Lolight

The increasing reallocated sector count metric never looks good. Don't use in in the array.

The negatives of the small case are: restrictive air flow that will inevitably affect HD temps very limiting expansion possibilities requirement for the usually more expensive mini ITX motherboards which normally come with no more than 4 SATA ports, and those boards that do come with 6 are impossible to find. A better choice would be to get a spacious, NAS friendly case e.g. Fractal Node 804 which features ample cooling, accommodates cheaper mATX motherboards, many of which have 6 or even more SATA ports and designed to hold at least 8 HDs. It also would be better to start with just 2 HDs (parity and data) and get the biggest ones you can afford. Multiple smallish HDs are not desirable. They consume extra electricity, use up limited SATA ports and increase number of points of potential failure. The usage of a HBA card would add another device using non-trivial amounts of electricity. If from the get go you structure your system with bigger drives and at least 6 SATA ports, then you probably won't even need to consider having HBA for a long while. Any modern Intel i3 chip with iGPU will serve your needs just fine.

Do you need to transcode? Asking since so many simply assume that everyone does without understanding why.

In case If the clients are on the same network... You can easily make all stationary clients 4k direct play capable and forget of the upgrading dilemmas.

Do you have any particular space constraints? Don't use a small case for a NAS machine unless you have a specific need (many negatives). Will you need to transcode? You device might be capable of direct play. How much storage space do you plan to have? Why an old CPU?

Welcome!

Maybe it's just my impression but you seem to be unfamiliar with certain ways of collecting copyrighted material. Yes, many people around here are using the *arr app dockers. Just a word of caution. Depending on the country of your residence this practice can be deemed illegal. You'd have to make sure to learn all about this method and potential consequences, before blindly jumping on the bandwagon.

Thank you for the response.

There's the Upvote but there's no Downvote buttons. Why? IMO, it's very useful in gauging the value and relevance of forum replies. Instead there's the "confused" button which is limited in its usability. It's not used much around here.

Assuming that we're looking at the exact same post... Didn't I mention of him being real sophisticated in the presentation of his review? His writing is very clear and properly formatted. He doesn't openly slander Unraid in any way - he simply pretends to be "your friend" that sincerely cares about your data and just wants you to be aware of all the risks associated with Unraid, no matter how real they actually are or if they're even applicable to your user case. He even throws out a few good words here and there in his Unraid presentation. Because his goal is: "Use whatever you want, just be informed :)" Right? Oh, by the way: "BitRot is real." And Unraid obviously suck at dealing with that. No any further comment required on this part. Just throw it out and leave it like that cause it must be self-explanatory to any noobs. And then he lists categories of users who would be perfectly fine with Unraid. It literally describes the vast majority of newcomers looking for a simple, easy to use Home NAS, used to store mostly replaceable data! Newcomers that will continue to be scared away by the now re-occuring "Go Unraid - use your family pictures" thanks to Bitrot. But how about the use of a proper backup for all irreplaceable data? Which is a must regardless of the file system. He doesn't mention that - predictably it's being omitted from his review. The noobs are exactly that - noobs! They don't know any better! They look for an advice and have little understanding of what software might suit their needs. Even a mention of Unraid now often triggers a predictable response by being refereed to that post or get responses with a bunch of regurgitated talking points by the subreddit's "parrot army". Just put yourself in the average noobs shoes. Would 99% of them be scared away after reading that review? Even though Unraid might match their needs absolutely perfectly? Because if they're still hesitating he'll through in the final punch - the picture of the the Bitrot damage that I've linked in my prior post. Technically no malicious misrepresentation here, just a little nudge in his view. Or would it be rather a blatant kick in the nuts as compared to the effect that such a picture would generate on the newcomer. It's not even the review itself. It's now being used as a base for the advice being generated by other redditors just repeating the same thing as if it's become an undisputed fact. And in conclusion he states: "Please don't think I'm 'hating on UnRaid', it has it's place, and it's a very well refined piece of software, the things it DOES do, it does VERY WELL." How nice of him. He still pretends to be impartial - just offering public service! He has spent the majority of his review creating and articulating an anti-Unraid argument, describing the shortcomings of Unraid that won't affect the majority of its core user base, has thrown around the obligatory Bitrot as the real deal breaker and then just concluded that he's really not against Unraid in any way because it offers a lot of utility to the intended audience. Hard to think of a stealthier way to undermine Unraid in its adoption by new users. A real skillful job, I must admit!

👍👍👍

Thank you very much for taking your time to respond to my concerns! I don't know if that particular anti-Unraid poster on HomeServer subredit is iXsystems connected or supported by them in any way. Most likely not. What is clear is that he(she) has some kind of an agenda in discouraging anyone even from trying Unraid out. That person comes across as a very articulate and equally knowledgeable on anything NAS (at least in the average noob's view) which begs the question what drives him(her) to construct such attacks. I think Unraid as a community and company could be more proactive in defending itself from half-truths and misleading, fear-mongering claims when made on super-active public forum. By offering a constructive defense from blatant attacks on its OS I'd say that the Unraid community even would provide public service to all newcomers who are interested and would greatly benefit from a nicely designed consumer oriented NAS. All those consumers that are now discouraged even from trying Unraid out when they read nasty fear-mongering claims such as "Go Unraid - loose all you family pictures", or maybe more subtle ones like "UnRaid array isn't a very safe place for long term, bulk, photo storage." You can only imagine what effect such claims leave on unsuspecting noobs when they're also accompanied by a visual representation of what would happen to those pictures if "negligently" allowed to reside on Unraid: Of course, Bitrot - the never failing, very effective scare-mongering tactic! It works every single time in putting down another newcomer who has dared to express some interest in Unraid! The mentioned anti_Unraider specifically shies away from even mentioning that any NAS should always be accompanied by a real backup, especially of the family pictures. Also, no mention of the likelihood or possibility of such the phenomenon even to start with. Those anti-Unraid claims don't just go away on their own When left un-answered they continue to be repeated or even re-posted as it's been shown to be the case by the above-mentioned anti-Unraid redditor who's created an extensive and, dare I say, effective post full of talking points on why one shouldn't use Unraid, which he(she) posted on HomeServer more than 6 months ago. He(she) spent what seems to be a considerable amount of time writing such an "essay". It did work so well to support his(her) agenda, that he(she) now places links to that very post every time when there seem to be a pushback forming in defense of Unraid. Unraid itself has a very active subredit with many followers. Surely there must be someone knowledgeable in all things NAS on the Unraid's own subreddit who might be interested in donating some time in monitoring HomeServer subreddit and offering a constructive, truthful information to the inquiring newcomers and when necessary, confronting the viscous nay-sayers who for now go unchallenged.

Any current Intel CPU with a built-in iGPU for transcoding, consumer motherboard and 16-32GB of non-ECC memory.

The survey seems to be only for the internal use. I don't know if the timing of the survey is just a coincidence... I've noticed an already developed trend on the very popular with noobs homeserver subreddit. There's what seems to be a concerted effort to steer every newcomer towards TrueNas Scale. TrueNas has its advantages for certain case usage, but it's being promoted as the ultimate fit it all solution, and free to boot - a clear winner all around! And Unraid being badmouthed even when it can be considered as an absolute match for someone new who just wants a simple, easy, cheap (even with the added cost of the software) and reliable platform to host Plex and nothing more. Even if there's a suggestion made or two for Unraid, they're being overshadowed by multiple TrueNas proponents who don't hesitate to scare the unsuspecting and looking for an advice noobs with the non-sensical "Go Unraid - loose all of your data" or "Why would you want to pay $120 for junk software" proclamations. Yes, the Unraid community in general is very helpful and polite and on the whole seems to be very happy with the product. I don't know what would be a solution to the situation (I don't do Reddit) but just wanted to share my observation. I'm speculating here, but wouldn't be surprised based on my observation if the Unraid sales have paused growing or maybe even on the decline.

Intel's buit-in iGPU for hardware-accelerated streaming in Plex (or Jellyfin, Emby)

You can check the link in the prior posts above.

It's possible but unlikely for both SSD drives to fail on their own at the exact same time. What is wrong with them?

In a limited air flow box your HDD's might be subjected to wide temperature swings - not a good thing for the HDD's longevity. The condition might be considered to be even more detrimental than the consistently high, but relatively stable temperatures. I'd advice to check their temps when active.

Doesn't really mean much that they're manufacturer re-certified. Yes, they have passed whatever qualifying tests in order to be put back on the market. What is unknown is their prior history. They could be old new stock, nicely packed and stored under controlled environment and near ideal conditions. Or be some unwanted returns that were never properly stored, packaged and handled.

Yeah, but how about the hard drives' temperatures?

Did you install the drives? What are the running drives temps? The box seems to have a strangely arranged, limited air flow, that is mostly reserved for M.2's.

This time they bundle motherboards with incompatible memory in a combo deal! 🤔 Starts at 3:00

Thanks for posting your results. I was also shocked by my Patriot Flex number - 500mA. Five times as much as the Kingston and Transcend, both of which tested at 100mA. The Flex is more than a decade old. I was using it extensively for a couple of years after the purchase. I remember it running exceedingly hot, much more so than any other of my USB 2.0 drives. At the time I've attributed the hot running temperatures to the drive's minuscule physical dimensions. But now think that the demanded current design might be the culprit.