mcs

I didnt follow the "method of upgrading recommended from RC11". I followed the method for "If you are currently running unRAID Server OS release 5.0-rc16c:" i.e simply replace 'bzimage' and 'bzroot' and reboot.

Quick note to add another data point for 5.0. I recently updated from RC11 to 5.0, by simply replacing 'bzimage' and 'bzroot', and found no surprises. I ran a parity check before and after the upgrade, with both reporting no problems and average speed of ~75 MB/s. System: MB: Asus M4A78-VM (http://www.asus.com.au/product.aspx?P_ID=daNjn5iQIh14MVvN) CPU: AMD SEMPRON LE-1200 CPU, 2.1GHz (45W) RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair DDR2 PC-6400/800 PSU: Corsair VX-450 450W ATX Power Supply PCI SATA: Adaptec 1430SA - PCI E x4 (installed in M4A78 16x "graphics" slot) Disks: 10 (2x3TB, 4x2TB, 4x1.5TB, mostly green)

Another couple of thoughts: The (30-50 MB/s) with parity write figures I provided below are for writting to disk shares, as I don't use user shares. I believe user shares can cause a performance hit, especially on low end CPUs. Are you writting to disk shares or user shares? There are also a number of oldish (500GB) disks on your system which may have slower write speeds.

It's not likely to be a CPU issue. I'm also running a basic system: MB: Asus M4A78-VM CPU: AMD SEMPRON LE-1200 CPU, 2.1GHz (45W) PCI SATA: Adaptec 1430SA - PCI E x4 (installed in M4A78-VM 16x "graphics" slot) And getting, similar results that you are reporting except for parity protected write speed: Parity Sync: ~70MB/s Read Speed: 50MB/s+ Write Speed (WITH PARITY): 30-50 MB/s Check your BIOS settings, make sure it has disks set to AHCI if it is available. I originally had mine set to SATA and suffered a 20%+ performance hit.

I'm running 3Tb disks on an M4A78VM (which I believe is a similar) and 140SA controller (with its bios disabled) with no problems. http://www.asus.com.au/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M4A78VM/

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Master_Browser

Windows can "forget" about which computers are available on the network. Try setting TOWER's setting for "Local Master" to Yes.

Dont know about WDIDLE. -A option is ignored when preclearing 3TB+ drives.

Just confirming this approach was successful with rc11.

Yes. If you "really" need to backup the full 24TB without a second server your only "real" choice would be a big bunch of hard drives (e.g. 6x4TB, 8x3TB, 12x2TB, ... )

A second unRAID server... Or be selective in what you back up, e.g. Photos, tax returns, documents, etc should be backed up to multiple sources, including ones kept at different sites. Unless your a photographer or graphics artist this probably won't reach 24TB. DVDs, music etc can be reburrned if needed and don't really "need" to be "backed up".

Will this approach work under 5.0-rc11, substituting [New Config] for [Restore]? Thanks

It is expected. You cannot preclear a disk (i.e. Disk 10) that has been assigned to the array.

The compact case becomes difficult to manage with ten disks as there is little room to work with the cables. It's difficult to add/change a disk without needing to remove the connectors on adjacent drives. I have a Lian Li EX-34NB 4 x 3.5in HDD Extension Cage to get the case up to ten disks. http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_30_395&products_id=11161 This cage needs to be removed to work on the disks it holds which is rather painful. Maybe in a larger case which allows more play with cables it would be easier to use. My next server will be using drive cages that allows drives to be changed without opening the case (see the link Frank1940 provided below). You will probably be adding/upgrading drives more often than you are currently expecting, and the 300 will not make it a pleasant experience.

I'm also using an Antec 300, now with 10 disks. Overall its a nice case, only problem is that changing/adding disks can be a pain. If your looking towards growing your array it may be worthwhile getting a case that is easier to work with up front.

I "backup" critical files (basically photos) to a second drive on the same unraid (as well as portable disks some of which are off site). It may be wasteful, but it lets me feel a little more comfortable that to lose the unraid copy of critical files the two disks which happen to contain the files would need to fail simultaneously.

I've been performing incremental/versioned backups with SyncBackSE to unRAID for many years. It works very well. http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/sbse.html

rsync does not play well with user shares. rsync creates the complete directory structure on the destonation disk before copying any files over This typically results in everything being copied ending up on the one disk where the directory structure was initially created and that disk filling up. It is safer to use disk shares with rsync.

The new parity value is calculated based on the old parity value and the newly written data, thus only needing two disks spun up: the one being written to; the parity disk. See http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#How_does_parity_work.3F for more details and useful cross references.

This is a question for http://support.no-ip.com/ not unRAID. And demanding a response in <3hours is better than most paid service level agreement response times...

If using wireless VoIP handsets throughout your large (?) property I suspect you may need either multiple wireless relays or multiple wired access points which will need a nearby network socket.

It may be worthwhile to add an extra cable to each location for phones. Better off running all cables in one go while your renovating. A patch pannel is essential in this scenario to avoid a cabling nightmare. I assume your getting an approved cableer to do the work. The Australian communications authority is anal about comms cabling. Options for wholesale suppliers include: - www.rexel.com.au - www.idealelectrical.com - www.middys.com.au Amongst many others...

iPad and iphone can connect when the unRAID IP address is used. I usually power down the server with my iPad or iPhone.

You can use the smb-extra.conf file to achieve this. See http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9453.msg90405#msg90405

Yes. Root would get to the Video directory by the Data share (Data/Video) Guests would see the Video directory by the media share