Islander

Based on the specs, there's actually another internal drive bay for a 2.5 drive in there. Can't see it from the pictures though. Can anybody help design the best budget build for this? Starting with the free license and maxing out with the plus license.

Hi Raj, Thanks for the warm welcome from the unraid guru, read a lot of your posts here. Regarding the current PSU, here are the values: I'll keep in mind the AOC-SASLP-MV8 when I make inquiries from SuperMicro, when the time comes. I just brought up the M5015 because we have one here (client upgraded and left out the stock controller) lying around.

Hi, Newbie here doing my first unraid "build", although it's not really a "build" because I'll be re-using some of the parts for my initial build and then replacing them as I go along my roadmap. My needs are very basic, just storage for movies, music, pictures, as well as backups. Special thanks to PeterB for helping me out on some of my initial queries, as he now lives in the same country (Philippines - although he is more provincial) as I do. Hope you guys can comment on this before I pull the trigger: Existing parts which I have to build around: CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Processor Case: Generic ATX Case PSU: EGCC (Generic) 500W ATX PSU HDD: 1x WD 2TB Parts I will be buying to complete my build: MB: Gigabyte M68MT-S2 Mem: Kingmax 2GB DDR3 HDD: 2x WD20EARX 2TB I've seen the Gigabyte board mentioned here before as working (no HPA): http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12900.0 Since I'll be placing 3 x 2tb on this array first, I'll just use the free license of UnRaid. Roadmap/Growing the Array: 4-6 Drives: The generic case has 4 slots for internal hdd so I'll need to adjust once I get to 5 drives. I'm thinking of using an HDD Bracket + Fans: http://www.ebuyph.com/PictureShow.asp?P_ID=1244 as they are quite low-cost. Also, the board has only 4 onboard SATA connections, so I'll need to get a 2-port PCIx1 controller. Unfortunately, that's actually my biggest problem, as I can't find a cheap one here. Also, I'll need to purchase an Unraid Plus license. Q: Is my generic 500w psu enough to power me through 6hdds? I'll be getting greens mostly so I believe thats enough? 7-15 Drives: I think 15 drives is my maximum, since the board has: 4 onboard SATA + 2 x 2 port SATA via PCIx1 + 1 x 8 port SATA via PCIx16 = 16 drives, and 15 x 2tb is more than enough I think (and the possibility of 3+ tb drives makes it much more than enough). I'm going with the PeterB build here: Case: Thermaltake V5 (sigh, I'm thinking if I should get this case already, might be gone by the time I get to this point) PCIx16 Controller: Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8i PSU: I'll probably upgrade to a branded one. Is 650W enough? Drive Cages: 3*iStarUSA BPN-350V2-SS 5in3 cages (Still have to find a way to source this) - If I'm feeling really stingy I can go for a 8 or 12-drive build with three HDD brackets instead? No hotswap though. License: Upgrade to Pro Q: Has anybody tried using an IBM ServeRAID M5015 Controller? Hoping for your inputs!