PeteAron

do you have the apcupsd running on your server?

In my case i believe i have a failing drive but it's odd. I am getting CRC errors even though i am sure it isnt the connections. I mention it because i was using this drive to replace another disk in my array, and my rebuild speeds were varying from 10 Mb/s to the more normal 130-160 while trying to rebuild the disk. I took it out of the array and replaced it with another. I am going to rma the drive, even though the only issue is crc errors - it is up to 1475 crc errors now. You may have a similar issue. Edit: This drive had been precleared immediately before trying to put it into the array.

W4P, yes that sounds like a good plan. Steps 5 and 6 are interchangeable - again, having parity will slow the transfer but it is your choice; will make no difference whether you do 5 or 6 first. Keep in mind that when you add your parity disk, unraid will "build parity" immediately upon starting the array - it will "write" parity to the parity disk. This will take something like 30 to 40 hours with a 14 tb parity drive ( i use a 10 tb double parity and it required 24 hours to build parity the first time). So factor that time period into your schedule. You dont want to write any data to the array during a parity build. IMO. Strictly speaking it is fine but I never risk it, I am never in that much of a hurry. good luck with it. WRT your reply to vinid, I dont point anything at my primary array, for example, i download to a separate pc and then transfer. In your case you will point your downloads to the cache and it will serve the same purpose but mover will put everything into the array automatically. I also dont transcode on my array - i use a pc at every screen and let them do the work.

Here are a few suggestions. First, get unraid running on your hardware. Then, preclear each drive that you will initially use - this ensures each is in good working order, and you should do this with all new disks. In your case, i would preclear those two new 14 tb drives at the same time, and then create a 2 disk array without parity. You have a 3rd 14 tb drive that you will shuck - that would become your parity. with your 2 disk unprotected array, copy all of your data - will all of it fit on these two drives? if you dont plan on shucking the 10 tb drive, i would leave it full and out of your plan until after you have parity. Once all of the other data is on your two disk array, you will want to preclear the rest of the drives - shuck that 14 and preclear it first, make sure it is ready to be parity. At this point it's up to you. you can first add the parity drive and protect the array, then add the other smaller disks, or add the disks first. I dont think there's actually a difference, but you will want to preclear them all before using them in your array. After the array has all of its disks, you can copy from the 10 tb you will not shuck. The only question is whether you build parity before or after that data gets transferred. If it were me, i would build parity second but it will only save you a few hours. after that you are up and running. I wouldnt experiment with any of the unraid toys until that data is in the protected array. dont forget to preclear your disks before adding them!

Jorge's suggestion is spot on IMO so i will second it. since you have 4 5.25 bays, two of these will make great use of that space. You could do a 5 into three cage and then use an adaptor to mount an extra disk into the 4th bay but that would not be quite as good because of the fan coverage available from those mount kits. I would get 2 of those. g/l

Seven, while you're considering builds, i suggest you google Killer NAS 4.0 and check out builds there. There's also a 5.0 thread. I am in the process of building a new backup server (thus the N400 case) and wondered a lot about this. I got no input from folks here on my build and when i discovered that thread I learned a lot from that. Now, this is all discussing used hardware and that may or may not be your thing, however, there are many very reliable boards out there that will serve for another decade or so ... i could not justify buying new hardware. Based on that, here is the thought process I went through. My current server is from about 2011. It is going strong and i expect that to continue for some time. but it is time for backup hardware. I have a supermicro C7P67 and i really like the reliability and reputation of supermicro. So my search stuck with them. the P67 is a consumer board (i.e, i3, i5, i7), and i decided to look at server boards from them. For NAS 4.0 we are talking supermicro boards beginning with X9, and for 5.0 we are talking X10 boards. Nas 4.0 and 5.0 refer to the socket. 4.0 is LGA 1155 and 5.0 is LGA 1150. There are a lot of these boards available on ebay and there are also complete servers there in the several hundred range; i am cheap and know exactly what i need so i elected to purchase a board, cpu, and memory all used. Looking at 4.0 vs 5.0, the pricing sweet spot right now is 4.0; 5.0 is a little more expensive - basically i spent an additional $50 ish for my 5.0 config. I wanted 6 SATA ports and one of the cheapest options is the X10SCM-F, which i bought. Now for the cpu, i am using this only for storage, and i wanted to minimize power draw. So i chose the 25W E3-1230L v3. Not a rocket but will be more than fast enough for my need. I added 16 GB of the right ram and i am good to go. You would likely be more interested in the E3-1280 v3, with passmark ~ 10,000. Now if you search around a bit you will see many dual cpu options from supermicro for not a lot more cash - in the $100 plus area. This will get you on the path to 20,000 passmark if power is what you want. I hope that helps. The serverbuilds.net folks have lots of good information on hardware there. Unraid is a fixture in these discussions in case you want more information. good luck, kf

Regarding cases: I have two cases the rosewill 4500 and cooler master N400. Both are fine and at least decent values. But your needs may differ. My primary server has 13 drives and two spares, in the 4500. This case holds 15 drives in a rackable 4U layout. I have two banks of 3 fans and ventilation is more than enough. They make noise. The drive mounts are toolless and probably the best i own. However, drives are mounted in 5-drive cages. The only hassle is that to remove or add a drive, it's drive bay needs to be removed, and this involves removing all of the SATA and power connections to those five drives. That's the worst of it, though, it's a great case, esp because i bought it on 2012 for about $100 =P I just bought the N400 because it isnt $200 and i dont need another 15 bay server. This case is pretty roomy, and importantly, it has an 8 bay drive cage at the front with mounting locations for 2 120mm fans. Above that is an external 3.5 and two external 5.25's - it would be easy to change that bay into an insert for 3 3.5's and get a total of 11 drives into this case. It's also a very good layout for a server that I would recommend for you. Dont get a case that will only hold 3 or 4 drives, you will use the extra slots if not now, sooner than you think.

Sure, i am just guessing. but it sounds like your problem occurs at high power draw. Your 120W reading is not your max power value. My array uses ~ 170W with all drives up, for example during a parity check. But power draw during bootup is higher than 200W, its a very short burst and never the same value. You also have a video card which i dont have - what is it's power draw? I'd add all this up and make sure 650W is enough for you - there are lots of resources on the net to help calculate PS needs. It's also important to have a single 12v rail in your PS for your drives - i dont know the specs of your PS, i would check that too. While this sounds like a power issue to me i obviously have no idea. it's a possibility i suggest you track down, among any others suggested. doubting its the problem is different from knowing that it cant be the problem, if you know what i mean.

Your power supply may be failing? if you have a backup power system maybe you can get a current/wattage reading while booting. I dont know how much that cpu uses, but a 650 W PS should be good for the number of drives you have, at 7200 rpm, but maybe with not too much room to spare during bootup.

you may have a disk failing - i would check the smart reports and probably run smart tests to see whats happening. Without parity protection, you are at risk to lose that data. The two -DM's look fine. check your SATA cables while you're in there. They can come loose.

I had some strange errors last time i replaced my power supply too - with the new PS no worries. Seasonic are excellent - I just bought a 650 W for a second server for $65 or $70 delivered. Check them out. Whatever you do you want a single 12V rail for your PS. Depending on your drives, that 400W PS is likely too small.

Im surpised noone has mentioned the cooler master N400 case. out of the box it holds 8 HD and has 2 external 5.25 bays. You can buy any number of 3 into 2 inserts to turn that into an 11 HD case using those two bays. I just bought one for about $70. I also have a rosewill 4500, which holds 15 drives. These are currently $180, fyi. I didnt need a second one at that price. I believe i bought my 4500 for ~ $100 in 2013.

I bought 2 toshiba x300 for my array. one failed within 6 mo, and both ran a few degrees hotter than my Deskstars. It turned me off to toshibas, i am sticking with WD red plus and pro, and seagate exos and my least fav the ironwolf nas (bec its 7200 rpm and i only like those speeds for parity).

Thanks for the thoughts. I did some more reading on serverbuilds.net and decided on the following build. This should be an improvement on what i have so this hardware will become my primary server and i will start using my existing hardware as my backup server instead. New build: MBD: Supermicro X10SLM-F used $70 CPU: Xeon E3-1230L v3 used $ 60 (25 W TDP but ~ 8000 bench lol) Memory: MEM-DR380L-HL01-EU16 16 GB $80 (used supermicro sticks found on amazon) PS: Seasonic 650 $65 Case: Coolermaster N400 $60 I have various parts lying around to complete the build. I have a SAS2008 to transfer from my existing hardware as well. Just posting this in case anyone is interested. I could have saved about $50 or so getting a supermicro X9 and a 12x0 v2 but decided to go with the newer hardware for that extra cost. My current server with the C7P67 supermicro board has been very reliable and seems to have plenty of life left after more than 10 yr continuous service, and I expect this newer one will return similar service for me.

Hi All, I am building a second server for backup and my goal is low cost NAS. I may do more with this box later but the immediate goal is low cost and low power. Looking at the killer nas 4.0 thread i have picked out the following and would appreciate a few of you hardware experts checking this out. What am I missing? MBD: Supermicro X9SCL ... ebay CPU: Xeon E3-1260L ... ebay RAM: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PV316G160C9K The ram is new from newegg because it isnt any more money than ebay used items I will use the on-board SATA ports for up to 6 drives and if this needs to grow beyond that i will add a PCIE SAS card later. I need to buy a case and PS but no worries about those items. I also want to try a few new things with this server that i may migrate to my new array like setting up the dual nic's, pfsense will likely live here, and start taking advantage of all the new things Unraid 6 offers over 5 (I dont do anything interesting with my main storage NAS). Any thoughts? Thanks very much. If this config looks good I will order it in the next couple days and post up the build here in this thread. My main concern is purchasing a MBD / CPU combo that is incompatible - i believe this pair is compatible. thanks! kimifelipe

Hi All, I am still looking around here for information, but here is a post spelling out what i am looking for. I am hoping some can share their opinions, perspectives, and experience to put me on the right path. I have used unraid about 10 years now, my server is listed in my sig below. It is running fine and I expect it should continue to. I dont put much demand on it - it is a fileserver for all of my video and music and my personal files. I want to create a backup server to safeguard my data. That is the primary purpose. I know i can achieve this pretty easily with a wide variety of hardware. However i am thinking i want a decent server. Eventually, when time permits, i want to experiment with VM's and some other things that i just dont have time for due to life. I notice that there are a large number of relatively inexpensive proliant and poweredge servers, among others, available on newegg. I like the looks of some of these systems - something between 5 and 10 years old max, i am thinking, with one or two Xeon processors and say 16 GB ram. I know some users here are really into one or the other of these, and again, since my needs are pretty simple, and i am not looking to take much in the way of risk, i want to purchase something that has a high probability of success for using unraid. I build all my computers so i can handle hardware modifications. I can get a SAS card if needed, no worries. I am interested in understanding what i should seriously consider buying and what i should avoid - mainly along the lines of unraid compatibility. thanks for any input you can offer. -kf

Issue resolved, the Array is back online with parity protection using my new parity drive. sigh of relief. Here is the current diagnostic, if anyone is interested. repository-diagnostics-20210220-1006.zip

Joe, it may also be worth checking out your power supply. If it is old or not quite powerful enough, it might be a problem for you.

Unraid identifies each disk by the last four digits of its serial number, for example JA1Z. The serial number s/n is written on the label of every disk. When i add a disk to my array, i write the four letter "name" on a small piece of tape and tape that to the rear of the drive, so i can identify them easily. I have a 4U rackmount case, with 3 5-drive cages. on the frame containing each bay, i put labels in order from top to bottom in the cage with each drive's name. That way, it is easy for me to find the right cage and the right drive just by looking at my array in the web interface. If you put a couple of minutes into labelling the drives physically when you install them, it is a lot easier.

Thanks for the comments, Opa, you make a good point. I will recheck parity before swapping. My concern remains swapping back the original disk 7. It has been replaced in the array by a new, larger disk. My concern is that while i have used easily 30 disks in my array during its lifetime, i have never done this before - swapping back a smaller drive. I want to be certain I am using the right procedure. As Jorge points out, there is no such button. And since my array is powered off, i can't hunt for the right language. So to be clear, Jorge, i power up the array, change the disk 7 assignment, then go to tools and select "new config", then return to the main page and start the array? The thing is, even though i know my data is good, Unraid is going to think parity is invalid, since a disk has been replaced with a smaller disk. Of course i will do a parity check with "write corrections to parity" but what exactly is Unraid's expected behavior after i use new config? So unfortunately even though i am an experienced user i am in need of a step by step process. I appreciate your help and your patience.

Has anyone done something like this? My array is down almost four days now, I am not sure of what is exactly the right way to do this, I am desperate for advice, please, can anyone comment on my procedure?

I echo everything Energen said. APC or CyberPower are both good, and have usb connections - just double check the one you think you want to make sure. Get the largest wattage you can afford for the longest uptime, although all you really need is 10 min or so - long enough that the array wont shut down during a short outage and to have a long enough period of time to safely power down the array. IMO

OK I think i know what to do, but am concerned about exactly how to do this. Please look this over and let me know if the following steps will not overwrite any of my data disks. I have 11 disks plus a single parity disk. one of those disks was a 4 tb drive (disk 7), and my last parity check was fine. I shut down my array, and changed the disk in the slot containing the 4 tb disk to a "new" 8 tb disk (new disk 7). I then rebooted and unraid began to rebuild to the new disk. This disk (new disk 7) was red-balled due to crc errors. The Plan: i would like to return the 4 tb disk to slot 7 and make unraid build parity anew. I have a new parity drive precleared and ready to use so i will make that disk parity at the same time, since parity is no longer valid unless i replace the 8 tb disk with a new 8 tb disk. Task list: -1 power on the server (currently off) -2 change disk 7 from the 8 tb back to the existing 4 tb disk. -3 change my parity disk assignment to my new 10 tb parity disk -4 go to the tools menu and select "new config" -5 start the array and i think i have to click a button on the main page saying something like "trust my array" -6 wait for the new parity to build using the existing data Is this all correct? my data drives, after replacing the new disk 7 with the old disk 7, are all intact and i just want to rebuild my parity drive. thanks for the help.

I am not the most experienced user, although i also have a 2011 vintage server. Looking at your disk smart report, the only potential issue I see is the raw read error rate. your reallocated sector count and pending sector count are fine. It may well be ok. But your problem is that unraid has red-balled it. Your easiest solution is to replace that drive and allow the array to rebuilt it. After that you can attempt to preclear this drive and see if it will work in your array. Personally i would preclear it to make sure it is working and then retire it to a windows box where i am not concerned about a drive failure. It isnt that old, but old enough that it's pretty likely got a good life ahead of it. Maybe others would suggest another path.

Thank you JorgeB. I appreciate the confirmation. Sorry about the syslog. I am on my way to work and will need to locate diagnostics later. Will return in a day or so.