I'm looking at setting up an unraid box. I currently have a 12TB HDD with all my stuff on it, and a few much smaller disks to use in unraid.

 

What's the best method here - can I add the 12TB disk in from the start but ring fence it until I have transferred everything over to the array? Or another method?

 

Also, any problems with this set up after the 12TB disk has gone in, given that it will likely be greater than the sum of the other disks?

Unraid must format any disk it uses in the array or pools. 

 

You can transfer over network or probably the disk can be mounted with the Unassigned Devices plugin 

Array disks can be different sizes, but no data disk can be larger than any parity disk so probably that 12TB would be parity. 

Just now, trurl said:

so probably that 12TB would be parity. 

What would be the effect of that, anything? And can it take over the job of parity (as I will be adding it to the array last, after I've copied the data off it)?

Often people will wait until after initial data load to build parity, since parity updates impact write speed.

 

Parity of course is not a substitute for backups. You must always have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable.

2 hours ago, trurl said:

Often people will wait until after initial data load to build parity, since parity updates impact write speed.

As a newcomer to unraid (but a techie nonetheless) that leaves me with more questions than it answers 

I recommend searching for Spaceinvader One's youtube videos on Unraid, he has a great set of videos describing how Unraid works and how to implement all sorts of things.

9 hours ago, JonathanM said:

I recommend searching for Spaceinvader One's youtube videos on Unraid, 

I'll check those out, thanks. 

Hi Banterer,

 

I did the same as you.

 

I had a Synology with a single drive in it full of good stuff.

I bought a second hand server from a friend and then new hard drives and installed Unraid.
once it was installed and working, i connected to the synology remotely and used an app on unraid called Krusader to transfer data.

 

I was surprised at the transfer speed to be honest, i transferred about a 1.5TB each night after work for a few nights, i could have moved more to be honest but wasnt in a rush as i was playing with Unraid and learning how it works, and installing plugins and apps ready.

i didn't send data all over in one go as i wanted to keep an eye on it for any errors.... the synology had reported bad sectors on the old drive, so i expected it to drop out at some point.

i watched TV while i kept glancing over at the monitor.
i dragged and dropped choosing to move rather than copy, it wasn't long before the old drive was empty.