Setting up first Unraid device as a backup to my Qnap NAS.  I also plan to use the Unraid device as a sandbox for VMs/Docker that I can play and learn on as I'm a noob.  My question's are around setting up the array/cache so that if I screw something up in my sandbox it won't interfere with my backup.  My disks are 1-14TB HDD, 2-4TB HDD, 2-500GB HDD, 1-1TB SSD.  My original thought was build the array with HDDs and use SSD for cache while also limiting VMs/Docker to the cache.  This works as far as I can tell but leaves my cache as the sole copy of cache data.  With Unraid not striping data, can I add the 1TB SSD to the array so I gain parity and still force the VM/Docker data to the SSD and my backup data to the HDDs?  If this could work, I do have a 128GB SSD laying around I could use for cache until I upgrade to something larger.  I hope this makes sense.

You should only put HDDs in the main array, SSDs should go in separate pools (standard cache setup as you mention), no you wont be able to have the SSD parity protected without adding at least one more matching SSD, or setting up the CA Appdata backup plugin for your containers which will backup that data to the array on a schedule, there are also ways to backup VMs in a similar manner.

 

Just keep in mind that if you want a parity protected array you will have to sacrifice the 14TB and only be able to use the 2x 4Tb and 2x500gb drives for data until you add more disks.

 

 

Thanks Faceman, that's exactly what I was going to do.  Use the 14TB as the parity drive creating a 9TB array with the others.  I will look into picking up another 1TB SSD to provide parity to the cache.  Probably find something cheap for black friday.