Help and advice with first setup

[hemo87]

Hi all, 

Ive just purchased a PC to use with Unraid. 

My planned uses at the minute are

Plex

Home Assistant

Possibly a Windows VM for BlueIris

 

PC Specs

Z490 Motherboard

16Gb Ram

i9 10900k

120gb m.2

1tb sata SSD

 

I plan to add x3 4tb HDD and have a single parity drive

Im unsure how to use the SSDs though, as ones sata and ones M.2. What’s the best way to utilise the speed of the M.2 while using the capacity of the sata SSD?

 

Thanks 

[trurl]

5 minutes ago, hemo87 said:

utilise the speed of the M.2 while using the capacity of the sata SSD?

The m2 might be large enough as a 'fast' pool for the default shares. 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Shares#Default_Shares

 

Then SSD could be cache pool for caching user shares 

[hemo87]

I’m probably best upgrading the m.2 aren’t I? Reading the link think I’ll need more as I’ll have a few containers running once I start playing. Would a 500gb be sufficient? 
Also is 16gb enough ram?

Thanks

Edited February 17, 2023 by hemo87

[trurl]

You could keep some of the default shares on the SSD if there isn't enough space on the m.2

 

If you aren't caching several hundred GB per day the SSD will have some space leftover.

 

Don't cache initial data load if it is larger than cache.

 

22 minutes ago, hemo87 said:

Would a 500gb be sufficient? 

Should be plenty.

 

22 minutes ago, hemo87 said:

Also is 16gb enough ram?

If you don't plan to have a lot of VMs going at once should be plenty.

[MrGrey]

7 hours ago, hemo87 said:

Also is 16gb enough ram?

No... I would trade SSDs for RAM. Your storage needs (Plex, etc.) don't match your VM needs (Windows/BlueIris).

 

An SSD is $100/tb and a mechanical HD is $25/tb (close in most parts of the world).

 

In short... Screw the SSD/M2 crap and get RAM and mechanical drives (storage).

 

Just my humble opinion... shit...jmho... right?

 

MrGrey.