Hi all,

First of all I am new to Unraid, and I have been doing lots of research but just want to check I am on the right track with my configuration?

First of all my machine is a Ryzen 5, 48GB Ram, 5x 15TB SATA HDDs, 2x NVME and 3x 2TB SSDs.

I have been watching lots of YouTube videos, and reading trash guides etc, and on this forum.

The configuration I have settled on is below, but now I am doubting myself.

So, I have set up my drives as follows.....

2x NVME in teh man cache pool for system and app data (stay on cache).

1x 2TB SSD (no protection) for the main 'data' share containing media/tv shows, movies etc set as a single drive cache pool with move to array.

2x 2TB SDD in a third cache pool with Raid1 protection, going to be used for databases and Immich where its recommended to stay on cache and has some protection, no mover to array but will be backed up to several places.

Is this a good setup or should I reconsider any of this?

My main use for the server will be.

Media

NextCloud? (still researching my needs)

Databases for development etc

Password App

Light game server (potentially)

Immich for our photos

Paperless

Few other apps here and there.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated please.

One last question, I see in trash guides, Ibracoprp etc that they recommend the data share, and a media folder in there with TV, Movies, Photos etc. So should I also put the main photo album share for Immich in there, or create separate shares and use the protected SSD pool above, or should I stop my array and just join all SSD drives in one pool, keeping NVME pool for app data, and the SSD pool with protection for everything else, which would be larger and simpler, with mover to array, however, content downloads would be going to the same drive as important stuff like databases etc.

I just want to make sure I have a good setup now rather than regrets and trying to make changes down the line.

Thanks everyone in advance :)

ok what do you want it to do and how do you want to interact with it?

If i'm reading your post coretly...

Your Current Layout

• 2× NVMe → Main Cache Pool (System / Appdata)

  • Good choice: NVMe is fast, perfect for Docker/VM/appdata workloads.

  • ⚠️ Consider mirroring them (RAID1) if you want protection. Appdata can be backed up, but losing it is painful.

• 1× 2TB SSD → Cache Pool (no protection) for Media (with Mover to Array)

  • Reasonable if you’re only using this as a write cache for large media downloads.

  • ⚠️ Risk: no redundancy, if the SSD dies mid-transfer before mover runs, you lose files.

• 2× 2TB SSD → RAID1 Cache Pool (Databases + Immich)

  • Excellent use. These workloads are I/O heavy and benefit from protection.

Some limitation to review:

Use Cases & Considerations

• Media (TV, Movies, etc.)

  • Long-term storage belongs on the array (your 5×15TB HDDs).

  • Cache for downloads is fine, just know unprotected SSD cache has risk.

  • Suggestion: you could combine all 3 SSDs into one BTRFS pool and assign share rules per use-case. That way you’re not slicing up your SSDs too much.

• Nextcloud / Alternatives

  • Nextcloud is powerful but heavy and finicky (lots of PHP, DB overhead, maintenance, and problems with updates).

  • Alternatives:

    • Immich (already planning): stellar for photos.

    • Seafile: lightweight document sync/collaboration, much faster than Nextcloud.

    • Syncthing: if you only need file sync, no groupware.

    • If you don’t need calendars/email: skip Nextcloud.

    • sftp for file webdav access or even rejetto hfs...

    • What is nextcloud going to provide that is better or easeir done with something else?

      • since your using immich there is nexcloud with memories pluin as example....

• Databases / Password App / Paperless / Dev Work

  • Absolutely best to keep on SSD (mirrored).

  • If you later expand, consider moving them to NVMe for even more speed.

• Light Game Server

  • SSD/NVMe is perfect for game servers.

Your asking alot out of the hardware. immich and a game server can be quite resource intensive...

GIvein the info:

Share Layout (Media / Photos / Apps)

You asked whether to merge or split shares:

• Option 1 (Keep Separate):

  • Media share on HDD array (with SSD write cache).

  • Photos share on RAID1 SSD pool for Immich.

  • Cleaner isolation, but more pools = more complexity.

• Option 2 (Merge SSDs into one big protected pool):

  • One larger SSD RAID1 pool (~2TB usable).

  • Appdata, Photos, Databases all live there.

  • Simpler, but less flexibility.

I’d recommend Option 2 for simplicity, unless you specifically want to dedicate an SSD to staging downloads.

or look into zfs and other disk options...

Recommendations:

1. Mirror NVMe pool (RAID1) → safer for appdata, VMs, configs.

2. Combine 3× SSDs into 1 RAID1 pool (BTRFS/ZFS mirror) and then split workloads by share.

   • I recomend a raidz1 to get the mirro and strip protection from zfs file format...

   • Use “Prefer Cache” for databases, photos, appdata.

   • Use “Yes → Mover” for downloads/media staging.

3. Keep HDD array (5×15TB) as bulk storage → parity protection for media library.

4. Skip Nextcloud unless you need groupware → try Seafile (lightweight) or just Immich + Syncthing.

Edited September 17, 2025Sep 17 by bmartino1

Review:

Some Best Practices for a ZFS only Setup:

View ZFS Forum Info 

ZFS Unraid Docs

Docker Guides:

Immich Docker-compose Setup

Immich Unraid-Template in the CA

Sorry for the late reply I have been so tied up with work.

Thank you very much for the comments, suggestions and video, I have learnt a lot.

I ended up going with Bmartino1 suggestion below :)

1. Mirror NVMe pool (RAID1) → safer for appdata, VMs, configs.

2. Combine 3× SSDs into 1 RAID1 pool (BTRFS/ZFS mirror) and then split workloads by share.

   • I recomend a raidz1 to get the mirro and strip protection from zfs file format...

   • Use “Prefer Cache” for databases, photos, appdata.

   • Use “Yes → Mover” for downloads/media staging.

3. Keep HDD array (5×15TB) as bulk storage → parity protection for media library.

4. Skip Nextcloud unless you need groupware → try Seafile (lightweight) or just Immich + Syncthing.

Thanks again, now I am having fun!