22TB Hdds Pool or Array?

[Alpha Keskin]

Hi

 

I am new on Unraid and i need help deciding how i should setup my 8x 22Tb wd Hard drives. I want to get the most usable space out of these wile using 1 disk for parity. I Already have nvme cache to store my appdata and my dockers and vms  i also have 24x 4tb ssds in raid5 in a cache pool for fast access over 10gbe nic.

 

I tried creating a zfs raidz1 but i found that read speeds wile transferring to my Pc was slower then Raid 5 so i decided to go with this may not be the safest way to store data from reading the forums but i am open for ideas to change the raid after i mount these 8x 22tb drives i can transfer the data from the ssd cache and change the raid type accordingly if i did it wrong.

 

My question is Do i put the spinners as unraid array with single parity or do i create a another raid 5 or a zfs pool and add them as a second pool what would be the safest way to store the data and which setup would give me the most usable space on the drives .

 

My data is mainly movies and tv shows for plex. I do like the fast raid 5 setup on the ssd cache so i am torn in between. I am aware that if i put them in a array my read write times will be more slower which is ok for long term storage  but i am also attracted to the fast transfer speed of 8x 22tb drives in raid would be safe to put them in a pool.

 

And also adding more disks into raid 5 pool does concern me also main thing is i am not sure the usable space that i will getting by putting them as array. I tried Synology and i noticed Synology takes chunk of the drive space for dsm usage does this happen in unraid array ? Also run into the bull crap of 108 tb max pool allowance on Synology.

 

Currently i have have a flash drive acting as array disk 1 to be able to run Unraid which is working fine. Also does putting disks in a pool would the disks spin down this is a deciding factor for me as i do want the disks to last long term like everybody else would.

 

As you can notice from what i have written i am really answering my own question all things indicate for me to put the spinners in array but i just want to be sure as i wouldn't mind the speedy access and transfers of a pool in raid 5 or even raidz1. i also would like to point out that all my data is also stored on cloud and backed up to cloud just in case so if do something wrong or hardware fails i am still protected.