Greetings! And some help moving to UNRAID please?

[pchoi94]

Hello everyone, I have heard the UNRAID community is the best and wanted to say hi as a soon-to-be new user!

 

Also, would love some feedback and tips on migrating to UNRAID from my current setup if you have some time:

 

Current system:

• HP Microserver Gen10, AMD Opteron X3216, 8GB ECC RAM, 4 external bays, one internal SATA
• 1 x Kingston 24gGB SSD (OS), 1 x WD Red 12TB, 1 x HGST 6TB, 2 x HGST 4TB
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Stablebit Drivepool for storage pooling with folder-level duplication for a little over 20TB usable
• SMB file sharing for Mac clients
• Crashplan Pro unlimited cloud backups
• Plex Media Server
• qBittorrent
• Homebridge running as a Hyper-V VM

 

As a side note, I am also trying to figure out a way to back up my iCloud Photo Library in their original format instead of relying solely on iCloud.  Currently I have an old MacBook Pro laptop plugged into an external USB drive where my photo library files are stored whose sole purpose is to stay powered on and sync my iCloud Photo Library locally.

 

There are a couple of reasons I’m planning to switch things up:

• Crashplan Pro will stop supporting my OS soon, and I don’t want to stick with Windows
• I am starting to run out of space
• Docker does not support my OS as far as I know and been wanting to move my home bridge to Docker, as well as play around with some other Docker images here and there.
• Less overhead for system means more resources for other functions
• Better compatibility with Mac clients? (SMB on Windows can be a you-know-what sometimes)

 

I’ve been doing some research and the reason I think I will settle on UNRAID is the fact that it seems to behave similar to Stablebit Drivepool in that I can mix and match drives of different sizes and grow them slowly over time.  Also the fact that since data is not striped across drives, if needed, I can easily plug drives into another system to recover data intact (just like with Drivepool).

 

My primary use case is as a NAS, with some containers and possibly a VM or two.

 

My plan for use case:

• Move Homebridge to a docker container
• Either run a Crashplan container, or set up a Mac VM with mapped drives for Crashplan backups
• Use the Mac VM to also download my iCloud Photo Library locally directly onto the NAS, which will then get backed up to Crashplan, without having to use a dedicated MacBook plugged in all the time.
• Plex Media Server
• Some type of torrent client

 

My plan for migration:

1. I have already purchased 2 x 18TB Seagate Exos refurbs from ServerPartDeals.com and waiting for them to arrive
2. I am running Stablebit Scanner to scan all current drives for errors (SMART has been green for forever, oldest drive is 9 years old)
3. When the new drives arrive, unplug all old drives, plug in both 18TB drives, run UNRAID off USB, and do a pre-clear check on them using the unassigned plugin (?)
4. Assuming they both pass, unplug both new drives, plug all old drives back in, boot up
5. Turn off the duplication feature in Stablebit Drivepool and rebalance all data onto 1 or 2 drives (assuming I can fit them all, fI should be able to fit all on 2 or 3 drives)
6. Unplug empty old drives, plug in 1 new drive and boot into UNRAID
7. Use unassigned plugin to mount old NTFS drives
8. Copy data to new drive
9. Unplug old drives, plug in the other new drive
10. Turn on parity for that other new drive
11. I have a second Kingston 240GB SSD drive, I plan to plug that into the internal SATA and use it as a cache drive
12. Validate data, run for a while
13. Set up docker containers, etc.
14. If all good, I can plug in 2 of the largest of the old drives, format, and use in storage pool (or just leave them out till I need the space?)

 

I understand my system is vastly underpowered compared to a lot of newer builds, but I'm trying to keep costs low for now.  If it doesn't work out due to lack of resources, I will look into building something, as I understand I can just pop the drives into another system... (?)

 

Whew!  Am I on the right track?  Are my use cases and migration plan valid?  I have never touched UNRAID before so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edited August 23, 2023 by light-stub7143
detail

[ConnerVT]

Sounds as you are on the right path.  I didn't get too deep into your 14 point plan, I sometimes get distra... SQUIRREL! ... what was I saying?

 

Always best to get the new server up while your current iron keeps running what it does.  Once you gain some confidence, start copying things over.  Unraid is pretty user friendly in its basic configurations, especially for those who have some time with their hands on server systems.  As with any new to you software, it is usually "What do they call that?" or "Where is that setting hiding?".

Edited August 23, 2023 by ConnerVT

[Vr2Io]

10 hours ago, pchoi94 said:

Better compatibility with Mac clients? (SMB on Windows can be a you-know-what sometimes)

This may have issue, but I use Windows at all, so no problem.

 

10 hours ago, pchoi94 said:

Less overhead for system means more resources for other functions

Yes

 

10 hours ago, pchoi94 said:

Move Homebridge to a docker container

Haven't any homebridge stuff, but homeassistance VM / docker work well.

[TimTheSettler]

I agree with ConnorVT that you should really have a new machine with the new drives.  Start up the new machine, get used to it, slowly set it up the way that you want, and then copy your files over.  Once you have two systems with the same data then turn off the old machine and use just the new one for a while.  Once you're happy that it's working the way that you want it to then decide what to do with the old server.  Move the drives over to the new server so that you have lots of space or re-use the old server as a backup server (archive).

 

Do you only have one machine and this is your only option?

[hernandito]

If you like to tinker.... you will have a blast...! Enjoy.