I'd like to setup an unRAID test server.  Since it won't have to be on all the time, one of the options is to dual boot a Win10 machine.  Other than the obvious (trying to manage the drives of one OS from within the other OS could result in "bad things" happening) is there anything to consider?

 

Thanks

If it were me, I'd use hot swap bays to ensure neither OS messed with the other. Simply turn off or unplug the drives not in play. Too much risk of corruption otherwise.

I've got hot swap bays in the Windows 10 box but they are internal.  It sounds like you've got some of the same concerns I do, though.  I don't trust Microsoft to leave a foreign device alone.

You can turn unRAID off. It's not a requirement to keep it on 24/7, unless you want to.

 

Yes, it would add to your boot up time but you are the best judge at whether you want to save £2/day to keep it running 24/7 or save that but spend maybe a few minutes more waiting (and having to powerdown properly).

 

Personally, I think I'm going to buy a 2.5" USB 3.0 external enclosure to keep my good old Kingston SSD 128GB (SATA2!) in. Then I can label it "Emergency" and have Win 10 with all the critical softwares on it. So in the worst case scenario, I still have something as a plan B.

As long as you don't assign the drives from UnRAID to a drive letter within Windows, they'll be left alone with no problem.    Likewise for UnRAID -- as long as you don't assign the Windows drives to an array that's also okay.

 

So if you have enough drives installed for an UnRAID test server in addition to the drives for Windows, your idea is fine.    Clearly the KEY thing is you absolutely must be CERTAIN that you don't inadvertently assign a Windows drive to your UnRAID array.    Inadvertently assigning an UnRAID drive a drive letter in Windows won't cause any problems as long as you don't change the partition structure or format the drive -- but assigning a Windows drive to UnRAID would result in a destructive format when you Start the array.