Hello,

 

I am considering converting my server to run Unraid. While reviewing the documentation, I found that I need a USB drive with a maximum capacity of 32 GB. However, I am having trouble finding a reputable brand that offers USB drives in this size, as most are 64 GB or larger. Is the 32 GB limit still accurate, or is the documentation outdated?

 

Additionally, does Unraid perform better with specific brands of USB drives? Are there any brands or types of USB drives I should avoid?

 

Thank you

The 32GB limit is not a hard limit but is recommended simply due to the fact that the drive needs to be formatted to FAT32 and Windows will not format drives larger than 32GB to FAT32.   Unraid itself only needs a couple of TB GB so even with 32GB there is lots of space unused.    If you use drives larger than 32GB then you might want to use a 3rd party tool such as Rufus to format the drive to FAT32, or the USB Creator tool also knows how to do this.

 

Because Unraid runs from RAM there is no benefit (except perhaps a few seconds faster boot) to having USB3 drives.  Heat is the enemy of USB drives, and USB2 drives (if you can get them nowadays) tend to run cooler than USB3 ones and thus last longer.   Failing that the USB3 ones with metal casings to improve cooling are a good idea.

Edited July 3, 20242 yr by ChatNoir
corrected the essential information GB v TB for future reference

25 minutes ago, itimpi said:

only needs a couple of TGB

FTFY

Thank you! This information is extremely helpful. Are there any plans to update the OS to support ExFAT systems in the future to make it easier for newcomers to get into Unraid?
 

Additionally, it might be beneficial to include this information in the setup documentation. I've noticed that this question comes up frequently in other threads.
 

Thank you again for the answer.

The new USB tool should format larger devices without any issue, IIRC at least  up to 256GB