Hey everyone,
I've spent the last few weeks pouring over the forums educating myself and reading, watching videos. This community seems to be very helpful and encouraging. I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and if you don't mind ask some questions about my current build/configuration.
Previous Configuration:
[1x] Dell R710 with H700i Controller
[1x] 256gb SSD in backplane (Running Windows Server 2016)
[5x] 4TB HDDs in backplane (Configured in RAID 5)
[OS] Windows Server 2016
New Configuration:
[1x] Dell R710 with H700i Controller
[1x] 256gb SSD in backplane (Running Windows Server 2016)(this will be formatted into a Cache drive probably)
[5x] 4TB HDDs in backplane (Configured in RAID 5)
[1x] Rackable DAS
[1x] H200e HBA Dual Port
[8x] IronWolf 4TB HDDs
[OS] unRAID 6.6.6
So you can see I've added the DAS and plan to expand to another 32TB with a 2 disk parity, the H700 continues to manage the RAID5 configuration and the HBA is managing all the drives in the DAS.
Question #1: What would you recommend for pulling the data across to the unRAID array for a previous Windows Server user?
// Data migration, all my Media is located in the RAID5 configuration. I've loaded the raid in Unassigned Devices, but there are quite a few solutions out there for copying the files over. I'm not great with the new file system in unRAID, the but disks mount up nicely.
Question #2: What to do with the old RAID when I've moved the data?
// Not really sure what to do with the existing RAID when I finish pulling over the data... if I break up the RAID will unRAID be able to see/access these individual drives through the H700 and possibly add them to the array? Is it even possible to span drives across the controller like that?
Question #3: Huge Plex Library, where should the container live?
// This is one I've been struggling with, obviously my PLEX library is huge, 2000+ movies, and 14,000+ TV episodes. My PLEX database and even the metadata is massive. Where should I place the container, on an SSD? I'm still a little noobish when it comes to CACHE drives, should it be on a cache drive?
I'll leave it at these 3 for now, I share my library with about 30 people and have 2x gigabit networks in the house, I am sure I'll have more questions and I certainly appreciate anyone's time or insight as to any of these. I'm happy to provide more details as needed for further clarifications.
Thanks!
PR3SIDENT