RussellinSacto

My understanding is: i7-6700K (Quad Core, 4.0 GHz Skylake) with 64 GB of RAM - $350 (MSRP) - and hopefully future processors will go into the motherboard you'd buy for this one. Does that change your thoughts any? Thanks, Russell

Okay, a lot of experimenting. I have some CAT5's and some CAT5E's. But I'm more than satisfied with the new results (I think I had one bad cable): I get about 80MB/second copying a file down from my older UnRaid (4GB of RAM) I get about 105MB/second copying a file down from my newer UnRaid (8GB of RAM) (Not doing any "formal testing" - just clicking the "More Details" button on Windows 7 Copy Window) So, that's some HUGE SUCCESS! (I am not using cache drives on either system - not sure how to get the "diagnostics zip archive" if you are still interested - System Log? or something else?) But... I'm trying to sync my most critical files (family photos, family videos, etc.). I don't have a good solution for this. I'm using FreeFileSync, but have two BIG issues: 1. I set it to run nightly - but it doesn't seem to keep a database or anything - so it scans the full 4.5 TB of data for changes every time (adding a lot of drive wear, I suspect - this takes HOURS). 2. It isn't fast - 10-12MB/second (presumably, the changed files are being downloaded to my Windows machine, then re-copied to the other UnRaid). Does anyone have a better solution? Maybe something that simply checks "Modified Date" to migrate changes - and then does this full type of scan maybe weekly/monthly? (Tried BTSync - it seems to crash a lot) Oh, and back to the original post question - if I keep my UnRaid functions separate from my desktop, does it make sense to invest in the i7-5960X (processor, RAM, Motherboard) - or does the 6700K make my future upgrade paths much more reasonable? Thanks, Russell

Thanks Gary and Weebo, I guess it isn't Roku... I went to the GS605, and unplugged everything but power, my two Unraids, and my desktop (IP's already acquired)... And tried copying files from each... I can't get transfers any faster than 15MB/sec. I have "factory made" CAT5 cables, but I'll start swapping them out with others. The UnRaid Dashboard for both shows: Network eth0 1000 Mb/s - full duplex The commands you suggested I run say the same thing - not sure if there was something specific I should have been looking for, though? My desktop computer (device manager) says it has an Intel 82566DM-2 Gigabit Network Connection. Task Manager shows a Link Speed of 1Gbps. Still experimenting. Russell

Thanks for the advice Gary... They are dated... So far, I've only bought hardware that was exactly a match (except perhaps the case) as what Lime was specifically selling at the time. I like the practical guarantee of reliability and compatibility that comes with that. I could stream Plex from my new desktop if I need to... I'm really, deeply hoping that I could Docker CrashPlan (I have 5TB in the cloud) and maybe a Sync solution (BTSync or other) to keep my two UnRaid's synced. Previously, the plugins have crashed for me - especially the CrashPlan one (they have a page specifically on uploading lots of files and maybe there was a memory leak or something: http://support.code42.com/CrashPlan/Latest/Troubleshooting/Adjusting_CrashPlan_Settings_For_Memory_Usage_With_Large_Backups) I don't need VMs on those boxes... was just hopeful I could tinker. :-) You say topology like I planned it. LOL Master Bedroom Closet has the telco router with one port - to a DLINK DIR-655 wireless router which has several physical ports that branch throughout my household wiring (CAT5e). One of these lines goes to the Roku, one goes to a computer in a bedroom, and one goes to my main computer room, where I have a Netgear GS605 which feeds my two UnRaids and my main desktop computer. (I also DID have a NetGear connected to it - a 10/100 FS605 to feed my iMac, Printer, highspeed scanner... but I took that out of the mix. Need to buy a new switch to replace the pair in the main computer room for sure!). So, I think it must be the Roku... but the wife is watching it right now... So, I'll have to wait and test things later. Appreciate all the help, Russell

Thanks everyone for helping me work through this... Seems my network is dropping from Gigabit to 100mbps because of my Roku 3. Does that make sense? I've been digging into my two Unraid boxes. They have similar motherboards: Supermicro MBD-C2SEE-0 Supermicro MBD-C2SEA-0 It seems like I could take the 8GB of RAM and the Core2 Quad Q6600 (2.40 GHz) in my existing workstation and put it into one of these. I'm hoping that would give me enough horsepower for at least my Docker needs (Plex, Crashplan, BTSync, hopefully an Antivirus). Do you think that would work? (If so, I think I could get another Core 2 Quad for about $100 for the other UnRaid if needed.) 1. Is it my Roku? :-( Is there a suggested Network Switch that won't slow down with it on the network? 2. Does the processor/RAM move make Docker possible? VMs too? (only 8GB RAM max supported on motherboards) Thanks, Russell

Thanks guys. This has been great... I've made the discovery that I only get 10-12MB/second transfer from either of my UnRaid boxes. I thought I had all gigabit switches in the house... but I've discovered I have one that is 10/100... I presume that's slowing the whole thing. :-( I moved a few cords and I'm up to 75-95MB/second... WOW! :-) So, the general consensus seems to be to keep the workhorse and UnRaid separate (provided I can get the network up to something more reasonable). Thanks, Russell

Thanks guys, Apparently I have a BAD gigabit network... I'm going to have to look, but I didn't think I was getting anything north of 20MB/sec. I hope I'm wrong, but I'll check tomorrow. Weebo, you provide a great idea... I swear my network transfer speed has been horrible - that was really one of the great ideas to merge the workstation onto UnRaid was for file transfer speed. The Core2 Quad (not Duo) does a decent job of running Plex on Windows 7, so hopefully it would be okay running on UnRaid 6 as a Docker app. This might be because I only stream to one or two devices at a time. Thanks for the continued ideas and advice. Russell

Hi TR, Thanks for the good advice... My current system, as I understand it, doesn't support anywhere near 64GB of memory - and I don't think they're compatible (DDR2 on my current machine, I think - DDR4 for the 5960X). I currently have two Unraid boxes (Celeron based), so I was thinking this change would be the upgrade of one of them... and should the plan not work, for whatever reason, I'd put it back the way it was... and instead upgrade my current desktop with the new processor, motherboard, and RAM. I am running 64 bit Photoshop. Photoshop is a dog in the process, but for a lot of that work I have other solutions - I can walk away and let it run... I can split the image into smaller chunks for most work and then do final corrections on the re-joined image... but your inquiry really has me thinking deep about my pain point... and I think it's not Photoshop. I love Daminion for photo management (www.daminion.net), but it's been pretty slow for me to work with - even on the 21 Megapixel JPGs. I believe this slowdown is because my images are on UnRaid and not local... I can't build panoramics with hundreds of images before I've organized the images for the stitching software. This post is what got me thinking of combining my Workstation and my UnRaid - because of the hard disk speeds of local versus network (http://mediaserver8.blogspot.com/2014/01/unraid-60-vm-speed-comparisons.html). The example shows File transfer of 11MB/second across the network from Unraid - and File transfer of 104MB/second from a VM on Unraid. Is this typical? (Writes are slower, but still a 3X of the network comparison). If it is... I must do this! :-) I appreciate your suggestion to have a backup plan... I will pay careful attention to vet out my plans before moving forward. Russell

Thanks Jimbobulator, So, I understand each Docker app goes in a Docker container - does each Docker container require its own CPU/Hyperthread - or do they share? The Photoshop feedback pretty much says to have as much computer as you can. :-) I'm hoping I can go with the 8 core (16 threads), have 2-4 threads stream Plex, do Crashplan, etc., have 2-4 threads for my Testing VM, and then have the remaining 8+ threads available for my "Desktop" experience. Does that sound reasonable? Thanks, Russell

Thank you guys for the feedback. It sounds like the 5960X is the way to go - unless I can learn which Xeons would be a better solution. I follow that I need one Docker per app - does each Docker need it's own thread? So effectively, each of those four apps require a separate thread... If it's going to take four threads for those four apps, am I any better just running another Windows VM with four threads to run those tasks? Excellent question about my current hardware and my current pain - I have a Core2 Quad at 2.4GHz with 8GB of RAM. I don't use a separate video card - but if it makes sense to get one, I will. My pain is severe... I've been shooting Gigapixel Panoramic images (I take dozens, sometimes literally hundreds of 21 Megapixel photos - Canon 5D Mark II), for about 12 years - and I have only processed about 20% of my images into panoramics - because it is soooooo much work.... and soooooooo slow. Even properly cataloging the images takes forever... So I'm sitting on a mostly unprocessed collection of images that I've never really seen... and I'm sad... and tired of that. :-) I currently have Photoshop CS6; I think there's a newer version - I can upgrade if that helps take advantage of extra horsepower/RAM/etc. (I can share an image if someone is really interested in testing.) My OS, scratch disk, and image files are all on SSD when I do my editing. I've been reading about "RAM Disk" where, as I understand it, I would purchase enough RAM to use part of it as a Hard Disk... Is that something that might help? Or is it impossible to get enough of it to make much of a difference without spending north of $3K? Cause I probably don't want to spend more than that. Thanks for the awesome help, Russell

Hi Everyone, I want to run several VM/Dockers to replace several physical computers I own: 1 - Docker (hoping I can get several things to run that were never reliable for me as UnRaid plugins): CrashPlan Plex BT Sync Anti-Virus 2 - Main Desktop (Windows 7) with the following peripherals: Wacom Cintiq 12" LCD Graphics Tablet Fujitsu ScanSnap Scanner (highly recommended) old (reliable) ScanJet 6300C Typical USB CD drives, Printer, etc - as needed Using the following software: Photoshop (with HUGE 25 GB Image files) Daminion Photo Manager (highly recommended, but has been SLOW for me) which runs postGRE SQL) Media Center Master Gigapan and other Image Stitchers Visual Studio / Corona SDK 3 - Testing VM Used to evaluate software before I buy/install/commit to my Main Desktop. That's the core... I might spin up a VM for a specific task/project for a while, but those would be my standard... hopefully either booting fast, or always running. I am fortunate that I can afford whatever makes sense for my needs - but I don't want to just waste money either. Several contenders to me: i7-4790K (Quad Core, 4.0 GHz) with 32GB of RAM i7-6700K (Quad Core, 4.0 GHz Skylake) with 64 GB of RAM i7-5960X (Eight Core, 3.0 GHz) with 64 GB of RAM What makes the most sense? Have I forgotten another worthy contender, like a Xeon or dual Xeon setup? Will I benefit from 64GB of RAM? I don't play any video games (though I might play Cities: Skylines or others if I had the horsepower). Thanks, Russell

It's been a couple weeks now... Any suggested specs for this kind of thing? Or maybe this is too bleeding edge for me. Russell

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of building a new computer (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=41891.0). With my UnRaid 5 and a separate computer to do my photography work, a have a serious slowdown in moving files off Unraid to local for editing and then back. I expect that I'll be able to access Array drives very quickly if I use that box as my desktop, running Windows in a VM on UnRaid 6 with a local keyboard/mouse. Will it be fast, like a set of local drives? Thanks, Russell

Been working on this WAY too many hours... Pulled that drive from the array too... three drives lost in short succession... seems unlikely. I realize the parity drive will now have useless data - I can hope that someday I might have the time/patience to try to reconnect the other two drives and see if I can pull files off them. Rebuilding array now. Planning new hardware purchase - I'll probably try these two drives with new hardware (have advice for new build - please share here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=41891.0) Thanks, Russell

Boy, this is really kicking my a$$. I bought a new hard disk to replace the bad parity drive. I removed both the bad parity drive and the other drive that had problems. I did an initconfig and got the array fired up... no problems. It started to do a parity build, but since that was going to take three days, I thought I better button up the case (I have a three year old). I stopped it, did a safe shutdown, cleaned everything up... put the case back together. Fired it up again - and now it says that Disk 4 is Unformatted. I'm given the option to Format it - but that's not really what I want to do (it has data on it). Following this notes from Joe L (and the link to answer the prompts with the proper settings), I tried to fix it. There weren't any errors or anything. I rebooted the machine again, since it wasn't clear what to do after the "rebuild". It booted just fine - still shows the drive as Unformatted. Any ideas? Thanks so much, Russell

Sorry. I believe I posted in the wrong place. Reposted here: https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=41891.0 Russell

Numerous tries... I can't get either parity or Disk1 to work... I believe everything critical is backed up. But if I can squuezevdata out of these drives, that might be beneficial. Any ideas? Thanks, Russell

Thanks tr0910, I'm planning to use this new setup as my desktop replacement, so I'm not real worried about remote connecting to it. Sounds like I should keep the iMac so I can do "officially supported" iOS builds for my iPhone app... keep one of my existing UnRaids as a backup server... but I can probably combine all the rest? I'd be directly connecting monitors, keyboard, mouse, wacom tablet, flatbed and high speed sheet scanner all to this one device - and setup a couple of VMs (one as my standard desktop replacement, one for testing new software before it goes on my standard VM) and a couple Containers (for Plex, BTSync, webserver, CrashPlan). 1. Would access to the files on the Array be faster for VMs accessing them (like Photoshop, Daminion Photo Manager, etc.) than accessing them over the network (I expect the answer to be yes - any idea how much faster?)? 2. Any specifically suggested hardware (I have read what's been tested) (specifically, should I aim for the 8 core i7 - or will the hex cores or others be about the same performance? should I opt for Xeon for some reason? Is there some hardware coming in the next six months that I should simply wait for? (After this build, I wouldn't expect to upgrade again for several years.))? 3. Will this be bleeding edge, or is this proven stable already, considering all the devices I'm trying to combine? (I don't want to bleed after the build.) Thanks so much for all your feedback, Russell

Hi Everyone, I haven't visited Lime in ages... but because of a recent issue, I found myself poking around a bit... and with version 6, it looks like I might be due for an upgrade. I want to combine several machines I currently have into fewer... but I have lots of things I use (I tried to shorten this list to only the items that I foresee might be an issue): 1. Original Unraid (circa 2008; UnRaid 5.0, 20TB onboard): a. Runs BTSync to backup files to my Newer Unraid system 2. Newer Unraid (circa 2011; UnRaid 5.0, 18TB onboard): b. Runs BTSync to capture backup files from my Original Unraid system 3. Older desktop (circa 2005; Windows 7): a. Continually AV scan my Unraid boxes b. Scan photo prints with my old (but reliable) HP ScanJet 5c c. Initially test downloads/trialware/etc before purchase/adoption onto Newer desktop 4. Newer desktop (circa 2010; Windows 7, 2x 120GB SD drives): a. Plex Server (for my Roku) b. Daminion (photo management software) that provides a networked database (postGRE SQL) for multiple systems to access (see www.daminion.net) c. CrashPlan to continually backup the most important directories of my UnRaid boxes (despite months of work, I never got the onboard CrashPlan to work - I think super large files (3.4TB Photoshop files) and 2GB of RAM were the issue). d. Runs my Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanner (highly recommended) e. Photoshop, Sketchup, GigaPan Stitcher, PTGui and a variety of other graphics applications f. Google Earth (OpenGL / DirectX) g. Visual Studio (C#, ASP.NET MVC, SQL, etc.) h. Webserver i. Team Viewer (so I can remotely do some things) j. Corona SDK (develop mobile applications) K. Almost forgot, I have a Wacom Cintiq 12" display tablet for photo editing too. 5. Apple iMac (i7): a. Corona SDK (Apple required to compile for IOS) I tried to reduce the above lists to the "relevant" things - items that I'm concerned about because they have specific hardware requirements, drivers, network configurations, etc. (I didn't include things I just expect to work - like Office applications, printers, etc.). I don't generally play video games. I'm thinking I can steal one of my original UnRaid boxes (hopefully save the 12 drive case), add the two SD's from my desktop, buy a new motherboard, processor, and a pile of RAM and hopefully downsize to much less equipment. As a side effect, I think array access will be faster - since the drives will be onboard the same box as the VM - is that true? (Currently, for photo editing, I copy the files from my UnRaid to my local drives, do my editing, then copy back - just so my editing is more responsive than saving to the NAS). I expect to boot to Windows with this new machine - and leave it running all the time - and access other potential VMs through Synergy (www.synergy-project.com). So, how much hardware can I get rid of? Suggestions on how to do this? What won't work? I'm looking for consolidation advice. :-) Thanks, Russell

Hmmm... Usually I get prompt assistance here... Now I'm wondering... Am I asking for Unraid 6 to do too much? Or is it obvious that this should all work? :-)

Sorry trurl, I had included that originally - and accidentally deleted it as I cleaned up my posting... The answer: I'm not sure. :-) In the BIOS, in the hardware area it shows: Primary IDE Master - Hard Disk Primary IDE Slave - Hard Disk Secondary IDE Master - Not Detected Secondary IDE Slave - Hard Disk Third IDE Master - Hard Disk Fourth IDE Master - Hard Disk Five drives. Then in the Boot Order area, it shows this: 1st Drive - USB 2nd Drive - SATA:PM-St31500341 3rd Drive - SATA:PS-ST3000DM00 4th Drive - SATA:SS-Hitachi HD 5th Drive - SATA:3M-ST3000DM00 6th Drive - SATA:4M-ST3000DM00 7th Drive - RAID:03:00-1 ST315 Two drives (parity and the one I believe is dead) are connected to a "Sabrent 4 Port SATA PCI Host Controller Care with Raid Function (SBT-SRD4)" (I have the box). So, that shows five SATAs, plus the RAID - not sure if the RAID is showing one drive, or if it will always be by itself. When it boots, it looks to me like the RAID controller finds one drive. Thanks for your continued help, Russell

Thanks for the help. I took it all apart - all power and data cables to all the drives... and reconnected them to the seven presumed good drives. I tried a few combinations... The two drives that had appeared as Missing - I traded out new SATA cables and connected them to never-used ports on the SATA card (instead of motherboard). When Unraid Boots, I get three messages that say: sata7: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready =-19) sata7: COMRESET failed (errorno=-16) And then this ugly one: sata7: reset failed, giving up When the web interface comes up, the results are a bit different (see attachment). Syslog was too big to attach - posted here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/guf7ptcycy0pr22/syslog-20150728-214241.txt?dl=0 Looking forward to more advice. :-) Thanks so much, Russell

Hi Everyone, I haven't visited Lime in ages... but because of a recent issue, I found myself poking around a bit... and with version 6, it looks like I might be due for an upgrade. I want to combine several machines I currently have into fewer... but I have lots of things I use (I tried to shorten this list to only the items that I foresee might be an issue): 1. Original Unraid (circa 2008; UnRaid 5.0, 20TB onboard): a. Runs BTSync to backup files to my Newer Unraid system 2. Newer Unraid (circa 2011; UnRaid 5.0, 18TB onboard): b. Runs BTSync to capture backup files from my Original Unraid system 3. Older desktop (circa 2005; Windows 7): a. Continually AV scan my Unraid boxes b. Scan photo prints with my old (but reliable) HP ScanJet 5c c. Initially test downloads/trialware/etc before purchase/adoption onto Newer desktop 4. Newer desktop (circa 2010; Windows 7, 2x 120GB SD drives): a. Plex Server (for my Roku) b. Daminion (photo management software) that provides a networked database (postGRE SQL) for multiple systems to access (see www.daminion.net) c. CrashPlan to continually backup the most important directories of my UnRaid boxes (despite months of work, I never got the onboard CrashPlan to work - I think super large files (3.4TB Photoshop files) and 2GB of RAM were the issue). d. Runs my Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanner (highly recommended) e. Photoshop, Sketchup, GigaPan Stitcher, PTGui and a variety of other graphics applications f. Google Earth (OpenGL / DirectX) g. Visual Studio (C#, ASP.NET MVC, SQL, etc.) h. Webserver i. Team Viewer (so I can remotely do some things) j. Corona SDK (develop mobile applications) 5. Apple iMac (i7): a. Corona SDK (Apple required to compile for IOS) I tried to reduce the above lists to the "relevant" things - items that I'm concerned about because they have specific hardware requirements, drivers, network configurations, etc. (I didn't include things I just expect to work - like Office applications, printers, etc.). I don't generally play video games. I'm thinking I can steal one of my original UnRaid boxes (hopefully save the 12 drive case), add the two SD's from my desktop, buy a new motherboard, processor, and a pile of RAM and hopefully downsize to much less equipment. As a side effect, I think array access will be faster - since the drives will be onboard the same box as the VM - is that true? (Currently, for photo editing, I copy the files from my UnRaid to my local drives, do my editing, then copy back - just so my editing is more responsive than saving to the NAS). I expect to boot to Windows with this new machine - and leave it running all the time - and access other potential VMs through Synergy (www.synergy-project.com). So, how much hardware can I get rid of? Suggestions on how to do this? What won't work? I'm looking for consolidation advice. :-) Thanks, Russell

I have the same question. :-) How do you switch between the simultaneously running VMs? Thanks, Russell

Thanks Turl, I'm pretty sure they're snug... But I'll check again. Any other ideas? Thanks, Russell