I have a Dell Optiplex 7080 running with 1TB M.2 SSD, 1 TB SATA SSD (parity) and 256GB M.2 SSD.

 

I am running UnRaid 6.12.6.

 

I am currently using these in an array of 3 devices.

 

 

The workload is 1 Home Assistant VM and about 20 docker containers.

 

I have a Synology NAS that holds the bulk of media the Plex  and *arr containers consume.

 

I realise this is not a recommended setup for an array (no TRIM on the parity SSD), even though it has been running for about 34 months now without issue.

 

I would like to migrate this array to a BTRF or ZFS pool (not sure which is more optimal given the workload described above) and would like some advice on the way to do this without destroying the data (if that is possible).

 

There are no free internal SATA or M.2 slots available for anymore drives. I only have around 5 external USB ports available.

 

I am thinking that I could do the following:

 

1. Install a USB flash drive (or 2) and create an array from these (with a parity drive if use 2).
2. Move the data on the array of 3 devices to this USB array.
3. Do what needs to be done to modify the array of 3 devices to a BTRFS or ZFS pool.
4. Move the data from the USB array back to the new 3 device BTRFS / ZFS pool.

 

I'm kinda fuzzy on the detail involved in step 3, but I'm guessing SpaceInvaderOne has some videos / guides which would describe this in some detail.

 

So my two main questions are:

a. Does the plan outlined in steps 1-4 above sound feasible?
b. What would be the recommended pool (ZFS or BTRFS) for the workload of running a HA VM and about 20 docker containers.

 

Many thanks in advance for any help.
 

Edited November 7, 20241 yr by SpookyKnight
Specified UnRaid version

Unraid 7 beta will allow pools without an array.

You can just copy the data with Unassigned Devices to the USB disks. No advantage to making them an array and likely some disadvantages with USB in the array. 

Many thanks for your answer @trurl