Use old or new drive as parity?

[Mullvaden83]

Hey.  Im going to build an unraid box.

I have bought 2 used WD Red 3 TB drives.

Im going to buy one more 3tb drive. (brand new from store)

Im wondering if i should use one of the old drives as parity or the new one?

 

 

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[ashman70]

Setup your UnRaid server, don't designate a drive for parity right away, download and install the preclear plugin, preclear one of the drives first before installing it as your parity drive. I preclear brand new drives as well, so its up to you.

[Mullvaden83]

Alright.  But would it be better to have a new fresh drive as parity?  Or just dont really matter?

 

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[ashman70]

I think you will find that most people on here preclear new drives anyway and that it is recommended to do so. Whether you want to buy a new drive, or use one of your existing, you should preclear them no matter what to save yourself headaches later. Its quite possible the existing drives have a good chunk of life left in them. Up to you.

[tdallen]

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to approach this, you can use the new drive either way.  That said, I'd use it as parity after running two or three pre-clear cycles on it.  Infant mortality of new drives is an issue - running the pre-clears will help you get comfortable that the drive will last a while.  Warning - pre-clears take a long time!  Like, days!

 

You should also pre-clear and check the smart reports for the old drives bought.  FYI, you can run several pre-clears at once.

[Mullvaden83]

Nice that i can run all preclears at the same time. 

Ill do that with them all.

Thanks for the help.

 

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