Optimal setup for massive uploads on Immich without stressing HDDs

TrueNAS General
1

Hi guys!

I’d like to upload on Immich 44k pics (160 gb) to my “raid10” pool of four 6tb HDDs.

I hear that writing lots of small files can stress/wear the HDDs. will it be bad ? i have an ssd i use just for torrenting, can i make it helpful in some way ?

thank you !

2

Just load your files. I wouldn’t worry about stressing the drives. You should probably refer to your pool and VDEV setup using the ZFS terms. Are you set up as a 4 wide Raid-Z2 or is this two mirror pair VDEVs in a single pool?

If you post your system details and pool layout, others can post advice or informed comments. It sounds like you have Immich app and your data all on one pool, from your description.

BASICS

TrueNAS Systems pool layout whitepaper
https://www.truenas.com/solution-guides/#TrueNAS-PDF-zfs-storage-pool-layout/1/

1 Like
3

yeah you’re right, imma try to be more detailed

this is my setup

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image2202×973 98.9 KB

i have a separate SSD where i install all the apps (jellyfin, tailscale, immich) and i point them to this vdev on the HDDs

so you think there’s no benefit in using a spare “slave” ssd i have in the system just for torrenting to do the “dirty” work of the massive upload ?

thank you !

4

Only thing is check the HD models and make sure they are CMR and not SMR drives. ZFS doesn’t work well with SMR. They should be CMR if they are from a manufacturers NAS line but that isn’t always the case.

SMR vs CMR ServeTheHome

TrueNAS Docs - WD Red SMR Drive Compatibility with ZFS

5

yeah they’re cmr, 3 wd purple and 1 wd red plus

6

I torrent and seed from a dedicated SSD pool and I set primarycache=none on my torrenting dataset to not waste any of the ARC on torrenting. Torrenting files and folders is very random and rarely repetitive, so you might as well have requests read from the SSD.

7

I have my doubts on if this’d be enough to cause any serious stress to any of the drives in your pool if this is a one time write. I think WD has red plus hdd rated at like ~200TB per year, so like >~500GB per day should be fine.

Theoretical exception would be if your drives stored in a hot environment & are already borderline overheating; but even then I wouldn’t blame the writes themselves.

If you’re still very concerned, you can upload the photos in small batches.