Hi all! I'm new to Unraid and am setting up my server for the first time. I've seen lots of conflicting/outdated info on how to best setup cache pool and shares on Unraid and would like help with my situation.

Current set up:

 

Disks:

- WD HGST 10TB: Parity

- WD HGST 10TB: Disk 1

 

Cache:

- Crucial NVMe SSD 2TB: Cache pool

I have my cache pool set up with ZFS format which I assume is the best thing to do (I understand there are pros and cons, but generally this is appropriate)

 

DRAM:

- Corsair 32GB

 

CPU:

- Intel i-5 12600K

 

Questions:

1. Which of the default Unraid shares should "live" on the cache?

2. Does this mean that they (the default shares) should be set to have no "secondary storage" so mover doesn't move them each night?  

3. When I create a share for my own data - what is the best practice for storage?

- I assume for downloads of torrents, etc. its best to have them written to the Cache and then moved to the array each night?

 

Thanks!

Edited March 14, 20242 yr by MontyG10
Formatting

9 hours ago, MontyG10 said:

Which of the default Unraid shares should "live" on the cache?

Typically, system, domains and appdata.

 

9 hours ago, MontyG10 said:

Does this mean that they (the default shares) should be set to have no "secondary storage" so mover doesn't move them each night?  

Yes, but make sure you have backups of anything important.

 

9 hours ago, MontyG10 said:

3. When I create a share for my own data - what is the best practice for storage?

Depends on the share, you can have it first going to the pool and then moved to the array, if initial write speed is important, or having go directly to the array if write speed is not so important, and/or a typical transfer won't fit the pool .

 

Fantastic, thank you. Very helpful.

So if for instance I have torrents that I have in a "download" share on my cache which is routed to move to the array each night, do I need to create a new "downloads" share every day? or do only the contents of the "download" share get moved and the share remains on the cache?

Any share you setup has primary and secondary storage as well as mover action.  So if you set the download share primary as cache and array as secondary with mover action cache-->array it wlll move the download files to the array from the cache.  Most use the "arr" dockers to move media files to the media folder when completed.  Some setup media folders as array only so when downloads are completed they are moved direct into the array.  In this case media is setup as primary as  array and secondary and mover action are left blank.  Some prefer the media share set to cache as primary and array as secondary with the mover action set cache-->array.  In this case files are usable by your media player right away but are protect by the array once the mover runs.

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by Gragorg