Some newbie questions

[bar1]

Hi everyone, i originally bought my license in 2011.

Since then i went through a lot of different  operating systems, and last week i decided to try the new unRaid.

 

I wasn't 100% sure it's the right OS for me, so i installed it on a spare NUC, installed vm's,dockers, and i am very happy with it.

Now i need to migrate everything to my HP server.

 

So i am going to start small, 1 SSD (for vm's,docker), 1HD for everything else.

If i understand correctly, i the recommended way is:

 

SSD as a cache drive, with vm's/docker

HD for media and whatever as part of the array.

 

I thought the cache drive stores files temporarily and then move to array, i am guessing there is an option to disable that?

The actual move, can i just move the flash drive and do a simple copy (of the vm's and containers) from the current ssd to the server's ssd?

 

one last thing and i think thats the trickiest ....my data drive is currently btrsf , synology ,none raid 8TB.if i understand correctly i can mount it as unassigned, BUT can i make it the array without formatting?that can be a big help or i should rather keep it unassigned until i can afford (probably not soon...) a parity.

i am also not TOO stressed about the parity.

sorry about the long message...lol

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by bar1

[bar1]

can anyone help, please?

[JorgeB]

On 12/19/2019 at 5:42 PM, bar1 said:

BUT can i make it the array without formatting?

No, Unraid needs to format all array and caches devices before use, even if they already use a supported filesystem.

[itimpi]

43 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

No, Unraid needs to format all array and caches devices before use, even if they already use a supported filesystem.

Just to expand on this the reason that Unraid needs to format the device is that Unraid wants a very specific partitioning scheme and if the disk does not already conform to this Unraid will first repartition the disk (thus erasing its contents) before doing the actual format.

 

[bar1]

41 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

No, Unraid needs to format all array and caches devices before use, even if they already use a supported filesystem.

thanks, gonna make my life slightly complicated, lol but i will manage 

 

[bar1]

I am also busy googling , but moving vm's and dockers is just a matter of copying the appdata share?

 

Not quite   The 'appdata' share is where by default the variable data for dockers is stored so the statement is basically true for dockers.

 

VMs on the other hand do not use that share.   By default the vdisks for VMs are stored in under the 'domains' share but again users can over-ride where they are stored.

[bar1]

is there an easy backup and restore?

[JorgeB]

 

[bar1]

Thanks.

 

[bar1]

I am still a little confused on what to do with my SSD.

all i want it to run some dockers and vm's, and for that i want the fast speed of ssd.

 

whats the difference between cache and unassign  ?

[itimpi]

10 minutes ago, bar1 said:

whats the difference between cache and unassign

Probably the most important difference is that cache is part of the User Share system whereas unassigned devices are not