Hello!

 

To start off I am new to unraid, I have a test system going right now and I am really digging it. It's time to replace my 10+ year old Windows server. To save money I would like to use some of the equipment I have on hand, but I wanted to get some input on my plans to make sure it makes sense to the more seasoned users. I am planning to use this for one of my data backup locations for my main desktop and work laptop as well as less critical media storage and Plex server. I also will run VMs and Dockers on it to replace some of the duties my current windows server handles. I am also toying with the idea of building a second one to store at a friends house that will VPN home to sync. For this I have a bunch of terrible, but new, Seagate SMR drives. Not worried about performance on that one.

 

So what i have right for the test rig:

-Dell Optiplex 3070 SFF computer, i5 8500, 8GB RAM

-Sabrenet 4x USB 3 hard drive bay, 4x 2tb Dell/WD Drives (1 parity, 3 data)

-1x 500GB SSD

-1x 256GB NVME

 

My plan is to upgrade the test rig and use it in production:

-64GB of RAM (or 32, some say 64 may work. This will be trial and error)

-9th gen i7 or i9

-5x 10TB HGST refurbished drives (1 parity, 3 data, 1 spare) (I have been using these for years, so far no issues)

 

 

The final config will probably ditch the NVME drive, and use the SSD for cache and VM, I am open to suggestions as I got this far by googling and tinkering.

 

 

Additional questions I have:

-Is there a simple way to have the unraid connect to a windows share on my main machine to sync up when it's online? Right now i use All-way Sync/GoodSync on the source machine.

 

-Anyone else have a setup with an offsite machine to sync to over VPN?

 

-Every 3-5 years I cycle out my spinning disks and put them in storage, is there a solid method for doing this on my rig?

 

-Can i setup an email or other method to alert me of any issues with the machine? A PC speaker alarm would probably suffice.

 

Thanks in advance, sorry if this is a bit of a run on post.

38 minutes ago, sp00nix said:

USB 3 hard drive bay

USB not recommended for array or pools for many reasons. 

Some USB implementations may exhibit one or more of these issues:

• Disconnects. When a disk in the parity array disconnects, it becomes out-of-sync and must be rebuilt. Could be a frequent occurrence. Disconnected disks in multi-disk pools can have a similar problem, and even disconnects in single disk pools may have some consequences depending on how they are used.
• Inconsistent disk identification. Unraid uses disk serial number to track disk assignments.
• No SMART reports, so Unraid can't monitor disk health.
• Altered or misreported disk characteristics, such as disk capacity. This can be a problem when replacing disks, since a disk cannot be replaced by a smaller disk, and parity can't be smaller than any array disk.

Maybe some others I'm forgetting.

 

Also, connecting multiple disks through a single cable (unless SAS) will result in poor performance.

 

USB is good for disks temporarily connected, such as for file transfers using the Unassigned Devices plugin.

 

37 minutes ago, sp00nix said:

SMR drives

Not recommended for a parity slot but will probably be OK for array data disks.

Thanks you for the input, much appreciated.

 

I have been stress testing and downright abusing this setup without an hiccups for a couple weeks now, but the seed of doubt has been planted. I will continue to try and break it for the rest of the trial while I re-think my setup. Might be worth while to find another case, or motherboard that will support the hardware i have, again trying to keep within a budget and re-use what I have in the "junk" pile.

Setup Notifications to alert you immediately by email or other agent as soon as a problem is detected. Don't allow one problem to become multiple problems and data loss. All array disks must be working well to allow you to rebuild a failed disk. Parity by itself can rebuild nothing.

Post your diagnostics and we can take a look to see if your USB is giving some of the problems mentioned.

I haven't had any problems outside of any self inflicted issues to see how it works, and figure out how to fix them. It's seemingly rock solid so far.