Ok to Mix Hard Disk Brand / type / cache size?

[jaybee]

I am almost 99% sure this is fine but wanted to check. I currently have 2 x Samsung F3 2TB drives with 32mb cache and since I have now come to buy a long time after I got these, I can now only purchase Samsung F4 32mb cache, or Western Digital 64mb cache. I take it mixing cache sizes is ok? It does not matter if you use different drives in terms of performance? Just means some will be slightly faster than others right? Can anyone recommend what they would get out of these two cheapest available HDDs in the UK:

 

£56 = 2 TB Samsung F4 HD204UI (known to silently corrupt data, requires a firmware update, see this thread for more info)

 

£59 = 2 TB WD EARS* (older versions of unRAID require a jumper on pins 7/8, see this wiki page for more info; in newer versions of unRAID the jumper is no longer required, see here for more info)

 

I gather that there will also be no issue using a newer advanced format drive mixed with older types and all will be good?

I was mainly thinking if it would be benficial keeping cache sizes similar for better running with my older 32mb cache Samsungs.

 

Thanks all

[PeterB]

unRAID really does not care!  You can mix a 100GB 4200rpm drive with zero cache, and a 2TB 15000rpm drive with 256MB cache, if you wish ... as long as each drive is supported in terms of interface/driver, and as long as the largest drive is used as the parity drive.

 

You don't state which version of unRAID you are/will be using, but I presume that you know how to deal with the Advanced format drives.  I guess that you are also familiar with the problems of the early Samsung HD204 production, and will take appropriate steps to ensure that you are not 'bitten'.

[Rajahal]

Cache sizes won't matter in most cases, you can mix them all you want.  People generally use their servers to store large media files that are much larger than a drive's cache, so the cache doesn't really speed things up.

 

Personally, I would go with the WD EARS and use unRAID 4.7 with the '4k MBR aligned' setting enabled for the most hassle-free experience.  Updating the firmware on the Samsung F4s is a pain.