HDDs on USB Raid 5: is it an insane Idea

[Pindaroli]

I just bought an N100 minic PC 16Gb DDR5 and 3 14TB HDD connect through USB ports.

 

I would make an RAID 5 with the 3 discks.

 

• Unraid can help me?
• Any experiences of raid on usb connections?
• using unraid can I install 6.5.12kernel  for having the support of IEEE 802.3ad protocol (aggregate link, minipc have 2 rj45 ports)

 

 

Thanks for your feedbacks & suggestions

[ChatNoir]

Hi, @Pindaroli, new users first post must be validated by a mod/admin. I validated one of your 4 posts and hid the others.

Not sure that it is the most up to date. I'll let you edit if needed.

[JorgeB]

Unraid isn't raid, also we don't recommend using USB for array or pool devices, but it can be used.

[Pindaroli]

I studied unraid and now understand what you say. What are de problem to run on usb? The 3 disk have an usb 3.2 connection each. I understand sata is better but My mini doesnt have so many sata ports

[JorgeB]

USB devices are prone to disconnects and bad at error handling in general.

[Pindaroli]

This can corrupt the unRaid array or simply degrade performance?

in 2-nd case is not a problem for me because my needs are very elementary...

Thanks

[itimpi]

49 minutes ago, Pindaroli said:

This can corrupt the unRaid array or simply degrade performance?

If a drive disconnects it will result in parity becoming invalid so drives will end up being disabled by Unraid.    You may get away with it a lot of the time if you have no parity as in such a case rebooting can frequently recover from a drive temporarily dropping offline.

[Pindaroli]

My plan is:

1.    HD 14tb usb 3.2 for parity
2.    2X14 HD usb 3.2 each
3.   NVME 500gb
4.   Sata SDD 2TB to use as cache
5.  5TB hdd connected usb 3.2

No cheap enclousure used, disks  direct connected to Beelin EQ12 N100

Can i automatize by crontab remount on array of offline disk?

PS: I am investigating to install m2 sata card for connecting more disk on sata.

 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Pindaroli

[Frank1940]

With USB, you are at the mercy of the actual hardware (and firmware) involved.  Understanding that is the key to the advice that you will receive from most of the forum members.  No one is going to give you a blessing to any USB setup.  (No one wants to the recipient of a rant along the line of "Well, you told me it would work"!!!)  You are welcome to try using USB connected array devices but be aware that you may have issues. 

[itimpi]

40 minutes ago, Pindaroli said:

No cheap enclousure used, disks  direct connected to Beelin EQ12 N100

It will all depend on whether the drives always stay connected - impossible to say without actually trying it.

40 minutes ago, Pindaroli said:

Can i automatize by crontab remount on array of offline disk?

Unraid is not 'hotplug' aware so does not handle array drives disconnecting and then reconnecting.  Typically when drives disconnect and reconnect then they come back with a different sd? type ID at the Linux level and Unraid cannot handle this changing dynamically while the array is started.

 

Note that USB drives that are NOT part of the array and are being handled by the Unassigned Devices plugin are OK as that plugin can handle drives disconnecting and then reconnecting.

 

You are welcome to try it and I believe that some people have success with using USB drives in the array but we cannot give you any guarantee that it will work because as was said it is completely subject to exactly how all the hardware works with USB drives connected.

 

[Frank1940]

34 minutes ago, Pindaroli said:

I am investigating to install m2 sata card for connecting more disk on sata.

IF you are talking about the Beeline EQ12 N100 mini computer, it already has one SATA port inside of it---(according to the listing on Amazon...)     

[Pindaroli]

I would need at least 2 more for using 14Tb disks...  I will tray to assemble a frankstein moster

[Pindaroli]

1 hour ago, itimpi said:

You are welcome to try it and I believe that some people have success with using USB drives in the array but we cannot give you any guarantee that it will work because as was said it is completely subject to exactly how all the hardware works with USB drives connected.

 

I understand very well your position. I will try and i will report here my esperinces.

 

There is a api or shell command to interrogate status of array? if yes I will write a watchdog to restart eventually UnRaid.

 

 

[Kilrah]

6 hours ago, Pindaroli said:

There is a api or shell command to interrogate status of array? if yes I will write a watchdog to restart eventually UnRaid.

A disk dropping won't be just a matter of rebooting, you'll also have to rebuild said disk and will be unprotected until that's done, so it requires manual intervention and assessing the situation to do the right thing at the right time.

[Pindaroli]

I understand, i can't use unraid. The only viable option is use not real time solution like snapraid. 

Thanks for all support

[Frank1940]

IF you don't already have the Beeline box, I might suggest that you consider one of the refurbished computers.  (These are usually computers that have come back after their lease expires.)  You should be able to find one for about the same price.   Just be sure to check the specs out to make sure that they have room for all the HD's you need.

[Pindaroli]

N100 is extremely efficiente and is small. I prefer reduce my aspectation