I’ve been using a media server I built in 2013 with WHS 2011, Flexraid and Kodi.  My pool is 16tb with one parity drive and almost full.  I’m planning on adding a new drive to gain 8tb (doesn’t matter what I add as the parity is currently 8tb so anything I add will be the new parity and I’ll gain 8tb).

 

I think I would like to migrate to Unraid and Plex but am not really sure the best way to do it.  I think I would create a new pool with the new drive and the current parity drive with one being the new parity and the other being blank storage.  I would then move the existing data one drive at a time to the storage drive and then add that old drive to the pool.

What I don’t understand is how I will move the files over since I’ll be booting up through Unraid.  Will Unraid see all the connected Sata drives and give me the option to copy the files over?  Do I need to disconnect the sata drives from the computer and then move the media files over via the network? 

 

Also, the server is pretty old hardware and wasn’t that powerful.  I don’t know how processor and ram intensive Unraid is.  My specs are:

Intel Pentium G2120 Dual-Core Processor – 3.1Ghz, 3MB Cache, LGA 1155

8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

ARK 4U-500-CA Case

 

Can I use these parts or do I need to upgrade the processor and RAM (and then motherboard) to run Unraid and Plex well?

Thanks for the help.

Any thoughts or guides on this?  Thanks.

Not familiar with Flexiraid, are the disks just individually formatted NTFS disks, or are they in some kind of pool?

Flexraid creates a pool does doesn't modify the structure so if I stop the array I have the individual formatted NTFS disks.  So for purposes of switching to Unraid you can assume I currently have 5 filled data disks (4 3tb and 1 8tb), one blank 8tb disk (current parity drive which I will format) and I will buy one 8tb or larger drive.

 

So my main questions are:

 

1) Once I create an Unraid array with two blank drives (let's assume both 8tb with one being parity and one being data), how will I move data from my existing data drives to the Unraid array.  Both Unraid array drives and existing data drives will be connected to the same computer via Sata

2) Is my hardware good enough to run Unraid and Plex

3) Do I need to have cache drives?  I currently don't have any SSD or M.2 drives connected.

 

Thanks.

20 hours ago, ks-man said:

I’ve been using a media server I built in 2013 with WHS 2011, Flexraid and Kodi.  My pool is 16tb with one parity drive and almost full.  I’m planning on adding a new drive to gain 8tb (doesn’t matter what I add as the parity is currently 8tb so anything I add will be the new parity and I’ll gain 8tb).

 

I do have a Media server running on Unraid using  KODI running in separate Media Players and I have a common KODI database saved in a mySQL Docker running on that server.  (You can see the specs below for that server.)  I do have to see that I am using three Windows 10 min/micro computers as set-top media boxes.  (Mini/micro computers that will do the job start around $200US.)  I also have KODI installed on two desktop computers.  So a total of five computers have access to that mySQL database.  I have tested streaming three BluRay streams simultaneously without issue. 

 

20 hours ago, ks-man said:

Intel Pentium G2120 Dual-Core Processor – 3.1Ghz, 3MB Cache, LGA 1155

8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

I have no experience with Plex.  Are you planning to use the hardware also to play media to the attached display or will you be using separate media box(es)?   Will you require Plex to transcode video streams on the fly?   The Pentium is probably a bit light to be able to do transcoding.  Other wise, it should be able to handle the tasks.

 

3 hours ago, ks-man said:

3) Do I need to have cache drives?  I currently don't have any SSD or M.2 drives connected.

Cache drives are an benefit as they can provide a performance boast to Dockers and VM's.  They can also speed up the apparent write speed to the array.  (Rather than having a write speed in under 50MB/s range, they can often be at the network speed.  Note that this can depend on the write speed of the particular SSD chosen as some SDDs have much slower write speeds than others.)   There is a Unraid process called 'Mover' that transfers the data from the cache drive to the array-- usually overnight.

 

3 hours ago, ks-man said:

how will I move data from my existing data drives to the Unraid array. 

There is a plugin called Unassigned Devices that will read NTFS disks.  You mount the disk (via SATA or USB) with Unassigned Devices and then copy the data to the array.   (If you do this copy before you assign the Unraid parity drive, this can be done at the write speed of the receiving drive.  After all the data is transferred, you then assign the parity and build parity.  (Typical speed is 2-3TB per hour.)