shinyunraid

Is this motherboard likely to work? Some very similar ones are on the working hardware list. http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hardware_Compatibility

I do plan on running SAB and Sickbeard. Other than those 2 I am not really sure. Might cut the ram back a bit then to save some cash. I think I may stick with the CPU as this server will be streaming to 5+ htpc simultaneously while also extracting/repairing with SAB. I have looked around in the plugins but what are some really useful uses of this server in a home environment? What limits what an unRAID server can run? Thanks for all the help. Pretty sure I am satisfied with what is listen above.

OK, I definitely missed some requirements of esxi. Thank you both for pointing that out. I think for that specifically I am going to hold off for now. I just don't know enough about why I need it to justify the cost. It sounds really cool which so far is the only reason I want it. I am going to read quite a bit to be sure. I looked up other hard drives and I can't seem to find a good brand but larger one for anything less than double the cost of this one. So for now I think I will stick with that and cross that bride later. A good power supply should have a use in the future. Ignoring esxi now. Is there any benefit then to the processor power and the amount of ram? Anything that can be run on unraid that would require/benefit from that? Thanks for the quick replies overnight and the great information for consideration.

XCLIO Nighthawk Black Finish 0.6mm SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ECS A885GM-A2 (V1.1) AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT (overkill for now but may come in use) AMD Athlon II X3 455 Rana 3.3GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX455WFGMBOX (overkill but significant increase for small price increase and will be very useful if I want to use the server for more than unraid.) StarTech USBMBADAPT 6in USB 2.0 Cable - USB A Female to USB Motherboard 4 Pin Header F/F Kingston DataTraveler G3 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (White & Grey) Model DTIG3/4GBZ Budget is right around $300. Currently I will start the server with only two drives, both WD green 3tb. One for storage the other for parity. In the next month or so I will add another 3tb drive. After that I will trickle in the best priced drive for the next several years. I could certainly see this reaching 10+ drives. I would eventually add 5 in 3 bays. I would be running sabnzbd and sickbeard. I would also like to run this as a general purpose(not sure yet but i would like it to be flexable) so perhaps esxi? Thanks for taking the time to read this thread and any thoughts would be great.

Ugh yea, I really knew what I meant don't know how i slipped that up I have gone with the switch and cat5e, from what I understand cat6 really wont be worth it. The HTPCs in this setup will be 2 appletv2s with xbmc, 1 Imac, and 1 windows PC. And probably something else once we upgrade the last TV in the house to something with HDMI, another appletv2 if I end up liking them. Currently the corner I am having to cut is with storage. To start with it will simply be a single usb2 external drive hooked up to a computer that can share it as SMB. Will probably just use the Unraid trial so I can get a little use to it (I know you can mount a usb drive but can it share one as SMB?) Then once I have the funds I will do a full on server.

Yep that is definitely the way I decided to go. Got a killer deal on a gigabit router from amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QUA6RA/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details The router/gateway I currently have will then just be used for providing WiFi for a couple laptops and phones. The library add-on sounds awesome that was one of my mild annoyances with XBMC.

Thanks for all the responses. I am just getting into all this and have been reading hours and hours per day for the last few weeks. I have all the cabling I need to wire my house ordered.(that will be a fun project) Still trying to decided if I should get a gigabit router or just grab a gigabit switch. From what I understand that would work fine? All wired computers(mix of 10/100 and gigabit nics) on the switch and then the switch to one of the router ports for internet? I have messed around for about a day each with openfiler, freenas, whs and unraid. Trying to decide on what level of protection and amount of storage I really need since all my media will be replaceable.. however I am a hoarder at heart.. and I think the first time I show someone XBMC scrolling through 1000+movies will make it all worth it. Still deciding on HTPC builds(3) and a server build. All my learning just gives me more options lol. I will say that the community here just from this thread makes me want to lean towards unraid.

Sorry if I worded it poorly. Currently what I have access to is an old p4, some old IDE HDs and a 3tb external. I need to keep costs down to begin with. What I am asking is if I use 3 IDE drives with the free version for the data I want raided can I also mount and share a external USB drive with the network?

I am most likely going to use old hardware at least to start with. Sounds like things will only get easier. And yes from what I have been reading the community here is a big factor in unraid. I feel like there will always be others looking for the same thing I am. Right now the computer that I have extra to use is really old and doesn't even have sata ports. Is there any way to mount a usb drive and while not have parity or anything be shared with the network? Thanks for the reply. Sorry about random questions just asking as they pop up.

I am currently planning out dropping cable and going with xbmc htpcs and a NAS running sabnzbd/couchpotato/sickbeard. What I am currently working on is the NAS solution. What I am trying to figure out is how realistic is an unraid server also running the services I listed above. Would it be easier/better to just use WHS and install those as I am familiar with? I have very very little linux experience and while I can follow instructions I get lost sometimes. From what I am reading as a storage solution unraid is almost incomparable for what I would be using it for. However, I don't know how complicated things may get if I want to run other services on the same server. I assume for WHS it would be almost as if its just another windows computer, which I am familiar with. An alternative would be to use unraid and just run those services on one of my other computers that has windows on it and point the download folders to the unraid server. Sorry if I am missing some key information. This is all pretty new to me.