unraided
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Posts posted by unraided
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I only have one word to comment on this set up, Awesome! Man you can never have too much data. I take it you don not run these guys 24/7?
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Like the fact you used the CF cards, nice.
This is my solution using Celeron processor.
Here's the Specs:
Case: ATX Case Diverse E178 - 4x 5.25" - 5x 3.5" - 2 USB
Mobo: Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P31-ES3G ATX - iP31 - LGA775 Socket - UDMA100, Serial ATA-300 - Gigabit Ethernet
CPU: Intel Celeron 430 / 1.8 GHz ( 800 MHz ) - LGA775 Socket - L2 512 KB (35W)
RAM: 2x Kingston ValueRAM - 1 GB - DIMM de 240 espigas - DDR2 - 800 MHz / PC2-6400 - CL5 - 1.8 V
PSU: Sharkoon SHA350-8P - 350W - ATX12V 2.2, ATX 2.03
Fans:
Arctic-Cooling Alpine 7 GT Socket 775
4x Cooler Master SAF B83-E1 - 80 mm.
Array case:
Kingwin KF-3000-BK - RAID SATA - 3.5"
Evercool ARMOR Dual 3xHDD Cooler
Addon: PCI Sata II SIL3124 with NCQ and Port Multiplier
Other:
External Fan Control
ESATA PCI bracket
Dual IDE-CF adapter
Sandisk Compact Flash 64MB
Sandisk Compact Flash 8GB
HDDs:
1x500GB (Seagate ST3500630AS)
3x500GB (Seagate ST3500641AS)
1x750GB (WDC WD7500AADS)
1x750GB (MDT MD7500AAVS)
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Wow, digging that rig, perhaps you'd consider a trade?
I'm guessing not. That server would look the part in any server room racking. Nice work.
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Mate, good choice of hardware and craftsmanship in the assembly, I especially like the cabling too
. Hey folks, built my first unRAID server about a month ago ... just now getting around to posting some pics.
Here's my config:
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Antec Nine Hundred Two Case (w/ 1 extra Antec drive cage for 3 total)
SuperMicro X7SPA-HF Mini ITX Board (IPMI rocks)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 (667)
Corsair 650HX 650W Modular Power Supply
Verbatim TUFF-'N'-TINY 4GB Flash
1 x 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black (parity drive)
2 x 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green (WD20EARS)
2 x 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000
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If I remember correctly ...
Parity build speed ~60MB/s
Parity check speed ~75MB/s
Sorry, I'm a lousy photographer.
Such a tiny board in such a big space ...
The Verbatim TUFF-'N'-TINY is installed directly into the motherboard. It's very tiny and barely noticeable.
I took the time to braid all of the exposed wires (e.g. case fans, front panel IO, etc.) even though they are mostly routed behind the motherboard tray. Looks nicer that way.
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Here's a better view at the drives. I only have 5 in there right now (8TB data + 2TB parity). I will expand as I need more. They're spaced out right now, so the drives stay very cool. During parity checks, the WD Black maxes out at 30 degrees, the WD Greens max out around 28 degrees, and the Hitachi drives max out at 29 degrees. These temps are with all of the case fans running at their slowest speeds.
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A look at the backside wiring. Not too bad ... glad it's hidden. Zip-tie anchors are a must-have.
Also bought a nice braided 12" power cable extender to help route the power behind the motherboard. Without the extender, the power cable wasn't long enough to route behind the MB tray.
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Oooh ... pretty blue lights. Cast this bad-boy in the next 'Fast & Furious' flick! Ok ... seriously, I chose this case because it had nine exposed drive bays and it was fairly cheap ... not because of the blue lights.
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The case came with two drive cages ... each holds 3 drives, has a fan, a fan-speed controller, an air filter, and funky disco lights. I bought a third drive cage from Antec.
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The case has a window ... it sure made me self-conscious about my wiring.
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Hi there, sorry it wouldn't be possible as you're using the unraid OS drive as a virtual harddisk, which does not have a GUID like what a USB drive has. If you're keen to get a plus or pro version, best build a real rig. Thanks.
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As time goes by, SSD's will no doubt (like all technologies) will mature, improve in all factors and increase in size to the point where it will hold a good position in mainstream storage (like in a unraid server). Some companies (Like your HP, Dell, etc...) are only starting to introduce SSD's as an option, but again, it is ultra expensive and isn't viable, on a cost wise basis.
You can build a 20 disk unraid server and it would take the space of a Mid-High height PC case/4 RU server chassis, using your run-of-the-mill desktop hardware and this was the original idea of unraid, to be cost affective and flexible. Even if the price and reliability wasn't the factor for both SSD's or other 2.5" disks alike (dependent on personal opinions), their would be a small market who would build such a server.
For sure it would be cool to have a 40TB+ storage unit (using traditional 2.5" HD's and I guess a PC case would have to be modded to occupy these drives or requiring a heap of 2.5" disk enclosures as well) that would fit all into a small Midi tower, but I don't see the benefit, unless you live in a one bed room apartment and space and acoustics is a important factor for you
.Each to their own I guess, but a good topic never the less.
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On the topic of 2.5 vs 3.5in HD's, how would you rate the reliability of a 2.5" vs a 3.5"? Being that 2.5 are smaller and all, I would assume that the 2.5" disk would have a tenancy to fail/wear out quicker than a 3.5", under the standard/general circumstances? But again, I would also assume they'd be built to take more shocks and bumps as well given the purpose of these disks being used in Laptops only.
It is interesting this topic as these days some HP storage servers are moving to from 3.5" to 2.5" disks, albeit using disks that are designed for 'Server' standard conditions, ie: constant read/writes, 24/7 running times, etc... Their interest in this is to conserve/consolidate footprint space, cramming more storage in one location and saving power I'd imagine too.
If price and speed wasn't a difference, you'd be able to build a 40TB unraid server easily using the same footprint of a standard desktop PC case (re-modding the case would be required no doubt), less power consumption and noise to boot. But given the cost is a factor and speed differences as well, it would be like a lead balloon in some ways.
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Cheers for the testing funbubba, I'm going to roll out v4.5.6 on both my unRAID boxes soon. As for the IP KVM, yuo could eBay a second hand one for a reasonable price if you tried, and some SuperMicro mobo's have an additional IP module which gives you, even BIOS control, but this topic should be directed/posted to another section of the forum
. Thanks again for you're efforts. -
Hi funbubba. Thanks for the reply. Do you use WOL? If so, does it work OK with v4.5.6? Cheers.
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Hi funbubba, great looking rig you have there, awesome cabling. Just out of interest, what unRAID OS version are you running? I have the same mobo as you and was thinking of upgrading from v4.5.1 to v4.5.6, but wanted feedback from others who have my board running unRAID > v4.5.1, whether they had any problems. Cheers.
Hey guys, first post!
So I recently built my rig after trolling around the Lime-Tech forums/wiki for the past couple of months and decided to make the jump for it. The box I built was mainly to complement my HTPC running XBMC. Prior to unRAID, my HTPC consisted of a ~1 year old Mac Mini with two 1.5tb external drives connected via USB, shared via SMB so that 4 other possible XBMC clients (2 PC, 1 other OSX, and 1 Ubuntu) can watch from the same library. With my growing HD obsession collection, it's no surprise that I've quickly outgrown my ghetto storage solution. I needed something expandable! So here's my rig.
Specs..
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 590
Mobo: Asus M4A78L-M
CPU: AMD Sempron 140 2.7GHz
Mem: OCZ Gold 2x1GB
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-550VX
HDD: 2 x WD20EARS + 4 x Seagate 1.5
Backplanes: SNT-SAC3051TL 5 in 3
+ Koutech "jeezus-is-that-little-thing-really-worth-$10?" USB Header-Pin to Dual Type-A adapter
So I originally ordered everything without the backplanes, and I only had 6 drives. Once the parts arrived, it didn't take me long to figure out that I couldn't install #6 without looking like it was built by Leeroy Jenkins. So I decided to order the three 5in3's on the cheap. Hell, the electricity was out at the house anyway, I can wait (no, no I couldn't). I don't have any SATA controllers though, but I figure I'll get some and wire the last backplane when I outgrow my storage in about 6 months 3 months 3 weeks tomorrow.
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<adds to cart>
Overall I'm a happy, geeky, and slightly OCD-ish camper.
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Thanks for the comments guys.
@boof: The top 120mm fans I installed them as I got a bargain on four CoolerMaster 120mm fans, but I would of installed them eventually after getting past the 4 disk mark. The cooling in general I find to be up to standard. It operates between 23 ~ 25C (73 to 77F) at start up, being that it has been running for about five minutes or so in room temperature.
Normally the server sits between 37 ~ up to 39C (99 ~ 102F). On a summers day with air conditioning set to 23C, the disks can run as high as 41 ~ 43C (106 ~ 110F). 43C or even 45C without no air con is the highest that I've seen the disks run at, and if the disks run any higher then that, I would switch it off soon as possible. The CoolerMaster 590 case makes cooling a breeze (pardon the pun) as you can add up to five 120mm fans and a (I think) 82mm fan behind the location of the CPU socket too. The last couple of cases I've bought have been Antec and they seem to offer very good air flow, cooling and operate much more silently too.
Last week I build a new desktop (recycling the Gigabyte mobo mentioned before) and bought an Antec 600 case (http://www.techpowerup.com/106392/Antec_Readies_Six_Hundred_PC_Case.html). I was surprised on how quiet and cool it operates, the same for my Antec Fusion Max case for my HTPC as well. My next unRAID server I will highly consider an Antec case or a Lian case, though the metal tabs dividing the 5.25in bays in most cases these days seem to be a pain with most disk enclosures on the market.
@WeeboTech: I too like to look at this thread and it is my favourite on this forum. It helps with ideas and how creative people are. From the very humble/basic of designs to the most complex and beastly rigs that members have built. It is 'each to their own' in terms of how people build their rigs and in the end does what we all want the any unRAID server to do, host our files with redundancy (and with other services/addon no doubt too
).@Joe L: All the SATA cables are 50mm in length, but has time has when on, I bought these cables from different suppliers and some have slightly different headers and differ in the red cable colouring (yeah, you're probably thinking I'm a nut), but I like to have everything the same, neat, tidy and as symmetrical and even as possible (It must be a condition I guess
). I might buy a complete set of SATA cables from one supplier one day, make sure their all the same type/kind and re-cable it all again. At the moment, the server works fine and I guess it isn't by any means a priority job to get done anytime soon. I cannot think of another way to re-cable it besides the style that I've done so. Thats what make me take so long to build a rig or PC, the cabling part!
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This is an update to my unRAID Server. Since my last post on this thread, I've replaced the original Gigabyte MA770-US3 with a Asus M4A785T-M board and have installed another (and final) disk enclosure to occupy another four disks in the near future. I guess when I fill up the last 4 - 3 disk enclosure, I'll be (and I'm already thinking about) building a replacement server.
I sucessor to this server would include an Antec 1200 case or something good and sturdy which has 12 5.25 bays, use SuperMico CSE-M35T-1 Black for disk enclosures, get a replacement heavy duty PSU like what I have currently, a SuperMicro mobo and some SATA cards too. I might replace all of the existing SATA cables and get all of them with new one which are all the same type and brand (when I have spare time). The current hardware specifications I have at present with this rig are as follows:
Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 590
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 650W
Motherboard: Asus M4A785T-M (6x SATA ports on board)
Disk Enclosure(s): 4x SNT-3141 SATA-II Hot-Swap 4 Drive RAID Enclosures
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 245 2.9GHz CPU
RAM: Kingston DDR2 2GB ValueRAM module
USB Drive: SanDisk Micro Cruzer 2GB
SATA RAID Controllers: 2x Generic PCI SATAII Controller (Sil 3124-based Chipset)
Hard Disks: 8x Seagate 1.5TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache disks
unRAID OS: unRAID Pro 4.5.1
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Yeah I've jest corrected it on the thread, thanks
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Final Update: I've finished creating the unRAID VM and have uploaded it. During my testing, all seemed to work well. The hardware and configuration of the VM have remained the same from my last post. The VM is in a Open Virtual Machine, meaning it 'should' be able to be imported back into other compatible VM applications, like VMware Workstation.
I've only exported and imported back into VirtualBox, so I'm not sure if it can import 100% successfully into other VM applications as I only really use VirtualBox and VMware ESXi. There are two files that need to be downloaded, 'Readme.txt' and the 'unRAID_VM_453.zip' file too. Following the Readme file if you're uncertain on how to import a VM appliance into VirtualBox. The link below is to the FTP site:
Many thanks to all who assisted me and a big thanks to Msan for providing the FTP store to host this. Thanks.
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Update: I've just returned from holidays today and have just finished building the MK IV version on the unRAID VM. I've configured the VM using the following setup (Subject to change, changes will be posted):
- System Configuration:
Memory: 512MB RAM
Processor(s): 1
Video Display: 5MB RAM (Mimimum RAM settign)
2D & 3D Accelerations: Disabled
- Storage Configuration:
IDE Primary Master: unRAID_IDE1.vdi (Normal, 40.00 GB)
IDE Secondary Master (CD/DVD): None
SATA Port 0: unRAID_SATADISK1.vdi (Normal, 250.00 GB)
SATA Port 1: unRAID_SATADISK2.vdi (Normal, 250.00 GB)
SATA Port 2: unRAID_SATADISK3.vdi (Normal, 250.00 GB)
- Audio: Disabled
- Network Adapter 1: Intel PRO/1000 T Server (Bridged Adapter)
- Serial Port(s): Disabled
- USB: Disabled
- Shared Folders: None
All disks have been configured using Dynamic state. The unRAID boot disk is a IDE-based vDisk, set to 40GB. It is quite large but with some feedback that I received, some would like to have a full Slackware OS , additional services and heaps of addon's installed too, hence limiting the boot disk to a small size like under 8GB would hamper this without resizing or recreating the boot disk.
The VM has three additional 250GB SATA-based vDisks, one as parity and two for data.
The unRAID OS of choice is v4.5.3. Bearing in mind it has had some issues with disks or the array not starting up correctly have been brought up on the forum, I will be doing thorough 'burn-in test' to insure that this VM functions according to how unRAID works.
I'll will prepare the VM and format the disks to give an indication on how long it will take to have this VM fully operational, but the VM will be delivered with the all parity and data disks in an unformatted state and no disks assigned to the array eithe. This will give new new starters to unRAID a actual 'hands on' approach on what the setup tasks that needs to be done when preparing a unRAID server.
I'll post an update on how the latest VM is running and will hopefully have this uploaded for all to use as soon as possible.
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Hi aplhazo, a very neat and tidy rig you have, I especially like the cable work you've done. If I was building this rignfor me and asked you to do it, I couldn't of done it as good then that. Good piece of kit you have too and good choice of hardware. Looks very professional and it seems it didn't require too much work to assemble too.
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Might be the way to go, i should start getting back into using a Linux OS as a Desktop, its been a while
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Question. I'm somewhat familiar with where VirtualBox creates and stores the '.VirtualBox' folder for the VM's under a Windows OS, but where would would be the default VirtualBox VM store path for Linux, UNIX and Mac? i'll probably need to include this with the doco for when i complete the Final VM for unRAID.
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I'm using the VirtualBox for Windows version, is it possible to run the 'vboxmanage' within the Windows version? It's no matter, I can build a MKIV version VM and that being that the vDisks can be set in a Dynamic state I can have them as large as you'd like, so I wouldn't imagine you would need more than 80GB for the IDE-based vDisk (to have a full Slackware OS and what not installed on it too) as the boot drive and about 500GB for both parity and the two data vDisks all set in Dynamic states, so having said this, a user could possibibly run this VM on a single 2TB physical disk with all parity, data and unRAID disks full to the brim (I cannot see this happening for a test environment, but someone might be keen enough to use it that way). I'm not really keen to use v4.5.3 (I'd rather use v4.5.1) seeing that v4.5.3 had some issues but I'll no doubt doing a couple of weeks of stress testing and leaving it running constantly to see if I can break it in any way. All the VMs I've created were with 4.5.1, so I'll try the next VM with 4.5.3 and use much larger Dynamic disk sizes for all disks mentioned above. Thanks for the info.
My full Slackware-Current distro with additional packages installed takes a bit under 10 Gigs - 9391064 used from the 'df' report. I suggest you to convert the IDE disk to be dynamic size using the 'vboxmanage' command line tools.
unRAID 4.5.3 is an odd being. Bits of it are based off Slackware 12.2, HOWEVER 4.5.3 has an updated 'udev' system (1.41) which is from Slackware-13 but not used anymore in Slackware-Current. At the beginning of March, the Slackware-Current updated 'udev' to be 1.51.
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You raise a valid point WeeboTech and frankly you can make the vDisks as large as you like using the dynamic size (given you obviusly don't overfill the vDisk(s) with more data than the actual physical medium in which it is stored on).
Actually the IDE-based vDisk in MKIII I made it 8GB, but I could make it 40GB or even 80GB if this would remedy those who'd like to install a full blown Slackware distro install on it, in fact the SATA vDisks could have the dyanmic disk size to 200GB each, and if you copy and run this VM of unRAID which is on a sizable physical disk like a +1TB disk, you should be fine to have Slakware distro and real data copied onto the VM data vdisks. Good suggestion.
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Thanks for the tip purko. No doubt I'll be testing all that has been suggested and I'll use the easiest, best way to have the VM exported and to make it as easy as possible to have the VM imported back into VirtualBox too. Thanks.
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Well that I didn't know about the the Import/Export facility on VirtualBox, hhhmmm, I'll test it out though if it has a known history of causing problems, I'll just copy the '.VirtualBox' folder with the VM and vDisks combined. Thanks for the info. I'll be back to it in a week, I couldn't but jump on the forum for a little while
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Yeah i strongly believing in leaving the VM's in a unformatted state when the VM is ready and the unRAID OS boots fine. I was also thinking of using the Export VM option in VirtualBox (I need to thoroughly test this out) to extract the VM to allow it to be imported back into VirtualBox. i'll also make a zipped file consisting of the exported VM, VirtualBox and the doco's.
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I've taken this all information on this thread into consideration, and I'm going to 'perfect' a single Basic Edition of the unRAID OS, using v4.5.1 and consisting of the following attributes and features:
- I'm deciding to go with VirtualBox as the Virtualization application as it works fine and is free.
- The VM will have One IDE vDisk. 8GB in a Dynamic sized vDisk which with the unRAID OS installed on and will only be no greater than 55MB (No addon's, just a basic, no password, generic and vanilla unRAID OS install post the OS install).
- This VM will have however three additional vDisks, running from a SATA Controller, one for Parity and two for Data.
- This is were I need feedback on the how the VM will be delivered. I can either have the SATA vDisks pre-formatted and Parity vDsik built and ready or maybe leave it in a unformatted state?
(Opinions anyone?). Leaving the vDisks in an unformatted state will give users or newbies the feel of what actually needs to be done when building a physical unRAID Server. What do people think of this idea?
- Thus far with the MKIII VM I've just created, I'm having the Parity and Data vDisks in a Dynamic mode and formatted, it doesn't increase the actual vDisk size as no data has actually been copied onto it. Pending to change on the final product on the opinions I receive.
- I'll create some generic root folder(s) and sub-folders with dummy files/data to simulate a actual unRAID server (Again pending whether I decide to have the disks pre-formatted or not).
- I will provide documentation consisting with some QRGs and FAQs to get beginners up and running with unRAID.
I won't be touching any VM stull for unRAID for the next week as my wife forbids me on bringing the laptop on the trip
, but I'll be checking the forum hopefully on a daily basis when possible on the mobile.A Big Thanks to Joe L, purko, WeeboTech, BRiT, Msan, NAS, man himself Tom and to others who have supported and welcomed this idea and I hope it provides some guidance to any future unRAID cusomers who would like to get into unRAID, but are limited to knowledge, budget or hardware.
).
). 
, but I'll be checking the forum hopefully on a daily basis when possible on the mobile.
Pimp Your Rig
in Unraid Compulsive Design
Posted
What is the name of this app that you've used to test the read/write speeds?
Cheers