Hi all,

 

I have had a WHS V1 for years that is dead!!  It was good but had its problems as I am sure people here know about.  I have been thinking of rebuilding it for a longtime and now that it is dead I need to do something soon.  I have thought about NAS boxes that are ready made but I just can't seem to find the right unit.  I have always been a bit of a DYI'er so it has brought me here.  I have watched and read about unRAID for years on AVSforum/this forum and followed some of the development.

 

My problem is that now that I am thinking of going unRAID it looks as though the development may be starting to trail off. 

 

My goals and why I was thinking of unRAID this time are:

 

-fairly fast

-easy

-little maintenance

 

Those are my main needs, I do not have time to spent tinkering with a server all the time, I just need it to work.

 

Things I want to do with the server:

 

-stream uncompressed high resolution Audio and Video to my other PC's, TV's, and Sound System through various front end devices

-backup pictures/Videos/Movies/Files

-backup PC's on the network

-not have any stuttering during playback of multiple streams

-remote access

-print server

-complete backup and fail safe of all data unless of course an act of GOD happens

 

 

Dreams for the server (may never happen but need to dream):

 

-Microsoft Exchange 2010

 

 

Is unRAID going to be a viable solution for the next 5-7 years or should I be looking at something else?  Money of course is a consideration, but if it would work perfectly I have realised that it is much better to spend the money now than to spend hours and hours trying to make shit work to save a buck.  Been there done that, out with the old and now in with the killer new that will last and just work.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated as I am sure most have asked themselves these same questions here before.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all replies!

 

Snorf

 

 

-complete backup and fail safe of all data unless of course an act of GOD happens

 

To do this requires a second storage system. Never store the only copy of important data on a single system. Off-site replication should be used if the data is important enough. UnRAID can backup your laptop ensuring two copies of everything on the laptop. Backups, by definition, require a second copy in a second system. Do not copy a file to unRAID, delete the original, and still consider the file as "backed-up".

Thanks for the first reply!

 

That is why I put the act of GOD disaster in there.  At work I run a Windows SBS 2011, a Windows 2008 for backup and redundancy.  Then amazon S3 for off site.

 

I would love to do this for my home but it is way to much work and way to much money when talking about 10 - 40 TB of data. 

 

As long as I could always rebuild the system or copy off the hard drives that would be good enough for the home.  Unless a fire and flood happens (act of GOD) I should be able to get my data back in a few days from my crashed home system. 

 

Snorf

UnRAID should do all the other things you mentioned. Where did you hear that development is slowing? Lime-Tech has made no such announcement. Development has remained constant for several years.

I have been reading around on the forum and other forums and there has been posts saying that the beta has been going on and on and RC dates have been pushed.  I am just asking because I want to build for the long term and I do not want to get going in one direction and have to switch gears a year from now.

 

I did put "may be" in my original post.  I hope not though as it seems like a great solution to my server requirements. 

 

Snorf

Thats how it's been for years, but there has also been a regular stream of updates. People love to whine if their schedules are not met. If anything the opposite is true. Lime-tech has recently invested in a retail space. This indicates a strong commitment.

Hi all,

 

I have had a WHS V1 for years that is dead!!  It was good but had its problems as I am sure people here know about.  I have been thinking of rebuilding it for a longtime and now that it is dead I need to do something soon.  I have thought about NAS boxes that are ready made but I just can't seem to find the right unit.  I have always been a bit of a DYI'er so it has brought me here.  I have watched and read about unRAID for years on AVSforum/this forum and followed some of the development.

 

My problem is that now that I am thinking of going unRAID it looks as though the development may be starting to trail off. 

 

My goals and why I was thinking of unRAID this time are:

 

-fairly fast

-easy

-little maintenance

 

Those are my main needs, I do not have time to spent tinkering with a server all the time, I just need it to work.

 

Things I want to do with the server:

 

-stream uncompressed high resolution Audio and Video to my other PC's, TV's, and Sound System through various front end devices

-backup pictures/Videos/Movies/Files

-backup PC's on the network

-not have any stuttering during playback of multiple streams

-remote access

-print server

-complete backup and fail safe of all data unless of course an act of GOD happens

 

 

Dreams for the server (may never happen but need to dream):

 

-Microsoft Exchange 2010

 

 

Is unRAID going to be a viable solution for the next 5-7 years or should I be looking at something else?  Money of course is a consideration, but if it would work perfectly I have realised that it is much better to spend the money now than to spend hours and hours trying to make shit work to save a buck.  Been there done that, out with the old and now in with the killer new that will last and just work.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated as I am sure most have asked themselves these same questions here before.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all replies!

 

Snorf

 

 

IF you are looking for speed, don't look here. Even in the unraid manual/wiki it indicates unraid is not for speed. This is NOT me saying this. The stable only supports 2TB drives. The BETA supports 3TB drives, but it is still in BETA. To store and keep online and to stream from unraid is great. Want to edit a video file, make music, or open large live files? Unraid is not for you.

 

I'm one of the whiners. If you just get only the positive points that would be biased.

 

 

This is great thanks for the input.  I need to make an informed decision. 

 

opentoe, is there anything for me then?  This is the problem I have been having.  Most things just lack certain things that would make them great.

 

What could I not do because of the speed?  Is there a way I could build it that would give me more speed, a more robust build?

 

Snorf

Because of the way unRAID works it's always going to be slow at writing to disk (30MB/s is what I get).  You can overcome this by using a cache drive and get faster write speeds (50-60MB/s), but a cache drive will eventually write to your array, and that will happen at 30MB/s.  I suppose you could use all SSD drives, and that would be faster, but extremely expensive.

 

I know at least on XBMC user was able to successfully stream 5 HD streams at once from unRAID.  There are considerations in regards to your ability to do this.  Ideally you would have a cache drive that moves files to your array drives when you wouldn't normally be streaming media (4am or whatever works for you). 

 

Also, unRAID is not a replacement for a proper backup.  I don't consider backing up my commercial media as important as my personal media (family pictures, etc).  The worst case scenario is I'd have to repurchase my media, I cannot recreate my personal media, so I have an offsite back up of things like that. 

 

 

Can anyone suggest a system that will fit with my main goals? 

 

-Fairly fast

-Easy

-Little maintenance

 

This is really the deciding factor.  Something that just works and works well.  I really do not want to have to out source my network needs like I do at work.  Should I just buy a Synology or Qnap that I can expand in the future?

Can anyone suggest a system that will fit with my main goals? 

 

-Fairly fast

-Easy

-Little maintenance

 

This is really the deciding factor.  Something that just works and works well.  I really do not want to have to out source my network needs like I do at work.  Should I just buy a Synology or Qnap that I can expand in the future?

 

Fairly fast is a subjective term.

 

For me unRAID is "fairly fast" but some might not thing so as definition is different from mine.

 

For the things you listed I think unRAID would do just fine.  Write speed is not spectacular but read speed is just fine and more than enough to stream multiple movies/shows at one time.

If I do build a unRAID box.  What version of the software should I start with?  I will be buying 2TB or 3TB drives, probably 3TB drives.

If I do build a unRAID box.  What version of the software should I start with?  I will be buying 2TB or 3TB drives, probably 3TB drives.

You will need version 5.0 for 3tb drives.

See my sig for my tests of multiple Blu-ray streaming.