skynet11 Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Hello everyone, I'm seeking some advice on a setup I'm contemplating for my storage system. Currently, I have two 4TB disks, and I'm looking to simulate a RAID1 configuration for redundancy. I've designated one of the 4TB disks as parity and the other as "Disk 1." My question is whether adding a small 1TB disk as "Disk 2" would disrupt the mirroring process or compromise the integrity of the setup. The purpose of the 1TB disk would solely be for storing movies and TV shows, separate from the mirrored data. Thank you in advance for your help. Quote Link to comment
Solution itimpi Posted April 6 Solution Share Posted April 6 The fact that in the special case of 1 data drive and 1 parity drive they are mirrors of each other is an accidental by-product of the algorithm used to calculate the contents of the parity drive. The moment you add any additional drives to the array this will no longer remain true. What I do not see is why you need them to be mirrors? With 1 parity drive and 2 data drives you still have redundancy against any single drive failure. Quote Link to comment
skynet11 Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 18 hours ago, itimpi said: The fact that in the special case of 1 data drive and 1 parity drive they are mirrors of each other is an accidental by-product of the algorithm used to calculate the contents of the parity drive. The moment you add any additional drives to the array this will no longer remain true. What I do not see is why you need them to be mirrors? With 1 parity drive and 2 data drives you still have redundancy against any single drive failure. Thanks for the reply. As a newcomer to Unraid, I wasn't aware that I could achieve redundancy with just one parity drive and two data drives without needing them to be mirrors. So, if I understand correctly, I can keep one disk as the parity drive and the other two as regular data drives. In the event of any drive failure, I can simply replace the failed drive without the need for mirroring. Just one more question: does it matter which drive I designate as the parity drive, or can I choose any of the three drives for this role? Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 1 hour ago, skynet11 said: Just one more question: does it matter which drive I designate as the parity drive, or can I choose any of the three drives for this role? No parity drive can be smaller than the largest data drive so you would need one of the 4TB drives to be a parity drive. there is a description of how Unraid parity works here in the online documentation accessible via the ‘Manual’ link at the bottom of the GUI or the DOCS link at the top of each forum page. The Unraid OS->Manual section in particular covers most features of the current Unraid release. Quote Link to comment
skynet11 Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 23 minutes ago, itimpi said: there is a description of how Unraid parity works here in the online documentation accessible via the ‘Manual’ link at the bottom of the GUI or the DOCS link at the top of each forum page. The Unraid OS->Manual section in particular covers most features of the current Unraid release. Yes, you're right. I should have checked the manual. Thanks again for answering all my questions. Quote Link to comment
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