garycase

Yes, it will take a "while" (many hours) to do 1000+ files of over 7GB each !! The status line at the upper left of your monitor (assuming you haven't changed where to display it) will show you how far along it is ... but I wouldn't be surprised if it take 3-4 minutes/file, so you're likely looking at 2-3 days for it to finish. Verification is just as simple -- right-click and select "Verify checksums". Takes about 5 seconds of "your time" ... but of course many hours of the computer's time if you're verifying them all.

... You may want to look over the details on the Corz utility here: http://corz.org/windows/software/checksum/checksum-tricks.php Click on "Command-line switches" to see a list of all of the options you can set for the utility. As I noted earlier, I'm very happy with its default behavior, but you can make some significant modifications to this with these options. The only option I use is the verify option, so it always does a verify after it's created the checksum.

I use the Corz Checksum utility. By default it stores the checksums for all the files in a folder as a ".hash" file in that folder. You can also configure it to save a single .hash file for an entire disk. Or you can create a checksum for a single file (the checksum is stored in the same folder as the file). I haven't modified this, but there is a "d" option that allows you to set the output directory for your hashes, so this should allow you to store the checksums in a location of your choice. I actually prefer to have the checksum in each folder, so if I want to verify a specific folder I can just right-click on it in Explorer, and select "Verify checksums" and it will validate the checksums for that folder. You can also do this at a higher level in the hierarchy (i.e. an entire disk) and it will validate the checksums for all folders below what you selected. Clearly I do all this from Windows. There are some utilities that have been listed on the forum that do this from Linux ... but I don't use those, so others will have to comment on how they use those. As for creating checksums for newly added media -- you could do that after you add it to the array; but I always create the checksum for the folder I'm adding BEFORE I copy it to the UnRAID server - then copy it to both UnRAID and my backup disk ... that way I can validate either very easily should it ever be necessary.

Clearly a lot of people do that; but some of us only rip our personal DVDs (I even have a couple hundred I ripped from old VHS tapes) or legal recordings of movies from TV. While even that is of questionable legality (different courts have ruled differently); there's NO doubt that it's not legal to provide copies to others. For those who get their content via illegal downloads, clearly they don't care about the legality of sharing this content with friends. I'm well aware that a lot of UnRAID collections are built in this way.

Mirroring your server at a friend's certainly works technically ... whether it's done by "sneaker net", VPN, or just physically moving the servers on occasion. But there are, of course, legal issues with copying the content.

While that's technically true, don't forget that for an application where the powered devices are in water there's something to be said for good isolation transformers and ground-fault breakers. A PC power supply doesn't provide this level of protection. You could, of course plug it in to a ground-fault breaker, but it still wouldn't have the isolation a transformer provides.

I use a schedule task on a Windows PC and SyncBack SE to do the backups. SE and Pro are paid versions, but the free version will work just fine [ http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html ] The scheduled task runs a simple batch file that does the following: (a) Sends a WOL packet to turn on the backup server (b) Waits 2 minutes (plenty of time for the server to boot ... time yours to see if that's enough for it) © Starts SyncBack to run the backup profiles [i have several profiles that all run in a "Group" profile (If you get Syncback, you'll know what that means) (d) Turns off the backup server This, of course, requires that you have another PC that's always on (although it can be in sleep mode, with the task scheduled to wake up the PC when it runs). You could do this same basic thing with a Cron job under UnRAID using WOL and RSync, but I'm not a "Linux guy" so I can't help with setting that up. I suspect others would if asked nicely I REALLY like SyncBack, which has a myriad of options that make it very simple to make the backup job work exactly like you want it to.

Chuck => How's this coming along? I assume it's not yet finished, but DO post some photos when it is !! (I'm sure you already plan to do this) ... and I'm equally interested in seeing your 2nd server in a Coca Cola dispenser

While I agree it's best to use pre-clear to minimize the time to add a new drive, the array is NOT unprotected when adding a new drive without doing that. It's simply unavailable for a long time, while it clears the new drive. But parity is still actively protecting all of the other drives during this time. Once a new drive is cleared, THEN it is added to the array ... just like it would have been immediately if it was pre-cleared.

I definitely like this one. Although it may also be useful to use a different shape (perhaps a * instead of a circle) so the user knows he should point to it to see the state. Then a quick glance to see if there are any "different" symbols would let a user know whether or not he needed to check for more detail.

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.

Yes, I noticed that right after I posted ... you posted twice while I was correcting myself

Whoops ... my error. The number of cycles requires a -c parameter before the number. As Jonathan noted, the argument after -M is how often you want e-mails. It's not in time ... it's simply a parameter between 1 & 4, which defines this as follows (copied from JoeL's documentation): -M 1 = Will send an e-mail message at the end of the final results (default if -m is used, but no other -M option given) -M 2 = Will send an e-mail same as 1 plus at the end of a cycle (if multiple cycles are specified) -M 3 = Will send an e-mail same as 2 plus at the start and end of the pre-read, zeroing, post-read -M 4 = Will send an e-mail same as 3 plus also at intervals of 25% during the long tests

No, it's the number of pre-clear cycles you want to run. If not specified, one cycle is run. Otherwise, it can be anywhere from 1 to 20 (Note that a pre-clear cycle takes a LONG time ... especially with very large disks).

You can either use Molex-SATA adapters, or SATA Y-adapters ... whichever is more convenient, based on where you need the power and what connections are most easily available there.

Interesting that the RM series have issues as well. The only Corsairs I recommend are the HX and AX series, although many have good luck with the TX units as well. Most of my personal systems have Seasonic X series units or Silverstone SFX supplies (an excellent choice for mini-ITX cases with no more than 8 drives).

Stay away from the CX series Corsair units ... these are their lowest-end units and can have compatibility issues with many motherboards (especially Ivy Bridge and Haswell units). As noted above, the Seasonic unit you listed has 2 12v rails, and it's preferable to use a single-rail unit for UnRAID, since most of the 12v load is from the disks. The Seasonic SSR-550RM would be an excellent choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119

Definitely a great idea => Being able to have the backup server offsite would be really neat. Clearly that can be done already with add-ons, but to have it built-in to UnRAID would add a bit layer of trust and reliability to it (No worry about an add-on not working due to some change in future releases).

That's what I do these days. I just use SyncBack on a Windows machine to do the backups. Wrote a little script to automatically turn on the backup server; then run Syncback to execute the backup "profile". I suspect it's not too difficult to write a simple Linux script that would execute at a specified time to run a sync between two servers ... but I'm not a "Linux guy" and haven't bothered to do this. It'd be nice if it was a built-in feature in UnRAID ... might even sell a few extra systems to those who'd like the convenience of an automated backup to a 2nd UnRAID server

Unfortunately not all users are as well-informed. Many seem to think "fault-tolerance" = no backup needed ... and don't realize that's not true until they experience a significant data loss. This would indeed be nice as part of an overall backup utility which tracked newly added files wrote them to an external drive ... prompting for a drive swap whenever the external unit was filled. This, however, is a different story. You don't want your backups on the same system that's being backed up -- one good electrical surge could wipe out both the primary data and the backups at the same time Nevertheless, it would still be better than no backups -- and as long as the system is UPS protected the risk is very small. [i know a lot of folks who backup their PC data to a 2nd drive in the same system ... usually UPS protected as well.]

Case-labs is a nice find -- they've got some very nice choices for customizations. Thanks for the link.

I think you've got a GREAT project going here. I agree (as I noted earlier) with leaving the external appearance unaltered, so it LOOKS like an original radio. There should be plenty of interior space to hosue your server with no mods to the physical case, so it could always be returned to its original function as a radio. Can't wait to see how your server looks housed in a vintage Coca Cola dispenser

Very nifty project ... I'd keep the radio dial -- adds a lot of character, and there's really not much you'd need to show r.e. the server itself. Lots of internal room for excellent ventilation, so this can be a really nice, high-capacity server that nobody would ever guess was a computer

For mini-ITX builds I always suggest the excellent Silverstone SFX units. I like the 300w version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256097 But if you want a bit more "headroom" the 450w unit is also very nice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256063

True. They DO work; but I've seen many systems that had issues with them, but work perfectly with any of the higher-end Corsair units or other good PSUs. Cheapest is not what you want when you want a rock-solid reliable system.