Hey all,

 

I am thinking about building an unRAID server for a friend as he has expressed interest in getting a RAID that can expand to his needs. He is far from being technical and I was wondering how has your family/friends adopted to using unRAID? My biggest concern would be if something goes wrong, or adding new drives (pre-clear) or just strange things that can happen that involve doing some research/troubleshooting.

 

I look forward to hearing your responses!

 

Thank you,

There was no learning curve for my family because I took care of all that myself.  There is really no need for anyone in my family to touch unraid and I don't want them to either.  Really that applies to all the computers in my house - they are users, not administrators.  All they need to do is know how to use XBMC and they're good to go.  My kids & wife have no idea what is happening in the background when they play a movie.  The only time they care is if the server goes down and XBMC says that the files are unavailable.  So my point is that someone in the house needs to be able to take care of the server.  If your friend is not capable of doing that then are you willing to shoulder the burden for him?

Ask yourself one question.... "Am I prepared to fix it when it goes wrong?"

 

That will tell you whether its a good idea or not

 

I've basically given up doing IT related favours for anyone outside of my family, too much hassle.

I think I have to agree with the others.

 

Much as I love using unRIAD in my house, this is NOT a turn-key solution. Even if you were you have one of the esteemed builders here make you a server, someone has to administer the unit. In my house that is me, and no one else. For my users (family) all the volumes needed are mounted automatically, so there is little or no interaction on their part. It is just there and they use it.

 

For me, it is not a difficult system to manage, but then I am a Unix/Linux admin at work. 

 

There is a lot of invaluable help available on this board, but there is also a lot to know. Only you can determine if you are willing to learn the curve.

 

Bruce

My wife complains about the XMBC remote not having any labels for the buttons.  "How do I back up the movie?"  Uhh, the left pointing button..nevermind I'll do it for you.

Of course my daughter is fluent with computers so show her once and she remembers.

 

They are used to seeing computers with guts hanging out.  But if I move the printer from one machine to another it causes havoc for a month.  We have dish network which has a nice remote and can perform near miracles for recording and playing and they are experts.  

Sometimes XBMC over-boots and goes to a linux login promt.  That happened to my wife 2 days ago and she won't try to play a movie since then.  I told her to just power it off and back on.  "No, thanks, I'll just watch TV."

 

There are levels of non-technical.  My daughter could probably buy a computer off a shelf, install an operating system and some applications and connect a printer.  Maybe not get the network going.  But she does know how to power cycle the wireless router when it's gone stupid.  She almost knows how to recognize files using file explorer because she copies pictures from her camera.  The wife, not so much.  

 

How non-technical is your friend?  Able to connect typical home sound system?  Manages the home Windows computer?    

@Queeg:

 

Damn, you just mentioned my family. .  except my daughters 9, and the wife just goes on and on and on and  ....bout how nothing works right around here..  but never says a word when it does .

 

Nice to know other's in the same boat.