Brandnewfatboy

What 4tb drives are you using? I have new, empty N54L and trying to think about what to populate it with!

N54L arrived last night. It's tiny! Existing tower looks massive next to it. Final price, assuming rebate gets sorted, will be £79.94. Bargain Thanks all - particularly neilt0.

I've been playing with the Handbrake Batch on the Mac: http://www.osomac.com/apps/osx/handbrake-batch/ Pros: Very simple: load in the files, choose a preset, go. Output looks good. Cons: No options to mess with (rarely, there are some files that need pref tweaking to play nicely with my ancient 5.1). Can't discern which version of Handbrake is under the hood. Which I find a bit disconcerting. I probably don't need to know, but I feel I should know.

Last week I was trying to explain parity to a colleague considering setting up an unRAID server. (With only partial success - he had that 'nodding in agreement while looking a bit mystified' expression.) And I'd also seen some parity-related posts by Tom that helped clarify some aspects in my mind. So, prompted by these two things, I've drafted an overview or key concepts article... Parity It's an amalgam/distillation of existing wiki/forum text. And it could do with a good read and update from expert unRAIDers as there are probably other aspects that I don't know about, parts that could be expanded on, or additional links that could be added. Tom has already had a look over and corrected a bit on parity sync errors Feedback from new users would also be useful, to see whether there are parts that could be explained more clearly

My loft - classic 1930s suburban London style - ranges from an oven in summer to an icebox in winter. It's unfelted and very drafty and dusty. I suspect very bad indeed for HDs. Lounge cupboard may well be fine. I'm running my server - a CM590 with 8 discs so far - in a bedroom wardrobe. I was a bit concerned about temps and airflow at first, but even in the summer the disc temps never went above low 30s.

110". Nice. My immediate first thought was 'how can i fit one of these in my living room?'. Immediate conclusion: I can't. Shame. would be ideal for watching cricket/football

Years ago, I was told to leave 10% of a drive free on my Macs. Don't know if there's any data to back up this being a good thing, but it's always seemed to make sense for a standard desktop/laptop that's writing lots of files. For the drives in my unRAID – 2Tb and 1.5Tb - leaving 10% would just seem a waste of space. And most of my files are 'write once, read seldom'. My rule of thumb has been to leave roughly 1% – 20Gb or 15Gb free min. Haven't seen any problems on the drives I've filled so far. But would be interested to hear of any scientific data on optimum space to leave.

Works very nicely (as does the 'tap to quote' feature). Not that I post much!

Installed Tapatalk. Seems a much nicer way of exploring the forum. I like

Keep an eye on disc prices at Scan.co.uk and Dabs.com WD20EARS are going for £69 at Scan, £70 at Dabs. Plus £5 or so shipping. I've had good service from both. Dabs are slightly better at packaging

Marvellous clean-up job of the wiki! There are two spam articles that had escaped deletion - spammers had cheekily edited their Bilge category tags into a link to an online pharmacy of dubious origin. They're now back in Bilge Many thanks for enabling file upload for images. Have done a quick test and it works a treat

Now that the forum has had a makeover – and is much improved – I’d like to suggest that the wiki has some TLC. A few ideas how it could be improved: Deleting the spam Half the pages on the wiki are now spam. I’ve grouped them into a Bilge category – 115 pages to date, out of 212 total. They’re not really doing any harm I suppose, but the All pages page shows how cluttered it’s getting. A few weeks ago, there was also a burst of new, clearly spam-related user accounts created. Which didn’t then appear to do anything. Oddness. Stopping spam Not really sure how successful anti-spam measures can be. We have a wiki at work, but it’s internal so spam isn’t really an issue. Mediawiki manual discusses various ways of Combating spam. I suspect that no method, even in combination, is infallible, but could reduce the chance of the wiki being a spammer target. More administrators Just as the forum is benefiting from an array of moderators, I think the wiki would benefit from having more administrators. Having another 1 or 2 would help with deleting spam pages and spam users, and with other stuff that has slightly cryptic descriptions but is probably useful (!) If there can be more administrators, I’d like to nominate RobJ. Images The wiki would really benefit from pictures. For example, images of hardware would help to show what Rajahal’s recommended builds look like, or what certain components look like, while annotated screenshots of the web interface would be really useful to new users. It may be that it’s not wise to allow all users to upload images, due to the potential for spam abuse. But perhaps a few users, in addition to administrators, could be given upload rights. Updated homepage There was a comment from Tom a while ago about the GUI being important because it's the face of unRAID. Equally, the wiki is how unRAID documentation is presented to the world, and at the moment its homepage is a bit dry and unappealing. Could do with a refresh. A rather more elegant equivalent is the Networked Media Tank Wiki. Am not necessarily suggesting that the unRAID wiki copies this look or approach – there may be other wiki ways that are even better. Would be very interested to see them if so. If the homepage is updated, it would still be important to be clear what is ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’.

+1 Much clearer, and a really good plan to have a moderator squad. (is there a collective noun for moderators? An array of moderators?)

Spectrum - superb job. Has inspired me to have a go at this screen thing

You can get jumpers from standard electronics shops. (Maplins, if you're in the UK.) Think I paid £1-2 for a pack of 100

Really like the look of the Fractal Design cases. if my CM 590 wasn't hidden in a wardrobe, I'd have to get something rather more elegant - and these are some of the best I've seen Here's a review of the XL's smaller sibling - the Define R2 http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1034-page1.html if the XL is on similar lines, definitely promising

I had the same error with one WD15EARS. When I attached a monitor, I could see unRAID trying to boot, but looping an error over and over again. Never got to a prompt. One another WD15eARS, tried again and this time it did boot. But the syslog was riddled with an error, repeated over and over. Have still got this syslog saved somewhere if someone would find it useful. In both cases, took the jumper off, reformatted, and all is back to jumperless normal. Still have the urge to try adding jumpers again. Can't quite decipher a plan B as yet though

And this case, linked to in that post, is the tidiest one I've seen. includes PSU. mini-ITX. Don't have one myself, but have case envy

as of your request I did not have a list: But... as of right now, here it is: Long list! I've updated the wiki section on Add On Packages as it only had a subset of this list, and the descriptions are now, well, more descriptive. And have added links to some more forum threads. Some cross-referencing to other wiki pages/sections to do. A couple that may not be needed in this list: - libxml was on the previous list but not this - still needed here? - cxxlibs-6.0.9-i486.tgz library - too niche? The intro para to this section also appears a bit dated: "These are packages utilizing the UnMENU Package Manager (see above). Once you install UnMENU, you can drop any package .conf file into the /boot/packages folder, and be able to automatically download the tar package, install it, and set it for automatic install on every unRAID boot. Some of these and many others are included in Joe L's latest package file, found here. A direct link to the zipped collection of package .conf files is here (may change or become obsolete of course)." How about updating to something like: "Many different packages have been developed or converted to add functionality to your unRAID server. The packages listed below can be installed with just a few clicks through the unMENU Package Manager." Should it also include a sentence for users who wish to install a package but not unMENU?

Once your luck has improved and all is working can you post some pics. Am v tempted by the Fractal Design case and would be good to see how it looks in action.

This 5 drive mini tower build sounds ideal for friends and colleagues of mine who've expressed an interest in unRAID. They wouldn't want the bulk of a CM590, nor would they need more than 5 discs. But, what this build could do with is a variant that has WAF. A case that is small and elegant, and could be part of the audiovisual kit. ie doesn't look too much like a computer. With the expectation of higher cost. The best I've seen is the Fractal Design mini case recommended in the 6 disc mini rig thread. £127 from QuietPC. Less than I expected. But, haven't seen one used for a build yet, so presume that it can't be recommended until then.

Love what you've done with the cooling!

Really liking the new 'Check for unMENU updates' button. Excellent plan. And the package manager is growing into an impressive resource. Have got iStat working happily, now trying out mail. Managing to resist the urge to install everything I read the original 'Ideas for Revamping the Initial Unraid Page'. V interesting to see how unMENU developed from the start

Ah, so is UCD just one facet of a wider technology compulsive disorder?

I've updated the Building an unRAID server wiki page. In the previous version, assembly was covered by 'slap it all in your case'. To describe the process, I've derived text from several thread comments that I found v useful when constructing for the first time. Have then added more structure to the following sections, and expanded the configuring and starting the array section, again from v useful threads. And added some more links Please review, add/delete and correct errors!