binar

Thank you for your post Constructor. It is not that I want to do it differently. This whole process of migrating data over from a RAID array over to a new UnRAID machine is totally new to me. So to answer your question, I just don't know all of the details involved in performing a data migration between two machines. Nevertheless, my new plan is to use a router in between both machines. With the router in place, my Win7 machine should recognize the UnRAID share folders. But is setting up a TCP/IP connection still necessary after the router is in place? Thank you for any advice.

Greetings Fellow Forum Members, PC#1 is a Window7 RAID6 array machine with 20TB of data on it (no more storage space on it). PC#2 is a new UnRAID machine with a 50TB capacity. My plan is to transfer all 20TB over to the new 50TB UnRAID PC with a single CAT6 cable connection between both machines. However, I have not done anything yet because I have some uncertainties. Can anyone in this community please clarify for me the following: Do I need to perform a TCP/IP configuration on my Windows7 machine so my UnRAID share drives appear on Windows7 machine? Does UnRAID automatically generate an IP address which I then need to find on my Windows7 machine in order to establish a TCP/IP connection? Is TCP/IP connection idea totally wrong? What protocol is the correct one to use to connect my two machines together so I can migrate my data the correct way? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone in the community please comment on what is the best way to link two PCs together with the goal of getting the best data transfer speed? Does UNRAID support two CAT6 ethernet cable connections for faster data transfer speeds?

Fellow Forum Members, What is the best way to link an old RAID6 Windows 7 PC to a new UNRAID PC with the goal of getting the fastest data migration throughput possible? Listed below are some of the things I am wondering about: Both motherboards have two Ethernet ports. Am I correct to think data transfer throughput will be faster if I directly link both PCs with two CAT6 cables instead of one CAT6 cable? Is Teracopy the best software I can buy to install on my Windows7 PC so this data migration over to the UNRAID PC can be done in multiple sessions? Will my UNRAID share drives appear on my old Windows7 RAID6 PC if I link both PCs using two CAT6 cables with no router in between the two? Or does UNRAID require I install a router in the middle of the two CAT6 cable connections? Is relying on a single USB 3 connection between both PCs a better solution? I will appreciate any advice that will help me understand what is the optimum way I can directly link both computers together for the purpose of migrating many terabytes of data between the two. Thank you in advance.

Brit, Thank you for your post. I learned something new. I was not aware that Parity checks and parity rebuild speeds are limited by the slowest drive involved. Therefore, it may not be a good idea I add an old 5TB hard drive to my configuration because that drive is old and very slow compared to the new drives I'm going to buy. In short, the last thing I want to do is sacrifice the write speed on my new drives all because I have included an old seven year old hard drive into the mishmash. Parity drive providing protection against drive failure but not accidental data deletion is something I was already aware of. However, can anyone please clarify if setting up two Parity Drives can be done six months after the data migration task is done? Or does UnRaid require the Parity Drives be setup at the same time the migration task is being performed? Thanks in advance for any help.

Itimpi, Thank you for your post. I hope you or anybody in this forum can clarify the following. I am planning to buy three 10TB hard drives to start the data migration task. I am not 100% certain if that is going to be enough space. It may turn out I need to buy 1 or 2 additional hard drives. Long story short, is UnRaid flexible enough to allow me to setup the two Parity Backup drives 6 months after I complete the data migration task and sort out the actual drive quantities I need? Also, I'm planning to buy two bigger sized 16TB hard drives to use as parity backup drives. Therefore, will UnRaid operate correctly if my configuration consists of a mishmash of hard drive capacities? The list below is a possible outcome of my UnRaid hard drive inventory: Three 10TB hard drives One 12TB hard drive One 5TB hard drive Two 8TB hard drives Two 16TB Parity Backup hard drives I plan to buy sometime in 2020 when prices come down. (Will UnRaid allow me to setup these two Parity drives six months after I complete the data migration task?) Lastly, is UnRaid going to like such a mishmash of drive capacities? Thank you very much in advance for any opinions.

Johnnie Black, Thank you for your post. From what I have read SMR hard drives have a write speed penalty associated with them. This is why I want to stay away from SMR drives. I found what you say about PMR and SMR being the same very interesting. Because after visualizing it in my head in 3D I can understand why technically PMR and SMR are the same. To confirm, in your opinion the two hard drives options I have listed below use CMR: $343 - Seagate Exos X14 14TB (ST14000NM0018): https://www.newegg.com/p/1Z4-002P-00RY9 $490 - WD Gold 14TB Enterprise Class Hard Drive (WD141KRYZ): https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16822234400 And if I understand you correctly, CMR is really PMR. Honestly, I find this confusing. I guess the best question to ask is as follows. Does CMR have a write penalty associated with it like SMR does? Lastly, there is a $147 price difference between the two hard drive options I'm interested in buying shown above. Does such a big price difference necessarily mean the Seagate drive is designed not to last as long compared to the Western Digital Gold 14TB hard drive? Any opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for your post Itimpi. So in 2022 when I add two more 14tb hard drives will I have to erase the two parity drives and rebuild them so the Unraid system includes the addition of the two new 14TB hard drives with failure protection? Or do I just leave the two parity hard drives alone and Unraid will automatically configure the two newly added 14TB hard drives so the data populated to them is also protected against drive failure?

Fellow Forum Members, My Unraid system is still in the planning phase. Can anyone please clarify the following for me. What is the correct amount of data parity hard drives one needs to use to protect against hard drive failures in a hypothetical Unraid system using five 14TB hard drives to store data in? Is using one additional hard drive adequate? Or does it require using two additional hard drives? I'm asking because I don't know whether I need to buy 6 or 7 hard drives all together if my goal is to protect against drive failure in any of the 5 base hard drives making up my hypothetical Unraid system. Also, hypothetically if the 2019 Unraid configuration shown below with five base hard drives changes in 2022 to seven base hard drives, does the two parity hard drive count remain the same at two drives? Or does one need to bump it up to three parity hard drives? In other words, is the correct total drive count in the modified 2022 Unraid configuration need to be 9 drives or 10 drives or will 8 drives be adequate? 2019 Unraid Configuration: Five 14TB base hard drives Two parity hard drives to protect against drive failures Total 14tb drives used = 7 2022 Modified Unraid Configuration: Seven 14TB base hard drives Two parity hard drives to protect against drive failures Total 14tb drives used = 9 Mainly, I'm trying to learn how the parity drive count changes as time goes on and more hard drives are added to an Unraid configuration. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thank you to all for your posts. I have learned there are currently three type of recording technologies which I have listed below: Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) (aka Longitudinal Magnetic Recording (LMR)). Perpindicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) I called Western Digital again and this time the tech told me he could not disclose which of the three recording technologies their 12TB an 14TB Gold Label server grade hard drives use. So I'm back to square one. Can anyone out there please point me to a website that will clarify for me what recording technologies do 12tb and 14tb hard drives use categorized by Hard Drive Manufacturer. What I have noticed is hard drive manufacturers do not really want to disclose this information and I believe as a consumer I have the right to know such details. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Fellow Forum Members, I do not trust hard drives that use Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology to store my data. So I called Western Digital tech support so he can clarify for me which hard drive capacities I need to stay away from to avoid SMR. I was surprised when he told me none of their 8TB, 10TB, 12TB or 14TB hard drives use SMR. Is the WD tech speaking the truth? In short, what is the highest capacity Western Digial hard drive I could buy that uses traditional magnetic recording to the platter and does not rely on using SMR or any other form of exotic data stacking recording technology? 12TB hard drives is the capacity I am interested in so am I correct to believe this capacity utilizes traditional magnetic recording to platter technology? Lastly, I need to buy 5 hard drives for the Unraid system I am building. However, I am undecided on whether I should buy 12TB WD Red Pro hard drives or go with 12TB WD Gold Label Enterprise Sata hard drives. Prices for the two are close together. So I would appreciate any opinions relating to which of the two is the most reliable? Thanks in advance for the help.

Ramblinreck47, Thank you for the lead to the motherboard. I will reach out to Jeff Robertson. Additionally, that is a cool website. It seems to be an online marketplace for used server grade components. I will keep an eye on this website to see if in the future it can source a small quantity of 10TB and/or 12TB enterprise grade hard drives I plan to buy soon. To answer your question, yes I thought about a rackmount case. However, I decided not to go down this path because aside from spending on the rackmount case there is also the cost for the sound proofing cabinet on wheels shown in the link below: https://www.quietpcusa.com/XRackPro2-4U-Quiet-Rackmount-Server-Cabinet-Black-P443.aspx I just find it more easy on the wallet to get a tower case that offers some sound proofing and then just add my own caster wheels to it. Nevertheless, I am surprised to hear about the Deep Silence case having a bad reputation for bad airflow. I have spent a lot of time researching this case and have not become informed about this. Once I move out of my Condo and buy myself a house with a two car garage I will upgrade to a full size rackmount cabinet on wheels and set it up as the IT professionals do in a server room using up part of my garage. In short, I think a rackmount case is definitely the way to go. Not only for the better airflow you get but also because of that hot swappable drive technology you usually get in a rackmount case but not in a tower case. Thanks for the tips on the Fractal XL R2 and the Corsiar Obsidian 750D. I plan to call them up and talk airflow with them and also the Nonaxia case people. Again thanks for your help with this matter.

Ramblinreck47, Thank you for your very helpful post and your excellent recommendations to some great and sensible server grade components. I spent some time doing some research on the CPU. Based upon what I learned at the link below I have decided the "E5-2640 v3" Xeon is what I'm going to buy. I like it because it does not draw as much WATTS compared to the "Xeon E5-1650 v3" and also how it offers more cores. http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/405/Intel_Xeon_E5-1650_v3_vs_Intel_Xeon_E5-2640_v3.html In short, I think this "E5-2640 v3" XEON CPU is good enough to support a PLEX media server. At least that is my hope. As for the motherboard, I ended up calling SuperMicro tech support because I was not clear why the flashing you mentioned is necessary. After talking with the SuperMicro Tech I learned the 3008 controller has an IT mode for those interested in using the two SAS onboard connectors to support 8 SATA3 ports using the cables shown in the link below: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC In short, if the flashing is not done then the 3008 controller can only support a RAID configuration and not the 8 SATA3 ports. Overall, I think the X10SRH-CF server motherboard is a good fit for me. It has 10 onboard SATA3 ports. But after flashing the SAS 3008 controller you got an additional 8 SATA3 ports for a total of 18 SATA3 Ports. The way I see it 18 SATA3 ports offers plenty of future growth. The price of the board seems to be as low as $360 and as high as $500. I'm thinking of buying it at Newegg, eventhough EBAY has it for a lower price but then it is not the safer option: https://www.newegg.com/p/09Z-01PF-00004?Item=09Z-01PF-00004&Description=X10SRH-CF&cm_re=X10SRH-CF-_-09Z-01PF-00004-_-Product Regarding the RDIMM RAM. Through some Googling I found 64GB of Samsung DDR4 RDIMM RAM for around $180. I would appreciate any opinions if my X10SRH-CF server motherboard is going to work nicely with this Samsung RDIMM RAM or am I obligated to buy a specific brand of RDIMM RAM for my X10SRH-CF server motherboard to work correctly? Lastly, I already bought my case, fanless CPU radiator and fanless power supply. I want to build a server that is as quite as possible. Therefore, I bought the components shown in the links below in an effort to cutback on the server noise: The fanless CPU radiator I purchased shown below: https://www.newegg.com/silverstone-heligon-series-he02-sst-he02-v2/p/N82E16835220109 The sound insulated case I purchased shown below: https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Sensitive-Workstation-Storage-Applications/dp/B00DSFDSUS The 600Watt fanless power supply I purchased shown below: https://seasonic.com/prime-titanium-fanless I'm replacing the 5 included case fans with the Noctua ones shown below: https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-F12-PWM-4-Pin-Premium/dp/B00650P2ZC/ref=sr_1_7?crid=31N3TFBK12L26&keywords=silent+case+fan+120mm&qid=1569802422&s=gateway&sprefix=silent+case+fan%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-7 Any opinions from this great community will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thank you to all for your posts. I found them very helpful. After thinking about it, I think the best decision is to build an UnRaid system utilizing server grade components. I like the server build shown in the YouTube video below a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCt0JQ9sTd0 However, the one thing I'm going to change is the dual Xeon motherboard. I think that is overkill for me. I think a single Xeon CPU motherboard is okay for me because all I really plan to do is just use it as a media server and not anything as crazy as a virtual machine software tester. I'm thinking about acquiring a server motherboard similar to the Supermicro X10SRA-F. I say similar because I would like my server board to offer more onboard SATA ports. I would like to have 14 to 16 SATA ports on my Supermicro motherboard. The SuperMicro MBD+H11SSL-i-B ATX Server Motherboard shown in the link below has the 16 SATA3 ports which I think is awesome, but I wish it was running on an older XEON CPU and not an insanely expensive AMD EPYC CPU: https://www.newegg.com/supermicro-mbd-h11ssl-i-b-single-amd-epyc-7000-series-processor/p/1B4-005W-001V5 In closing, can anybody out there in this community recommend a good single CPU, ATX sized server motherboard that runs on an older Xeon and has anywhere between 14 to 16 onboard SATA3 ports. I'm not looking for the latest and greatest in technology. I think a socket 2011 server board is good enough for what I want my Unraid system to do. As for RAM, I think 32GB of ECC Registered RAM is adequate for me. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Fellow Forum Members, From what I gather building an UnRaid system using good server type hardware components such as a good Supermicro server motherboard, XEON CPU, enterprise level hard drives and 36GB of ECC Buffered (Registered) RAM ends up costing more money to build compared to building a comparable UnRaid system using regular desktop type hardware components such as a desktop motherboard, I7 CPU, non enterprise hard drives, and just regular non-ECC RAM. I plan to use my UnRaid system mainly as a media server and a basic data storage NAS device. Nothing more fancy than that. Therefore, I'm asking myself several questions: Does it make economic sense I spend the extra money for an UnRaid system built using server type hardware components? Or going the cheaper route using regular desktop type hardware components good enough? Does the UnRaid OS software work better on a system built using server type hardware components? Or does the UnRaid OS software operate just as well on a system using regular desktop type hardware components? Will my data be safer stored on a system using server type hardware components? Or is my data just as safe stored in an Unraid system built using regular desktop hardware components? Any opinions welcome. My goal is to make a more informed decision on whether it is smarter to build an Unraid system using server type hardware components or one using desktop type hardware components. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Greetings, Do two parity drives need to be connected to the same onboard controller used by 5 data drives? In other words, a motherboard I'm thinking about buying has 5 SATA ports assigned to an onboard INTEL controller and 5 additional SATA ports assigned to a LSI onboard controller. So if I go about connecting 5 data drives to the INTEL controller assigned SATA ports and 2 Parity drives to the LSI controller assigned SATA ports will Unraid still work correctly in such a configuration scenario? Can an Unraid array successfully work when it spans across two different onboard controllers? Any opinions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thanks to all for your post and I have one more post for the evening. I am changing to a Deep Silence 6 Super Tower Case because of three reasons listed below: The Mountain Mod case is just way too big to fit where I need it to fit. Plus 42 hard drive capacity is too much for me. The Mountain Mod case has no silence padding. In contrast, the Deep Silence 6 case has exceptional sound isolation padding. The Deep Silence 6 has space for up to twenty five 3.5" hard drives which is more than enough future growth space for me. Lastly, I learned the Asrock X99 Extreme 11 has the 18 onboard SATA ports assigned to two different controllers. 10 SATA ports are assigned to an INTEL onboard controller. And 8 SATA ports are assigned to a LSI onboard controller. Can anyone out there please answer the following question. Does UNRAID care if I attach ten 12TB data hard drives to the ten SATA ports assigned to the INTEL controller while at the same time connecting the two parity hard drives to the two SATA ports assigned to the LSI controller? In other words, will having the two parity drives operate under a different LSI controller compared to the ten 12TB data drives operating under a separate INTEL controller going to create a problem for me when the time comes to setup my UNraid system? Or is UnRaid fully capable of operating with two different controllers at the same time? If the answer is no, is the best solution to buy a LSI Logic 3ware 9750-24i4e 28-port SASRAID Controller ? I hope someone out there can answer my question because this potential problem has me stumped. Thanks for your help with this matter.

Jonathanm, Thanks for your post. Most likely I don't have an immediate need for that much storage. My reasoning is I just want to set the system up a single time and not mess with it for a very long time. Nevertheless, what you are saying makes a lot of sense. Drive prices go down all of the time and it may make more economic sense to build the Unraid system capacity gradually. As for the two parity drives being able to recreate the lost data from a failed drive, I have to say that is good news. Now the extra cost to adding two parity drives makes a lot of sense to me.

Benson, Thanks for your post. May you please clarify the following. You mention 8643 socket/plug HBA, and 8087 socket/plug. Are you talking about SAS controller cards? Or are you talking about cables? Can you post some links that will show me what component you are talking about because it is not clear to me. Thank you for your help.

Frank1940 , Thanks for your postings. The purpose I am planning for this Unraid system is to use it as a PLEX server so I could stream video to my Smart TV or music to my stereo and also for archiving a bunch of video footage from a video business I use to own. Right now I have no need for Virtual Machines on it but in the future when I learn more about setting up virtual machines I may consider setting up Ubuntu 18 and/or Windows 10. Additionally, I'm looking at Asrock motherboards setup with a 5th generation Intel Core i7-5775C 3.3 GHz LGA1150 Processor with 32 gigabytes of RAM. My thinking is this much processing power should be more than enough to stream some multimedia in my home network. Regarding the fans. Somewhere I read a post Unraid has a setting that enables one to put the hard drives not in use to sleep which I think would help power use and fans keeping things cool. I will try to find the posting where I read this so I can determine if I understood it correctly.

Jonathanm, Thank you for your post. I am still a newbie with this new tech so I'm sorry for tripping up. What I meant was an Unraid array setup with ten 12TB hard drives for data and two 12TB hard drives for parity. The totals I estimate are 120TB for data and 24TB for parity. I hope you can clarify the following for me. If five years from now one of my 12TB hard drives breaks down mechanically can Unraid recreate the lost data by using the two Parity hard drives? I'm asking this because you mention "Parity is not a substitute for backups" but confusing the matter for me is this post where shEiD asks, "Does it really mean, that having unRAID use dual parity I could recover from ANY 2 drives failing?" and the answer he gets is a "Yes" (second post from the top). If I am not mistaken in the Raid6 world two hard drives failing does not mean you lose the data from both failed drives because the RAID6 stryping technology re-creates your lost data. I was assuming the same holds true in the Unraid world by using two parity drives. In short, it will help me a lot if you can explain to me why it makes economic sense to spend the extra cost of setting up two Unraid parity drives if in the case of future drive failure the two parity drives cannot re-create the lost data? In my opinion, all of this emphasizes the importance of not being cheap when it comes to buying hard drives for an Unraid array and instead spend the extra money on buying enterprise rated hard drives that are designed to last a very long time. I'm considering buying Seagate Exos 12TB enterprise hard drives however I am still in the process of confirming if they are really the best quality enterprise level hard drives for sale in the market right now. Again thanks for participating in this thread.

Greetings, I would appreciate any comments on my Unraid configuration which is still in the planning phase. My choices are driven by the following three needs: I need the system to be as silent as possible. I need the system to offer the most future expansion as possible. I need the system to be as reliable as possible. Below are the components I am considering: For the case I am looking at the Mountain Mods Ascension PC Case. It can hold 42 hard drives. For Hard drives I'm considering twelve Seagate Exos 12TB hard drives. Two of them will be sacrificed for Unraid backup. For Hard drive cooling fans I am considering fourteen Noctua NF-S12A PWM, Premium Quiet Fan, 4-Pin 120mm fans. For Power Supply I am considering the Seasonic PRIME 600 watt Titanium Fanless power supply. To increase the quantity of SATA ports I am considering the LSI Logic 3ware 9750-24i4e 28-port SAS RAID Controller. For the motherboard I am considering to options. One is the Asrock X99 Extreme 11 which has 18 onboard SATA ports. The second one is the Asrock Z87 Extreme11/ac which has 22 onboard SATA ports. Below are my questions regarding my configuration: Are my motherboard options good choices? I would like to go with a SuperMicro motherboard. But they do not make a motherboard that matches the quantity of SATA ports the Asrock motherboards offer. From what I gather, these two Asrock motherboards are the only motherboards that offer such an insane amount of onboard SATA ports. If I am wrong, please post any other motherboard options that have 18 to 22 onboard SATA ports. Is the LSI 9750-24i4e Controller compatible with either of the two Asrock motherboards? Will it support 12TB hard drives? Can the RAID be disabled so 24 SATA ports can be used in no form of RAID setup? Am I correct to think the Seagate Exos 12TB hard drives are the most reliable hard drives for sale in the market? If no, I would appreciate any other suggestions. Is a 600 watt power supply adequate? From what I know about Unraid, one has the ability to prevent all 12 drives from spinning at the same time. Therefore, my thinking is I do not really need a 1200 watt power supply. Is this thinking correct? Is my case good choice? Any opinions on alternative choices will be appreciated. I was considering a Supermicro SC846 chassis however it generates a lot of noise so that killed it as an option. What I like about the Mountain Mods Ascension PC case is how it offers a lot of space for future growth. Those are a few of the most important questions I have for now. I hope to read any opinions that will provide new insights into configuring the best possible Unraid system to meet my three needs. Thanks in advance for any help regarding this matter.

Thank you to all for contributing to this post. In hindsight five years ago I should have decided on setting up an Unraid system over a RAID 5 system. It would have been a smarter move because now I have a lot of work ahead me in building a new Unraid system from scratch.

Thank you to everybody for their postings. I have the following analogy as a followup question. Let's say I have an empty shoebox and it fills up with 100% of my baseball card collection. Nevertheless, I keep on buying baseball cards and to properly store them I need to acquire a second empty shoebox. If the first shoebox represents an UnRaid User Share I named "baseball card collection" and it resides on a 1TB hard drive, does adding a second shoebox (second 1TB hard drive) require I make a new UnRaid User Share called "baseball card collection Part 2"? Or will UnRaid allow me to add a second 1TB hard drive under the original "baseball card collection" User Share? I'm just basically trying to understand how UnRaid handles spill over data when you run out of hard drive space and need to add a new hard drive. Can the original "baseball card collection" User Share be indefinitely expanded with new hard drives additions to it? If the answer is yes, that will be cool. Because I can keep my User Shares to minimum amount. Thanks to all again for your postings and I plan to hit some of the Unraid learning material this weekend.

Fellow Forum Members, I have a RAID 5 setup with 10 drives in my home network. All 10 drives appear as a single drive letter in my Windows 10 ThisPC window. Is the same possible with an UNRAID setup made up of 10 hard drives? In other words, will I see 10 separate hard drive letters with a UNRAID network setup? Or is there a way to make all 10 UNRAID hard drives appear as a single volume in my home network connection in my Windows 10 ThisPC window? Any post that will clarify this matter for me will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.