Unraid turns 19

[SpencerJ]

On this day 19 years ago, @limetech first announced "a new network attached media storage server product called Un-RAID" in AVSforum.com. 

 

I think it's safe to say that this product, company, and community have come a long, long, way!

 

From Tom, Tiffany, me, and all of us at Lime Tech, thank you for your support and for being a part of the nicest server community around!

 

 

We're extremely excited about the future of this product and team.

 

Here's to 19 years more!

 

 

 

[ConnerVT]

I graduated from college 40 years ago this month, with a degree focused on microprocessor technology.  Went to work for a company developing high resolution color graphics cards (640x480 and 1024x768 *were* high res when EGA was the best that was offered!).  Been in the microcomputer world most all of those 40 years.  Before Ethernet was a standard.  Before the Internet had a WWW.  Before there was a Google, or even a Yahoo.

 

Being in this world for 19 years and remaining relevant after all of that time is a major achievement, one not many can claim.  Congratulations!

[Rysz]

My sincere congratulations, thanks for everyone's effort and hard work that has resulted in us being able to be a part of this great community and getting to enjoy the product we all love. 🙂 

[enJOyIT]

Happy Birthday!

 

And hopefully even more 19 years to come!

[isvein]

Something tells me an Hawaiian shirt is a MUST to work at Lime.
Still, I wonder how Unraid 1-4 was, I came in at v5.
Is there any screenshots anywhere?

[JorgeB]

Found on Reddit, this is from Unraid 4, this was how it looked when I started using it in 2007, never saw Unraid 1-3.

 

[ezhik]

This is HUGE. Such a long journey to get to where we are today. 

 

Respect.

[Barry Staes]

Cheers to many more years. Great to see Unraid has been so consistent. Its something to build and depend on.

[bnevets27]

3 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Found on Reddit, this is from Unraid 4, this was how it looked when I started using it in 2007, never saw Unraid 1-3.

 

That looks all too familiar. Apparently, I bought my first key in 2010 (email from Tom!) but I know I was using unraid before then, must have been v4 basic. Don't miss the install scripts to try and shoehorn more functionality into it, way before packages and the app store. It's come a long way. It was also not as well known at all. Very little talk outside specific locations, not anything like today. 

I remember Tom making a comment (and I hope this is right), speaking something along the lines that is is a niche product and won't ever become really popular as most users don't have the need for this much storage, this was when Lime-tech was a one man show. Amazing to see the exact opposite happen. 

 

 

[NLS]

Wow. We are getting older.
I started using it more than 15 years ago. I think I had 2-3 320GB disks in a case.
I then built the case I am still (!!!) using, although all the guts changed more than once.
It is a midi case, that the whole face is removed and I fitted 3 x 4x3.25" enclosures (with individual 120cm fans).

Since my needs grew and we were before "plugins" and "containers" era, I left it for a few years for some Windows based solutions, SBS etc.
Then returned, to see a much better, much more complete solution (actually exceeding what I expected) - and my license still working (ok why wouldn't it).
I don't think I can move away from UNRAID any time soon.

Now with ZFS implemented and U arrays optional (I will never stop using them, I love the flexibility AND portability) it really has nothing to fear in comparison with "heavier" NAS software names.

Keep up the good work guys.

[pXius]

8 Years in for me.

The one thing that almost pulled me away was ZFS. Now that we have that, I'll be here for much longer.

Even if I move away from the traditional array pool completely, the OS still ticks a lot of the boxes that are important to me. Immutability, app discovery, quick updates relative to the kernel and of course the community that serves as a support base.

You can still go off script and do advances things if you have a use case that calls for it. Want compose files? There's a plugin. Want kubernetes? Install k3s/d in an LXC container etc.

Here's to 19 more.

Edited August 28 by pXius

[Walter S]

Lovely Lime-tech family. Glad to be a member of it since 2014.

Thanks Tom, Tiff and family.

[Pri]

Congratulations 19 years is an amazing achievement and unRAID has a huge amount of momentum even after all this time. I've only been using it for two years but I'm really happy how you've been developing the software, the website here, the community forums and more ❤️

[tiffanyj]

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement! It is appreciated more than you know 🙏

[Espressomatic]

Hmm, it turns out I've only been running Unraid for a little over 5 years - it feels longer. That means I had a big rackmount 3U sitting around here for over a year before spinning up Unraid 24/7 on it.

 

No worries though, I'm trying to make up for the time in volume. Currently sitting at 4 licenses and a fifth will be activated before the year's done. That's half way to OEM volume.   A little bird whispered that it may be bad luck to have an odd number of licenses, so I should probably come up with a reason to get a sixth.

 

Header images from the 5 machines. Backup Server not online yet.

 

Edited September 3 by Espressomatic

[Ockingshay]

2013 for me and hoo boy was it like the Wild West!! 🤣 How I miss the drama of shoehorning extra functionality into the OS, it’s all too professional and easy nowadays! Many a time has Tom been a broken man on major release days; I think it’s time we’re due another one for nostalgia 😂

 

A toast to all the great people that have come and gone and to those today that make this software wonderful 🥂🍻 Cheers!

[bbrodka]

I've enjoyed the ride with unraid about 16 years now, hands down, one of the few things in the computer software world that consistently delivered me value over the long term.

 

Thanks unraid, and all my unraid  brothers and sisters for keeping g this company alive.

 

Cheers to many more years to come.