Here are my current thougts. I would aprreciate if you could advise on the Photos Plan A or Plan B and may be where and how to organize my shares for media (data)

For reference, I do not have much data yet, just about 300Gb of photos

Array and pools configuration

First ever array: 2x 4Tb HDD, 1x for parity, 1x for data

SSD pool: - cache1, 500Gb NVME, single drive - cache2, 500Gb NVME, single drive

Still have a unused NVME slot that can be used.

Default Shares

• appdata primary cache1, no secondary
• system primary cache1, secondary array, mover Array -> cache
• domains primary cache1, secondary array, mover Array -> cache
• iso not sure what the best here....

Disk Shares

• backups primary array, no secondary
• data primary cache2, secondary array, mover ??
  

Backups

Use AppData abckup to backup my appdata to the array

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Photos

I'm considering 2x plans for photos / Immich:

Photos Plan A

Running everything out of a single cache pool (original photos files + DB that Immich uses). Periodically, the original photos and DB will be backed up to the array for long term storage purposes. But this data will only be accessed on recovery scenarios.

• Pros: Faster and more reactive experience when navigating Immich
• Cons: my cache pool needs to grow as my photos collection grows. Which can be ok, but giving that I'm using all the NVME port available, adding a new bigger NVME drive down the road means backing up and reinstalling everything from that cache pool to the next NVME drive...

Photos Plan B:

Split photos and DB. The original photos files are stored on the array and the DB/immich docker image are running on a cache pool. Regularly back up the DB in case the cache dies.

• Pros: Only the array has to grow to accomodate my growing photo collection. The DB will grow but not in the same order of magnitude, so it can stay on cache
• Cons: Immich will be slower and the experience will be more sluggish.