Unraid... raid

[freeparrot96]

Hello,

 

I am trying unraid on a HPE ProLiant MicroServer Generation 8 (Gen8) and so far its a bit hungry with power, buts that not too bad. The weird thing is the way the raid works. I have 4 drives in an array, and so far different data seems to be spread all over each disk. Is this a normal thing to happen with this software? I have enabled the spin down, and not all of them spin down. Some stay running while others are asleep. Is it meant to work this way? Do the drives only power up, when the data thats on them is requested by something?

 

This is how it looks at the moment

 

I also have a cache drive setup as well, on an ssd. But i dont think thats being used.


 

Also some or all of my files seems to be unprotected

 

I might have configured it all wrong, so just looking for some advice please? I am coming from a Synology DS916+ so unraid is very cool with the docker and apps stuff. But the extra control over the hardware is quite weird.

 

Thanks for all your help :)

[itimpi]

The shares that say unprotected are ones that by default are configured to be for their files put on the cache drive for optimum performance. They are used to support Docker and VMs.  If that is a single device it has no redundancy do they are then unprotected.    The appdata backup plugin can be used to make regular backups to the array.

 

Unraid is NOT Raid, and it tries to keep array drives spun down if at all possible.

[Hoopster]

On 1/13/2024 at 11:23 AM, freeparrot96 said:

I have 4 drives in an array, and so far different data seems to be spread all over each disk. Is this a normal thing to happen with this software?

This is governed by your share settings, specifically, allocation method, split level and disks included in the share..  Below is a screenshot of these settings with help turned on:

 

 

Read the user shares section of the manual (link in lower right corner of Unraid GUI) for a more thorough explanation.

 

I see itimpi just answered regarding the not protected shares.  That is normal for shares on cache drives.

 

The fact that you have some disks that won't spin down, indicates a likelihood that some docker and/or VM files are being stored on array drive(s) instead of cache/pool drives.

 

With the Dynamix File Manager you can check which disks your appdata and VM files are currently stored on.  Notice that all of mine are on Cache (Location column).  If any appdata files are on a array disk, that is likely why the disk does not spin down.

 

 

Ideally, appdata settings or other shares you want to live on cache only should look something like this (Primary storage = cache, mover goes from array --> cache, secondary storage is used only if cache drive is full):

Edited January 15 by Hoopster

[freeparrot96]

Thanks everyone for all your help.