Hello -

 

I've spent the better part of the last week gathering information on my intended migration from my Windows-based Plex server over to Unraid. I think I've watched enough YouTube videos and read enough forum topics to where I feel comfortable moving forward. 

 

Current Windows setup: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/763ZFZ 

 

1TB SSD = Good Health (97%) almost 50K HRS (current Windows OS)

18TB WD Drive - just realized it's been sitting in my server unused and has ~19K HRs (no reads/writes)

8TB WD (was a shucked drive - think it's a white label) = Good Health and ~48K HRs

 

I've been running this setup for a long time - I used to actually just use this rig as my machine PC with Plex until I moved it into the basement. Just upgraded it to the i7-7700 a few months and see no reason with changing the main parts. 

 

Going forward I was planning on:

• Upgrade to 40GB of RAM (add in another 2x16GB) (can use this for Plex transcoding?)
• Going to buy another refurbished 18TB drive (WD Ultrastar)
• Buy another 1/2TB SSD drive for Cache and use existing 1TB SDD drive for cache (won't do any mirroring on the Cache pool)
• Use this rig for Docker, maybe a VM, my Home Assistant setup, and of course Plex (for now)

 

Setting up Unraid:

• Use the new WD Red 18TB as my parity
• My 8TB drive is just about full; will need to transfer to the refurbished 18TB drive
• Format/add in the 8TB drive once its fully transferred

 

I just looked at the spec sheet of my board and realized I will lose 1 SATA port (in AHCI SATA mode) if I decide to use the onboard M.2 slot for cache. 

Here is the link in case anyone wants to prove me wrong: https://www.manua.ls/gigabyte/ga-z170m-d3h/manual?p=17

 

At the end of the day, I either lose a SATA slot or abandon the M.2 slot (which will cost me more money anyways). Not sure if the M.2 slot is that necessary.

 

Intended outcome:

• 18TB parity
• 18TB array
• 8TB array
• <Expansion>
• 1 TB cache
• 1 or 2TB cache

 

I'm still a bit fuzzy on how to configure the cache drives for Plex, Docker, and VMs but this post will at least give the community who reads this some insight into my build. 

Much appreciated and if anyone has any other tips or ideas for the build - fire away!

 

Thank you.

On 1/23/2025 at 11:10 PM, jboss10 said:

I just looked at the spec sheet of my board and realized I will lose 1 SATA port (in AHCI SATA mode) if I decide to use the onboard M.2 slot for cache.

 

You only lose the SATA port if the NVMe is a SATA-based device.  Read this --> https://www.kingston.com/en/blog/pc-performance/two-types-m2-vs-ssd and this --> https://www.atpinc.com/blog/what-is-m.2-M-B-BM-key-socket-3

There are two ways to do this.  I've done both scenarios, especially #2 where I was running Windows, set up that system to run unRAID, then briefly switched back to Windows.

• Scenario 1
  • Build a completely new machine.
  • Make sure that the two machines can talk to each other.
  • Copy your data from the old machine to the new machine.
  • This gives you a backup system in case something goes wrong or if you want to start over.
• Scenario 2
  • Remove the Windows C drive and set that HDD aside or leave it in the case but leave it disconnected.
  • Add your new memory and drives.
  • Start the machine using the unRAID boot disk.
  • Configure the system as you like it.
  • Connect the Windows C drive to unRAID as an unassigned disk.
  • Copy your data from that C drive to your new unRAID server.
  • If worst comes to worst you can disconnect all the drives (including the unRAID boot drive) and reconnect your C drive.  In this case the Windows drive will boot into Windows.  You can then disconnect the Windows C drive and reconnect all your other drives (including unRAID) and then you'll have unRAID back again.  It's important for Windows to only see the Windows C drive.