Hello everyone!

I'm very new to using UnRAID, it's been amazing so far, but I have quite an odd question.

 

I plan on having 2 arrays on the same machine, mainly due to very different disk ages. I'd like to set it up so that any new data being presented to the server, is put onto one array, but after an amount of time being unused (Eg, 30 days), then it gets migrated to the second array.

I'd also like to be able to have both of these arrays show as 1 bulk storage amount if possible.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

The main reason is just because I have a few newer, higher volume disks, that I'd rather keep at low uptime where possible (The "deep storage"), and a whole bunch of older, smaller disks, that I'm more worried about dying, and so happier using more of them as parity (The "active storage"), as I don't want to waste as many of my larger disks on parity. My combined Larger disk space, is bigger than my combined smaller disk space. (4 new large disks (3 active, 1 parity), 9 old small disks (6 active, 3 parity).)

 

And is it okay to mix 3.5" and 2.5" HDD's in the same array?

And what about HDD's and SSD's in the same array?

Because I've got some spare SSD's sitting around currently to make into Cache, but I'm curious could they be made into an even more active array? So then there's 3 levels, a 7 day storage, 30 day storage, and deep storage? (Day numbers only by example)

 

I've also got a question regarding NextCloud, but I don't know if that would be better for this forum, or a NextCloud Forum. If it's okay here, let me know!

 

Thanks for reading guys, and thanks so much for any suggestions!

10 minutes ago, Bearpaddocks said:

very new to using UnRAID, it's been amazing so far,

What do you already have working 'so far'?

 

You can only have one array. And that one array can have maximum 2 parity. 

 

You can have multiple multidisk pools in addition to the parity array.

 

All array disks and any additional pools are combined in user shares. 

 

I recommend Spaceinvaderone YouTube channel to get a better understanding of the basics and more advanced features.

 

11 minutes ago, trurl said:

What do you already have working 'so far'?

So far I have 1 Disk pool, with the 4 "new" disks in it. 4, 2tb 3.5" HDD's, 3 active, 1 parity, 6tb available. I believe they're fully set up, full windows share access, and I have a few Docker's running on them (NextCloud-AIO-Master-Container mostly working, Jellyfin mostly working, Nginx Proxy struggling, DuckDNS working, Cloudflared Tunnel working). I have Tailscale up and running. 4 Users + admin all fully working, and able to connect properly. 4 shares for dedicated things, all appearing to work properly.

Running 7.0.0.

 

11 minutes ago, trurl said:

You can only have one array. And that one array can have maximum 2 parity. 

Ah, thank you for explaining that, that would be why I couldn't appear to find a way to make a second array. And only 2 Parity, so if more than 2 drives die at once, I lose everything from any drives more than that, is that correct? Or would I lose all 3, if 3 died?

 

11 minutes ago, trurl said:

You can have multiple multidisk pools in addition to the parity array.

For noob sake (I'm sorry), what exactly are you meaning by Multiple Multidisk Pools?

12 minutes ago, trurl said:

All array disks and any additional pools are combined in user shares. 

Good, nice to know, thank you.

 

12 minutes ago, trurl said:

I recommend Spaceinvaderone YouTube channel to get a better understanding of the basics and more advanced features.

I've been using Spaceinvaderone quite a bit, and it's helped a lot, but there are still a lot of things I'm trying to figure out. So thank you so much for trying to help me!

 

From what I'm understanding of what you're saying.

There's only 1 array. But you can have multiple sets of disks within the array, and they all show up as 1 "mass" in user shares.
Do these pools act independently, or all together as one? If they're independent, is there a way to automate data transfers between them based on last data access time?

Since there's only 1 array, there's only 2 drives maximum, across all pools, that act as parity. Is that correct?

 

I haven't tried adding any of my "older" disks yet, as I need to ensure none of them have any useful information on them first, so have been unable to test these features myself yet.

 

Once again, thank you so much!

The pools are not part of the array. 

 

This is really just terminology. 

 

You can see the distinction on the MAIN page in the webUI, Array Devices, Pool Devices. Often there is a pool named cache but it can be named as you wish and there can be other pools.

 

The Documentation can be accessed from the link at the bottom of every forum page, and also from the "manual " link in the lower right corner of your Unraid webUI. 

SSDs in the parity array cannot be trimmed, and can only be written at parity speed. 

 

So, HDDs typically are used in the parity array, and SSDs are typically used in pools. 

 

You might want to reconsider whether to even use smaller older disks. Newer larger disks perform better simply due to data density, and small disks may not provide significant additional capacity to justify using them. I always say each additional disk is an additional point of failure. 

 

Also, you need to be able to trust all disks, since all disks in the parity array are needed to rebuild a failed disk. 

 

Post Diagnostics and we can give more specific advice regarding how you have things setup and how it might be improved.