Gwendolyn Parker

Hi All, With the energy prices getting higher and higher, I want to optimize my energy consumption. I would like to have one Unraid share synchronized with my Windows PC and only keep my Unraid server up for a couple of hours a day instead of 24/7. To avoid having duplicates of files across my shares, I figured out I might want to create a "Sync" share that would only contain symlinks to other folders so I can keep files I want permanent access to on my workstation. Would the following work using something like the below achieve the desired result. ln -s /mnt/user/Documents /mnt/user/SyncShare/Documents ln -s /mnt/user/Movies/ToBeWatched /mnt/user/SyncShare/Movies ln -s /mnt/user/Photos/Recent /mnt/user/SyncShare/ToDo If this is not workable, is there another way to achieve this ? Is there any risk involved with the usage of symlinks ? Is there something you think I should know before typing these commands ? Thank you !

I do. At least in part. My VR180-360° footage, the drives fill up faster than I can afford if I need to buy them double. I know HA is not backup, but IMO unraid offers the best compromise between risk and cost. I guess I'll end up buying more drives to build a second system.

Thanks ChatNoir. I investigated further but didn't find a solution yet. It will take time to figure out which device keeps spinning up the drives. I'm not the only one with the issue from what I can see. But it is likely a third party software indeed.

First of all a big thanks. I'm super happy I moved from Syno to a real and flexible NAS solution. You guys at limetech reduced my overall stress level caused by potential data loss quite much. I have a 96 TB Array I did set up using mostly 14TB Drives (2x 14TB Parity). My data is very diverse, and the vast majority of it doesn't need to be accessed frequently. (I didn't need to access some shares for more than 18 months). Truly ice cold storage. It is however irreplaceable data or data where so much work has been put in I'd likely have a seizure if anything happens to it. Hence the inclusion in some redundant system, ie. Unraid. The other part of the data I work daily with. Also mostly irreplaceable data mixed with a media library, TV shows and movies. With the insanely increase in price of energy, (and price in my country are in the world top 10) I wanted to optimize my costs. Spinning down arrays is not a solution since Windows clients keep polling the array too frequently to make it worth it. (Unless I missed something) My questions are as follows: Is it possible to have a second array that I would keep stopped and just start when needed ? (I'm confused with multiple pools vs multiple arrays) If the above is possible, how shall I proceed to "split" the array in 2. Keeping only 1 parity driver per array, then adding a 2nd parity disk to each? If not, is there a solution to keep the drives spun down for sure, despite Microsoft's invasive samba shares scanning eagerness ? Anything else you guys figured out to save $$$ on the energy bill ? Of course a second Unraid NAS is the obvious answer, but I don't have spare hardware for the moment and not enough cash either. Thank you !

From another post by itimpi today : "After using New Config then when you start the array Unraid will recognise any data drives are in Unraid format; leave their data intact; and build new parity based on the new drive set when you start the array."

Thanks Ericjr- Unfortunately I don't have the 500€ for extra drives right now. Hence my request do proceed without copying/moving data. -Gn

Thank you for your response. Won't there be issues with required pre-clear or something ? Besides leaving data unprotected during rebuild, is there any other risk of corrupting the array when putting drives back in ? Gwen

Here is my problem, I have 2 disks in my array literally filled with a large collection of 5,7K 180°VR/360° Video footage. Lots of very high bitrate clips. Due to COVID19, the project I was working on is (hopefully temporarily) suspended because of travel bans and funding issues. I'd like to put the disks in a safe place (read: a data center fire resistant cabinet I've access to) until things get better - There is no reason for me to keep these two drives spinning for months, maybe years, in my array. These files are valuable only if the project respawns, if it ever does. They'll lose their value with time passing. So, my question is : Is there a way for me to unplug the 2 drives these videos are on and remove them from the array. Then, when things get better, plug them back in and re-include them in the array, without the need to move the 19 TB+ files across drives/shares (I won't have enough free space to do so). Thank you ! Notes: I'm aware it means I'll lose parity protection when performing these actions, as parity will need to be rebuilt upon removal/addition. And obviously when offline ;). I really want these off-site, no interest in keeping them spun down in a separate group for example I'm not looking for alternatives to this scenario nor recommendations for offline storage.

Hyper-V kept switching itself on for some reason. Rather than tracking issue down, I just did set up the VM without it from start. Which seems best practice anyway. --- Kind of solved for me.

Thank you Decto for the detailed issue track down instructions! The issue seemed related to the USB VL805 controller. A double reboot of the VM after removing the card made it work again. I messed up in the bios and swapped PCI slots but still no joy. Since the Fresco FL1100 based card is often indicated as a working one, I followed your advice and ended up getting one on-line, delivered in less than 13h. All I had to do is run the VFIO plugin, select as passthrough PCI device and Tadaaaa ! Immediately recognized. Working with a thumb drive. Conclusion I lost 2 days tinkering my config while I could just have spent 29€ and get it working straight away. I could have had it for 19€ from Amazon https://www.hagglezon.com/en/s/B00B6ZCNGM I'll update this post if I notice something wrong while actively using it. Thanks to rachid596 for reaching out too

HI All, I've been trying all day to get an entire PCI-e USB 3.0 controller passed through to an existing Windows 10 that works like a charm. I cloned it to experiment. Proceeded with the VFIO plugin as per SpaceInvader's instructions. Rebooted, got the card in a separate IOMMU group and listed in VM's PCI devices to be passed through. Enabled it in VM's config. Booted and the VM gost stuck at the TianoCore circle. I tried several things, edited XML config, rebooted so many times that my drives spin up count spiked, but no joy. The USB controller was inserted in the first PCI-e 1x slot, 2nd being the Video card. The controller is a CSL with a VIA VL805 chipset which I read has compatibility issues. Is this confirmed ? I then searched for a more compatible card, but those that work for one config seem to be incompatible for others. I searched the forum for solutions but issues seem to have so random solutions that I got discouraged at this point. Would a friendly soul help me by providing guidance on how I could get things working? Recommended hardware (I'm willing to purchase a more compatible card) Or a sequence of things I could check to track down the issue. Or of course point me to a post that would contain the above Thank you!

Thank you ! I'll look into this

Wow 72+ views, not a single hint. Is this request so unusual. Or perhaps too obvious.

Hello everybody, I'm making progress with Unraid. Up till now all works great ! I've successfully did set up multiple test VMs even with gpu passthrough ! The information is quite much spread across forums, wiki , youtube and Reddit but I find my way. What shall I do for one of the Windows 10 VM (I use it as a sandbox) to be fully isolated from the rest of my lan including unraid shares but still have it access plain internet. I'm not very much aware of network things besides ports, forwards and tunnels but I can follow instructions and do some research pretty well Thanks. Gwen.

I second this seconded request