[Multiple CPU's]

That the site I have been using, my current system is only 1400, it has been fine with my 720p stuff but I've been moving everything over to 1080p and its now struggling.

 

I also plan to use 3-4 dockers so a little extra speed I'm guessing would be helpful.

 

A pair of X5450's has a passmark of 7695 which should be plenty for my needs! if I can assure that both CPUs will be used which sounds like they can from kingpin.

[Multiple CPU's]

I'm looking to build a new box as my current one struggles a lot with plex transcoding.

 

Before I guy anything does unraid support multiple CPU's?  I have been thinking about getting a Dell T5400 with a pair of Xeon X5450's in it.

[Replacing flash drive]

An update on my experiences.

 

I setup the new flash drive with a fresh unRAID download, I did not copy anything at all from the old drive due to fears of corruption. I am using the free version so no key file to copy either.

 

On booting for the first time I assigned the drives into the right slots (took screenshots of previous setup) and the system started a full parity check which took x hrs.

 

After (and during) the parity check the system was fully up an running, interestingly all the previous shares were already listed as soon as I enabled User Shares.  The only things missing when looking at the properties of each share were the included drives and min size, so I put these back in and everything appears to be as it was.

 

My only 1 concern is that when I browse the disk1 share to view the whole drive nothing is listed  but browsing the individual shared all the data is visible.

[Replacing flash drive]

Thanks eroz.

 

My 1 concern is that I've had some trouble with the Plex plugin (the only plugin I use) and it has resulted in some odd corrupt files/filenames on the flash drive, this is the main reason for replacing the drive.  I would like to avoid having to copy anything from the old one if possible, if not I guess I'll have to and see what happens.

[Replacing flash drive]

I have been using unRAID free for a few months now, I'm concerned that my rather cheap flash drive is causing me some problems so I have just bought a SanDisk Cruiser Fit to replace it.

 

Can I setup the new SanDisk with a fresh download and put that into my server without any problems, or do I need to copy any files from the old drive?

 

 

[Plex falling over]

My unRAID box is primarily used for serving media via Plex.  The service seems to work fine for a while (could be weeks, could be days) and then it appears the service has stopped as none of my media receivers can see Plex anymore.

 

I try restarting the service via unRAID web with no joy, when I reboot the unRAID box sometimes it comes back but the last 2 times Plex has vanished completely from the web interface, on inspecting the USB stick the files are corrupt with random chars etc.

 

My first thought is the USB stick is not supported and causing problems (its not on the approved list), but, I thought that once the server is booted it runs from RAM anyway so what is Plex (or something else) doing to be accessing the USB stick and possibly corrupting it?

 

I am looking to get an approved USB stick now but still concerned I will have the same problems.

[Planning first unRAID build]

I think you're right, I think I will stick with 5.05 and let 6 go RC and get a bit of time under it's belt before upgrading. 

 

I only want to use one plugin, plex, so as long as I can use that and trust the software with my data then 5.05 seems to be the way to go.

 

The 3 cycle pre-clear is taking an age though so still got a few days before I can use it in anger!

[Planning first unRAID build]

Well a month has passed and I still haven't decided!  and in that time 3 more beta versions have also passed.

 

I finally received my drives yesterday, 2x 3TB Reds and a 100Gb SSD, I will be using 1 data drive, 1 parity and 1 cache on a Plus licence with obvious room to add more data drives as I need them.  I'm sure many of you cannot comprehend why I need so 'little' storage but at the moment that's all I need.

 

Anyway, the 2 HDD's are on a 3 cycle pre-clear at the moment which I going to take a few days to complete and then I'm all set to decide on where to go from there.  I am currently using v5 so that I can at least boot off something for the pre-clear.

 

Is there any vague speculation on how many more beta's there will be before v6 goes RC, or is that a how long is a piece of string question.

[Backups]

My only real question is why use such small drives?    3 x 2TB provides either 4 or 6 TB of storage (depending on whether you're talking data drives or including parity in that list).    Either of these could be matched by a single 6TB drive (with one more for parity).    Ditto the 2nd box ... the higher capacity drives provide much more storage with fewer drives and fewer SATA ports.

 

I simply don't need bigger drives that's all, I am currently aiming for an 8tb (4x2tb) data unRAID plus 2tb parity & 120gb SSD cache, and a 12tb (4x3tb) freeNAS for backups.

 

My current server data is all held on a single 2tb drive!

[Backups]

I am right in the middle of planning a new home NAS build, primarily for the same as most, movies, pictures etc.

 

My current plan is a Plus licence unRAID box with parity, swap and 'smaller' data drives, lets say 3 x 2tb.

 

Then I was planning a FreeNAS box just using UFS with fewer larger drives, eg 2 x 3tb.

 

This way my unRAID box as a daily NAS has that extra fault tolerance from the extra drives and can sync to the FreeNAS box which is used purely as the backup box with the same (or more) capacity, this allows the backup box not to need any extra licencing with potential for more larger drives for backing up other machines/unRAID's in the future if needed.

 

Any thoughts/warnings on this approach?

[Planning first unRAID build]

yes the N54L is well tested with Plex, lots of people using them, can struggle with 1080p transcoding but no probs at all with 720p.

[Planning first unRAID build]

Thanks for that, sounds like there are a lot of options available.  I'm guessing there is no way to see or trial these options before buying the Plus licence either?

[Planning first unRAID build]

Thanks for all the replies, I have to say the community forum & friendliness is another reason I'm looking at unRIAD!

 

I spent most of yesterday evening reading up and I'm already considering the Plus Licence option to be able to use a cache drive, the increase in speed will be worth the cost.

 

Am I right in thinking the cache is while visible if you browse to it is effectively transparent, if you access a share on the data drives and write to it you are actually writing to the cache drive and that will be moved onto the data drive by the mover.  If you access the cache drive directly for say temp storage/scratch data then that data if ignored by the mover and remains on the cache drive.

[Planning first unRAID build]

Ok that's quite interesting, thanks.

 

With only needing a relatively small NAS 2 data drives + 1 parity I am able to use the Free Licence of unRAID, adding a 4th drive just to be able to use Docker means the need for the Plus Licence.  Purchasing a licence myself may well happen in the future but the need for Plus just to use Docker could push potential users into finding a different solution.  Hopefully Docker will be able to work with the 3 drive limit in future version.

 

I think I am going to hold off until beta 7 and try that, I don't need to decide ASAP as I have a current server doing the job that is going to be replaced, its more important that when I make the choice for the new server that its the right one and it all works from day 1 of it coming into service.

[Planning first unRAID build]

Hmm, this Docker info has disheartened me slightly, for my particular user case anyway.

 

From what I understand to use plex for example, I need another dedicated drive for Docker, which installs a Ubuntu base image, and then virtualises each of my "plugin" apps, in this case plex.

 

That seems like a lot of extra overhead to run one "plugin"?

 

For lots of plugins and specifically those not designed for unraid I can see the benefit but for my user case of only needing plex I'm not convinced, I could be wrong?

[Planning first unRAID build]

The N54L is 64-bit so that's quite tempting to go for v6

 

Are there any issues with the plugins for v5 working on v6?  Getting the plex plugin working from day 1 is quite important as it is replacing my current windows server doing the same job.

[Planning first unRAID build]

I am about to embark on building my first unRAID box and I'm just after a couple of questions answered, the box is just going to be for storage of movies, tv, photos & music and will be running the plex server plugin.

 

I have a new N54L box coming with 4gb RAM, so the first question is that enough RAM?

 

I plan on installing 2x 3TB drives, one for data, one for parity and adding a 2nd 3TB data drive a few months down the line, no problems here I assume?

 

Finally, which version of unRAID should I go for, 5 or 6, if I go for 5 will there be a straight upgrade to 6, or should I go for 6 beta or possibly even wait for the final RC of 6?

 

Thanks in advance.