Hello,

I use unraid as a server for the following main purposes: Emby Server, Windows VMs and now also Photoprism and Nextcloud.

I have installed a 1TB SSD as cache and for the VMs, as well as an 8TB HDD as data disk for all my movies and series.
This disk is called disk1.
I have a few program .exe and 7 TB of movies and series on it.

 

Now I want to host my photos myself, and it's time to buy a new HDD.

 

Now my questions:
1. is it then advisable to immediately install 2 more HDDs, one as parity? If there is something wrong with the HDDs where the photos are stored, will they be saved with the parity?

 

2. what about the storage locations? If the HDD is full of movies, are they automatically saved on disk2 or how does this work?

 

3. would it be advisable to buy an external HDD for backups? I won't be making any backups of movies and series, but I will be making backups of photos and the Capture One Catalog.
I would then periodically plug this HDD into one of my PCs and create a backup via the network.

 

Thanks in advance for your support

 

1.  I would preclear both drives that way it will confirm that you dont have any connection issues or a disk that is DOA.  After success full preclear add them to the array.  Your parity sync will start after you add them.  One parity drive allows you to have one bad drive and recover it.   Keep in mind parity is not a backup.

2. Under the shares tab you can determine where your data goes by setting the split level.  Hit the ? in the top right hand corner of the screen to read up about your split level choices.

3.  Yes always backup critical files