-=SOLVED=- I feel like I'm missing something...

[Dissones4U]

I just initialized and formatted the array, disk 1 has significantly more "used" space when all disks should be relatively empty. Am I missing something because I would expect that the 4TB drive would be roughly double that of the 2TB drives? The disks were precleared then I added >> started >> and formatted all at once. 23GB isn't a huge deal but I wonder if this is indicative of something I've done wrong during setup or possibly a disk issue even though it passed preclear. Thanks.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Dissones4U
Deleted missing image

[JonathanM]

Probably your docker image. Click on the yellow magnifying glass folder in the view column to see what's on the disk.

[JorgeB]

4 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

Probably your docker image

 

Yes, default is 20GB on disk1, if there's no cache.

[JorgeB]

Plus the the libvirt.img (for VMs), about 1GB.

[Dissones4U]

When I checked the disk I see the standard pre-populated shares of apps, iso etc but there is nothing in the folders. I have no idea what a docker image is yet, but it sounds like this is normal due to lack of cache so I'll begin filling the array and add parity and cache once finished. Thanks guys!

[JonathanM]

Just now, Dissones4U said:

there is nothing in the folders

Go to settings, docker, and switch from basic to advanced view. The docker storage location shown there will guide you where to look to find the file. On a default installation I believe it should be in the system/docker folder.

 

You may want to go ahead and set up the cache drive, as much of the non-NAS stuff (VM's, dockers) wants to use the cache drive.

 

Have you watched any of gridrunner (spaceinvader1) videos on unraid? I highly recommend watching his stuff, it's a good way to learn.

[Dissones4U]

Excellent instructions my friend, you're spot on! Here is what it says: 

Label: none  uuid: d01a0de3-6845-4a04-8956-2f783ae69c33
	Total devices 1 FS bytes used 2.46MiB
	devid    1 size 20.00GiB used 2.02GiB path /dev/loop0

I thought I'd read to add the cache and parity drives after filling the data drives because I'll be writing way more data than my cache will hold and the intial filling will go faster without them. I have watched several videos, at least one them was spaceinvader1's but I'll rewatch them. Hopefully I can reclaim the 20GB after adding the cache, if not I guess I'll add it before filling the drives.

[JorgeB]

You can move both docker and libvirt images to cache when you have it, by setting those shares to cache prefer (if they aren't already ), temporarily turn off docker and vm services and run the mover.

[JonathanM]

You can install the cache drive now, and set your new data shares to cache:no for the duration of the data load. I recommend getting a grip on the various cache modes and usages now, before you start loading data in earnest. You are exactly right in your thinking that you don't want to use the cache drive during the initial load, but I'd recommend installing it and changing the settings to accomplish what you want vs. just not putting it in 'til later. Also, doing the parity build later is a valid choice for speed, but not for best testing and stability. Ideally you want to load the PSU and system to the same extent you will be using it, just for a good burn in. It would really suck to spend all the time loading the data only to find out that you have a dodgy part while building parity.

 

Enabling turbo-write mode negates much of the speed penalty of the parity drive at the expense of keeping all drives spinning while writing data, but IMHO it's a good tradeoff, especially when you are doing the initial load.

[Dissones4U]

OK, excellent information from both of you guys, I appreciate your insight. I was going to start loading data remotely but I'll wait until I get home and try out some of those cache settings and maybe another video or two before proceeding. Thanks again!

[JonathanM]

4 minutes ago, Dissones4U said:

I was going to start loading data remotely

How are you accessing your server over the internet?

[Dissones4U]

I remote into my home desktop, then access from browser 

[JonathanM]

3 minutes ago, Dissones4U said:

I remote into my home desktop, then access from browser 

Perfect! Exactly what I wanted to hear.