Hi everyone,

 

I just learned about unRAID and it looks like what I've been looking for. For a while I've had a Mac mini (old Core Duo model) running as a media center of sorts, with a couple USB drives tacked on for storage and backup. My home network has grown a little lately, though, and I'd like to take the "server" duty off the Mac, and consolidate all these USB drives I have hanging around. So...

 

I have two 3TB USB drives that I'm pretty sure are SATA inside. I have a 2TB drive that I know is SATA inside, and two 500GB drives that I know are IDE. I want to make use of the IDE drives as long as they're working, so I was looking for a mobo that still supported PATA.

 

Question #1 - if I have two 3TB drives, can I specify in unRAID which one to use for parity?

 

Question #2 - I'd like this to be a Plex media server (I use Plex on the mac and a couple android/ios devices), so I need it to handle transcoding on top of storage. For that reason, I was thinking of going with this Phenom CPU instead of a Sempron. Does that make sense?

 

Question #3 - just in general, does the hypothetical setup below seem like it'd work alright?

 

Question #4: Cursory math suggests this PSU could handle 5 drives, and at most I'd add in a 4TB parity at some point, and maybe replace the 500GB IDE drives with larger SATA ones at some point, but not for a while - 6TB available would more than satisfy my needs for the next year or so. But am I wrong? Would I be wiser to go for a PSU with greater ability, like the Corsair CX600 or the TX550M?

 

Question #5: (last question, I promise) - Does the RAM seem decently matched for the mobo & CPU?

 

• 29.99 Rosewill R102-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  
• 44.99 CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
  
• 54.99 Foxconn A88GMV AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
  
• 94.99 AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Callisto 3.3GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor HDZ560WFGMBOX
  
• 29.99 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK
  
• 23.99 COOLER MASTER STB-3T4-E3-GP 4-in-3 Device Module Hardisk Cage
  
• 5.99 Kingston DataTraveler 101 Gen 2 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (Cyan) Model DT101G2/4GBZ
  

 

Welcome!

 

Question #1 - if I have two 3TB drives, can I specify in unRAID which one to use for parity?

 

Yes. unRAID will differentiate your drives based on their serial numbers.

 

Question #2 - I'd like this to be a Plex media server (I use Plex on the mac and a couple android/ios devices), so I need it to handle transcoding on top of storage. For that reason, I was thinking of going with this Phenom CPU instead of a Sempron. Does that make sense?

 

Yes, that makes sense.  However, I would guess that a cheaper dual core CPU would still be fast enough to handle Plex Media Server.  More research is needed.

 

Question #3 - just in general, does the hypothetical setup below seem like it'd work alright?

 

Yep, looks pretty good.  I personally tested the Foxconn A88GMV motherboard (results here) - it works perfectly well with unRAID 5.0-beta-14.  If does NOT work with unRAID 4.7 (the NIC is incompatible).  beta-14 is perfectly safe to use as long as you are aware of the limitations, so I wouldn't let that hold you back.  But if you really want to run 4.7, then you'll need to find a different motherboard.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the case you've chosen, but it is cheap and it will work for a basic server.  If your budget allows, you might want to browse through this thread and see if some case in the $60 range appeals to you.

 

Question #4: Cursory math suggests this PSU could handle 5 drives, and at most I'd add in a 4TB parity at some point, and maybe replace the 500GB IDE drives with larger SATA ones at some point, but not for a while - 6TB available would more than satisfy my needs for the next year or so. But am I wrong? Would I be wiser to go for a PSU with greater ability, like the Corsair CX600 or the TX550M?

 

This really depends on if your drives are green drives or 7200 RPM drives.  If you want to play it safe, assume they are all 7200 RPM drives, which means they'll require about 3A each.  The CX430 V2 supports up to 28A on the +12V rail, which translates to up to about 7 or 8 drives (leaving a few amps of headroom for the fans and motherboard).  Green drives require 2A each.

 

Question #5: (last question, I promise) - Does the RAM seem decently matched for the mobo & CPU?

 

Yes, the RAM is fine.  However, you can also find cheaper kits.  Kingston RAM is often the cheapest, but still good quality.

 

Good luck with your build, and have fun!

In response to your question about CPU needed to transcode with Plex, I can offer my experience. I searched for a long time trying to find good info on this before I built my server and I never was satisfied with what I found. I still don't know a whole lot about it, but I know what the CPU I have will do.  I bought the AMD Phenom II x 4 970 and I can transcode 3 full bluray movies (30-50 GB files) simultaneously without any problems. I'm very happy with it and for only $130 I'd buy it again if I were doing it again.