I replaced my cache drive successfully using the instructions here: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/46802-faq-for-unraid-v6/#findComment-511923

After replacement, I changed my /appdata, /data and /tmp bar back to array->cache , and ran the mover (see pic below)

I've noticed that docker start/stop is now very slow. It used to take 15/20 seconds to start the docker containers, now it takes ~5 minutes. Updating docker containers also is slow. I feel like it's still reading/writing off the array. Reading the share setting screen it says cache is for new files, but I can verify that the appdata files are indeed on the cache drive.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

You are likely to get more informed feedback if you attach your system's diagnostics zip file to your next post in this thread.

It is always a good idea to do this to allow us to see the current state of your system and so we can see logs.

Did you disable the docker service before running mover to get files moved back to the cache?

This is to make sure that files are not being kept open as that will stop them being moved.

I disabled the docker service to run the mover before replacing the cache drives. The cache drives were empty. However, after replacing the drives and rebooting the server, the docker service started automatically (with appdata on the array). I shut down the service, changed my share settings to point back to the array and ran the mover. But YES, the docker service ran before I could move the files back to the cache

atlantis-diagnostics-20251101-1114.zip

Your diagnostics shows

appdata                           shareUseCache="prefer"  # Share exists on cache, disk7
system                            shareUseCache="yes"     # Share exists on disk6, disk7

Both of these will impact performance as you want them entirely on the cache for best performance.

To rectify this:

• Disable the Docker and VM services under Settings

• Change the 'system' share so that it has the mover direction as array->cache

• Run the mover to get the content of these shares moved to the cache

• Once the move has completed you can remove the Secondary storage location for both shares so that they become "cache only" shares

• Go to Settings->Global Share settings and enable the Exclusive shares option. This helps performance by by-passing the Unraid Fuse layer for cache only shares.

• Stop and then restart the array to activate the Exclusive share option for the 'appdata' and 'system' shares.

• You can now re-enable the docker and VM services.

You should now have Docker optimised for best performance.

Solved. Thank you!