SSD Trim on Array devices

[alex3305]

Hi all,

 

I have been running unRAID for over a year now and I'm really satisfied with the product. I wanted to run unRAID as an application server with some Docker containers and a VM on my NAS and that seems to be working really well. To make the system silent, I have installed a 1TB NVME SSD in it from the beginning. And even with all the warnings about SSD's that seem to be working great.

 

Recently however, I've added a second array device, another SSD. I don't really care about the data and parity, so I don't worry about that. I do worry about performance, and I read conflicting things about TRIM in the array. I'm wondering if this is supported now? I've been running my array in XFS mode as per default.

 

Or should I perhaps run my installation differently? Because I'm open to suggestions!

 

Thanks!

[JorgeB]

Trim won't work for array devices, you can assign them to one or more pools.

[alex3305]

3 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Trim won't work for array devices, you can assign them to one or more pools.

 

Ok, than I had that correct. But how would I run an optimal SSD only unRAID install than? Or is there a way to force TRIM on an array?

Edited December 28, 2022 by alex3305

[JorgeB]

9 minutes ago, alex3305 said:

Or is there a way to force TRIM on an array?

There isn't.

 

9 minutes ago, alex3305 said:

But how would I run an optimal SSD only unRAID install than?

In the future you might not need at least one array data device, but for now there must be one, you can use an old flash drive to fulfill that requirement then assign the SSD devices as pool(s).

[ConnerVT]

There is no way to force TRIM on the Array.

 

For SSD in Pools, you have 2 choices:

- Use BTFS, which has native TRIM, or

- Use the TRIM plugin with other filesystems.

 

Unraid requires at least one drive on the array.  It can just be a small Flash drive if you wish.

[alex3305]

40 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

In the future you might not need at least one array data device, but for now there must be one, you can use an old flash drive to fulfill that requirement then assign the SSD devices as pool(s).

 

39 minutes ago, ConnerVT said:

Unraid requires at least one drive on the array.  It can just be a small Flash drive if you wish.

 

I only have space for 1 NVMe and 1 2.5" SATA disk in that system, so adding a small 'dummy' flash drive is impossible unfortunately.

 

I read that adding an USB drive to the array would be possible. I will look into that. Thanks.

[ConnerVT]

Do you have an internal USB header on your motherboard available?  I use a cable with a header to USB connector for my boot flash drive.

[alex3305]

15 minutes ago, ConnerVT said:

Do you have an internal USB header on your motherboard available?  I use a cable with a header to USB connector for my boot flash drive.

 

Great suggestion, but also no. I'm using the Gigabyte Brix J4105, which is really limited, but has been working well for me so far.

[itimpi]

1 hour ago, alex3305 said:

 

Great suggestion, but also no. I'm using the Gigabyte Brix J4105, which is really limited, but has been working well for me so far.

Unless you are using them all you could plug a USB flash drive into one of the external USB sockets?  Not ideal but would work.

[alex3305]

15 minutes ago, itimpi said:

Unless you are using them all you could plug a USB flash drive into one of the external USB sockets?  Not ideal but would work.

Would a flash drive work as an array device? Or only USB hard drives?

 

I still have a couple of old 60GB Samsung SLC SSDs which I could potentially use. Or an old 120GB M.2 SATA SSD.

Edited December 28, 2022 by alex3305

[JorgeB]

13 minutes ago, alex3305 said:

Would a flash drive work as an array device?

Yes, that's what I've said:

 

2 hours ago, JorgeB said:

you can use an old flash drive

 

[itimpi]

1 hour ago, alex3305 said:

Would a flash drive work as an array device?

A f;ash drive (pendrive) works fine.   It just needs to be a storage device.

[alex3305]

23 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Yes, that's what I've said:

That got lost in translation, I thought you meant a flash storage device such as an SSD. Anyway thanks.

 

21 hours ago, itimpi said:

A f;ash drive (pendrive) works fine.   It just needs to be a storage device.

I've just added an 32GB pen drive and converted my array devices to pool devices and all seems to be working great.

 

Thank you all for helping.