Hi,

I’ve been playing with a Dell mini PC (OptiPlex 7070) that I set up with Proxmox and a single Debian virtual machine that hosts a bunch of containers (mostly an *arr stack).

All the data resides on the single SSD that came with the machine, but I’m now satisfied with the whole ordeal and would like to migrate my storage from my PC to this solution.

What’s the best approach software side? I have a bunch of HD in of varying size and age (therefore expected reliability) and I’d initially dedicate such storage to data I can 100% afford to lose (basically media).

I read I should avoid USB (even though my mini PC exposes a USB-C) for reliability, but on the other hand I’m not sure what other options I have that doesn’t force me to buy a NAS or properly sized HD to install inside the machine…

Also, what’s a good filesystem for my usecase?

Thank for any tips.

  • dwindling7373@feddit.itOPEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    There a dozens of us!

    So I guess I can build a new VM and this won’t impact too heavily on my computational power (mostly Jellyfinn streaming 1080p stuff), correct?

    Is there any way around the impending… running out of USB? Would a usb-C dongle be a nono?

    Either way, thanks for the great answer.

    • LifeBandit666English
      2·
      6 months ago

      Yeah the new VM should just draw from your remaining RAM. My Debian VM is only using a few GB (6? 8?) but my Dell (I have a 7050 so it can’t be so different from yours) still has 10gb to play with.

      As for the running out of USBs I guess you could run a usb hub to one of the usb ports and just pass through the one, although I don’t know if that would break something.

      I don’t think they do a powered usb c to sata but I could be wrong. I’ve used 3/4 of the ports on the back for HDDs, and the remaining one for my ZigBee stick for Home Assistant VM and have one spare (on the front) plus the usb C. I have passed that usb C through to a VM for a usb c to 3.5mm (to send music to speakers) in the past though.

      You could try a usb to sata (powered) and a usb c to usb a to plug in to the usb C socket I guess, try that? I have a few usbc-a adapters knocking around the house so if you’re the same you could try it for nothing

      • dwindling7373@feddit.itOPEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        I was hoping for some Proxmox magic dynamic allocation of resources, CPU cores and RAM between the two VMs. I have 16Gb RAM anyway so I should have plenty…

        I guess I’ll play around starting from those much needed USB to SATA powered cables.

        • gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          If you want Proxmox to dynamically allocate resources you’ll need to use LXCs, not VMs. I don’t use VMs at all anymore for this exact reason.