{"id":5434,"date":"2022-12-30T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/include-usb-hard-drives-in-the-unraid-array\/"},"modified":"2022-12-30T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T10:00:00","slug":"include-usb-hard-drives-in-the-unraid-array","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/en\/include-usb-hard-drives-in-the-unraid-array\/","title":{"rendered":"Include USB hard drives in the Unraid array"},"content":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"4797\" data-bid=\"2\" data-placement=\"4798\">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<\/script>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">USB hard drives are usually the first step when the memory in the laptop or PC is no longer sufficient or the data should simply be mobile. If there is more and more data, the next step often follows to a file server or NAS (Network Attached Storage). There you can manage your data centrally, and USB hard drives are actually no longer needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have chosen Unraid as your file and applications server operating system, you can still use the USB HDDs as storage. This is because Unraid does not use a RAID, but a parity system. With the parity system, different hard disks with different sizes can be combined, including USB disks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using USB hard disks with Unraid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to add the USB HDD to the Unraid array, it must first be stopped. You can initiate this process under the &#8220;Main&#8221; tab at the bottom under &#8220;Stop&#8221;. All Docker and virtual machines are stopped, and network drives are no longer available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now the USB hard drive only has to be plugged into a free and preferably USB 3.0 supporting USB port. The hard disk is recognized and can be easily integrated into the array. Now the array has to be started again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-how-to wp-block-yoast-how-to-block\"><p class=\"schema-how-to-total-time\"><span class=\"schema-how-to-duration-time-text\">Time required:&nbsp;<\/span>5 minutes<\/p><p class=\"schema-how-to-description\"><\/p> <ol class=\"schema-how-to-steps\"><li class=\"schema-how-to-step\" id=\"how-to-step-1672400797004\"><strong class=\"schema-how-to-step-name\">Stop Unraid Array<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-how-to-step-text\">Under &#8220;Main&#8221; click on the &#8220;Stop&#8221; button at the bottom and confirm.<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"681\" height=\"56\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5432\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/stopp-unraid-array-1.png\" style=\"max-width:100%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/stopp-unraid-array-1.png 681w, https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/stopp-unraid-array-1-300x25.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px\" \/><\/p> <\/li><li class=\"schema-how-to-step\" id=\"how-to-step-1672400838523\"><strong class=\"schema-how-to-step-name\">Connect USB hard disk to the server<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-how-to-step-text\">Connect the USB hard drive to a USB port. In the best case, the USB port supports USB 3.0, which is usually indicated by the blue plastic in the port itself.<\/p> <\/li><li class=\"schema-how-to-step\" id=\"how-to-step-1672400864507\"><strong class=\"schema-how-to-step-name\">Add USB hard disk to the array<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-how-to-step-text\">Select the hard disk under &#8220;Main&#8221; and &#8220;Array&#8221;.<\/p> <\/li><li class=\"schema-how-to-step\" id=\"how-to-step-1672400886244\"><strong class=\"schema-how-to-step-name\">Restart Unraid Array<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-how-to-step-text\">Under &#8220;Main&#8221; restart the array with the &#8220;Start&#8221; button. The hard disk is now mounted in the array:<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"920\" height=\"34\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5433\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/unraid-array-usb-hdd-1.png\" style=\"max-width:100%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/unraid-array-usb-hdd-1.png 920w, https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/unraid-array-usb-hdd-1-300x11.png 300w, https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/unraid-array-usb-hdd-1-768x28.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/><\/p> <\/li><\/ol><\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"4799\" data-bid=\"2\" data-placement=\"4800\">PGRpdiBpZD0ibmV0Z3VpZGVhLTEzOTgxNjgyODEiIGNsYXNzPSJuZXRndWlkZWEtYWZ0ZXItY29udGVudCBuZXRndWlkZWEtZW50aXR5LXBsYWNlbWVudCI+PGRpdiBjbGFzcz0ibmV0Z3VpZGVhLWFkbGFiZWwiPkFkdmVydGlzZW1lbnRzPC9kaXY+PHNjcmlwdCBhc3luYyBzcmM9Ii8vcGFnZWFkMi5nb29nbGVzeW5kaWNhdGlvbi5jb20vcGFnZWFkL2pzL2Fkc2J5Z29vZ2xlLmpzP2NsaWVudD1jYS1wdWItNjI1ODU1NjI1NzI0NTk5OCIgY3Jvc3NvcmlnaW49ImFub255bW91cyI+PC9zY3JpcHQ+PGlucyBjbGFzcz0iYWRzYnlnb29nbGUiIHN0eWxlPSJkaXNwbGF5OmJsb2NrOyIgZGF0YS1hZC1jbGllbnQ9ImNhLXB1Yi02MjU4NTU2MjU3MjQ1OTk4IiAKZGF0YS1hZC1zbG90PSI0NTU5Nzg1MDAyIiAKZGF0YS1hZC1mb3JtYXQ9ImF1dG8iPjwvaW5zPgo8c2NyaXB0PiAKKGFkc2J5Z29vZ2xlID0gd2luZG93LmFkc2J5Z29vZ2xlIHx8IFtdKS5wdXNoKHt9KTsgCjwvc2NyaXB0Pgo8L2Rpdj4=<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to add a USB hard drive to your Unraid array. Because Unraid uses a parity system instead of RAID, you can freely mix disks of different sizes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Tobias Pries","author_link":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/author\/tobias-pries\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Learn how to add a USB hard drive to your Unraid array. Because Unraid uses a parity system instead of RAID, you can freely mix disks of different sizes.","brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}