Hey all, new to Unraid. Bought 3 8tb reds and a dell t30 for my first build. I'm planning on using this as a simple NAS, just to store my files and then run some dockers (e.g. plex, sonarr, radarr, openvpn, etc.). I understand I want to install my dockers onto the cache drive for faster access. Given the simple usage of my Unraid server, what size SSD should I be looking at? Also, any recommendations on which ones I should look for? I came across mlc/tlc SSDs, ppl suggesting samsung 850, etc. Getting a little confused and wondering if I'm thinking too much about it for my simple usage. Thanks!

Hi -

 

250 GB is a good starting point for a cache drive used primarily for Dockers.  There are recent reports of heavy I/O based applications like internet downloaders causing premature failure of SSD based cache drives.  If you are buying something new, one of the "pro" MLC based drives should tolerate that kind of activity better.  A hard drive works fine, by the way - though the typical activity of Dockers will keep it spinning.

Unless you are aiming for a totally silent machine, or have a very fast internet connection, I personally wouldn't bother with using the cache for your download share.  Your array should be more than fast enough and imo it's not worth the extra wear on your ssd.  

 

You're only going to have to eventually move the files off your 250GB ssd to the 16TB array, so why add unnecessary stress?

I currently do what you are talking about. All my dockers are on the cache drive as well as my downloads folder. My TV media is also set to use the cache drive so that the downloading and organizing of the TV shows all happens on the cache. This way my disks won't spin up until the mover works overnight and then after that a trim is performed on the cache. I currently have a 120gb ssd that I had laying around as the cache drive. I honestly wouldn't be concerned with the longevity of the memory, it takes loads of writes to wear out an ssd. By the time you wear it out you will be able to buy a new one that's twice the size for half the cost. I feel I'm in the minority when I say this but I treat ssds and hard drives as wear items and I really dont see a point in trying to make them last forever.

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