Seagate 4TB hybrid/SSD drives are currently on sale for $200. Can unraid use these, and/or take advantage of the hybrid feature? My guess is no for me since mine's only a media storage device, and parity writes, for example, will not be accessing the same data often to take advantage of the SSD Cache.

 

http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=91259&vpn=ST4000DX001&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1029

I think you are correct. The hybrid/SSD drives are not going to do much for tasks like parity, and unless you are listen/watching the same content over and over, the SSD portion will just keep refilling. However, if you do place a frequently re-used set of files (index or database) on the drive the benefits will be there.

You're correct -- the SSD cache hit ratio will be very small in typical UnRAID use.

 

HOWEVER ... if you have an application that frequently accesses an index that happens to fit within the cache (not sure how large Plex's index tends to be, as I don't use it), then you could get a very nice benefit from this.    It effectively lets you use an SSD for this purpose while not having to use a smaller drive in the array.  Note, however, that the SSD cache on most hybrid drives is fairly small ... in this case 8GB.

 

Thanks c3 and garycase. I guess I'll get black drives for the same cost instead.