tb free by the time I move over).

 

I have 2 x 18tb WD USB drives that I have used for cold storage of some data and while I know very well that parity isn't a replacement for backup, should I consider shucking these drives to use them for parity given the volume and size of the drives I have? Is 2 x 18tb overkill? Should I just use 2 of my 8tb's instead? I guess that is my main question. What would be the best parity setup for my setup?

 

Keen for any feedback or advice!

Cheers!

[trurl]

With that many disks, dual parity is a good idea. Each parity disk must be at least as large as the largest single data disk, so 18TB would be overkill, but would allow larger data disks in the future.

 

34 minutes ago, KRiSX said:

parity isn't a replacement for backup

What is your backup plan? Maybe those 18TB would be better used for that.

[KRiSX]

1 hour ago, trurl said:

With that many disks, dual parity is a good idea. Each parity disk must be at least as large as the largest single data disk, so 18TB would be overkill, but would allow larger data disks in the future.

 

What is your backup plan? Maybe those 18TB would be better used for that.

 

thanks for that, honestly nothing that important is stored on here, if I lost it I'd be upset but it wouldn't be the end of the world - for some of the harder to replace things, yeah thats what i use the 18's for currently so maybe i'll just stick to that and use 2 of my 8's for parity... it will be a long while before I'd go bigger than 8's i feel but I guess i can cross that road in future

 

thanks for the reply