I have a server running an AMD Fusion APU.  I have 3 hard drives: 250, 1.5TB, 1.5 TB.  In the past, this server ran Windows 7 Pro.  I'm looking for something simple and UnRAID looks like it's perfect.

 

I'm confused as to the Parity drive.  I know what it is (i.e., I know what parity does).

 

When the server ran Windows 7, I had the OS on the 250, 1 of the 1.5 TB drives was the shared drive, and the other 1.5 TB drive served as a backup drive using Windows backup.  I would remote using TeamViewer to this server to download torrents, etc, but mostly it was a file server.

 

I only need 1.5TB of storage.  Is unRAID for me?  Can I use my current drives (or even get rid of the 250 gb drive alltogether) and it be safe?

 

I'm thinking of making 1 1.5 TB drive the Parity, and the other a data, and not using the 250 gb at all (all of my data now is around 500gb, so I'm good for a while).  Do I have that understanding right?

 

I apologize for the hundred questions and I appreciate any help.  Thank you.

Your parity drive has to be equal to or larger than any of the other drives in the system, so using a 1.5 TB drive would be correct.

 

You could create a parity protected array using 1 1.5 TB drive for parity, and the 2nd drive for your data.  This would give you the amount of space you say you want.

 

You could also use the 250 GB drive as a cache drive  (see here:  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Cache_disk)

 

You could use this cache drive for torrents, etc.  I don't have a cache drive as I only use my unraid for file storage, but I'm sure others could offer their uses of a cache drive).

If fuelvolts is only going to be using 2 drives, it wouldn't be worth the purchase just to use a cache drive.  The cache drive is only enabled in Plus and Pro licenses. Not trying to dissuade you from purchasing a license, but your described setup would not need or warrant one.

See Fuel?  I knew someone would have an answer for you.

 

Now I will say that once you start using unraid, you may find that with all of its capabilities, you will end up needing more than 1.5 TB of storage, but that is a problem for a later date.