July 5, 201213 yr Hi all, First post to this board, I hope I won't make a stupid entrance. I've been looking for a simple overview that lists the differences between unRAID version 4.7 and the newer 5.x. I'm going to build my first unRAID server, but I 'm not sure which version to use. I can say that I am going to use 3TB drives though, but I thought that support for those drives is already in version 4.7 as well. It's not that I'm afraid to immediately start using 5.x RC software, but what are the benefits of using this version instead of 4.7. (I would be very surprised if nobody had asked this before, but I can't find the answer on the site, this forum, the wiki or Google... So it's either that, or my Google-fu is weak today ) Thanks!
July 5, 201213 yr This might help, scroll down to the "Change Log" and you should see all of the changes between versions: unRAID version Release Notes http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=UnRAID_Server_Version_5.0-beta_Release_Notes Other than that, you can have a read through the announcement board as it is usually kept fairly clean other than for new releases. If you do plan on running 3TB drives though, unfortunately 4.7 won't be an option. Unless you don't have any 3TB drives right now, in which case you can use 4.7 and upgrade once 5 goes final. The upgrade process is usually very smooth and all of your data should be unaffected.
July 5, 201213 yr If you are going to use 3TB, your choice is v5 (started with Beta7) Welcome to the board. Release Notes: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=UnRAID_Server_Version_5.0-beta_Release_Notes "Simple" Development List Upgraded kernel with associated drivers New Security Model for shares 3TB support Plugin Support for running additional packages Some major bugs removed (ie write to drive could impact parity calculation if occurring simultaneously on the same block) Probably a bunch of core changes to ensure data integrity and maintain/improve performance
July 5, 201213 yr Author Thanks guys! I'll have a read though thouse release notes. I've already got one 3TB drive and will buy a couple more. So it seems I have no choice but to use 5.x. No biggy, I'm not really afraid of pre-final software, especially not if it's already RC status.
July 5, 201213 yr Thanks guys! I'll have a read though thouse release notes. I've already got one 3TB drive and will buy a couple more. So it seems I have no choice but to use 5.x. No biggy, I'm not really afraid of pre-final software, especially not if it's already RC status. There are people on this forum who have been running the 5-beta's for months (or longer) without any major issues. By the sounds of it, RC6 should be out within the next few days/week but this will likely only be addressing some specific issues (from memory, some SAS controller cards and some Realtek chipsets/driver related issues).
July 5, 201213 yr What hardware are you using? Probably the biggest v5 bug now is the blk handle errors with the MV8. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2
July 5, 201213 yr Author I'm going to use the Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R motherboard, with an Intel Core2Duo 8500 CPU and 8GB RAM. I know this is overkill, but it's what I have laying around for the moment so I don't want to invest in a lower energy CPU and I might as well use the memory since I've got no other system left using DDR2 DRAM. This specific motherboard comes with an Intel ICH9R southbridge and a RTL8111B Gigabit LAN Controller. There are six 3Gb/s SATA connectors on this board and booting from USB is not a problem with it (I tried it). It also comes with VGA onboard, so that's handy. I don't expect any problems with this board. (or should I?)
July 5, 201213 yr Should be fine. 1. Update to the latest bios if not already, to ensure you disable HPA on boot. 2. RC5 has two versions currently. One with the Linux r8169 driver, and the other with the Realtek r8168 driver....which has shown to be a little more stable with Realtek 8111/8112 chips.
July 5, 201213 yr Author 1. Update to the latest bios if not already, to ensure you disable HPA on boot. I know what HPA is, but why is it important here? Or rather, why is it important to have it disabled? I didn't even know you could do this in bios since it's something that resides on the harddisks itself, no? 2. RC5 has two versions currently. One with the Linux r8169 driver, and the other with the Realtek r8168 driver....which has shown to be a little more stable with Realtek 8111/8112 chips. Good advice, thanks a lot!
July 5, 201213 yr HPA..you want to have it disable in the bios - so it doesn't create the file on the disk. It will make the drive size appear smaller, which can cause problems if it is your parity drive, which must be the largest or equal to the largest drive in the array. Example of drives with HPA: Parity HD: 1TB Size: 976,761,496 Disk1 HD: 1TB Size: 976,761,496 Disk2 HD: 1TB Size: 976,762,552 http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=4638.msg42267#msg42267 http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Topical_Index#HPA
July 5, 201213 yr Author Aha! I can see why this would be a problem. I have no idea if this is one of those 'dual/tri bios' boards. I'll make sure to check though. Thanks!
July 6, 201213 yr Author I checked the bios and indeed, there was an option "save bios to HD" which was enabled. No more. Thanks for the advice!
July 6, 201213 yr I checked the bios and indeed, there was an option "save bios to HD" which was enabled. No more. Thanks for the advice! You really need to look into a different MB if the default for "save bios to HD" is enabled. Otherwise, at some point in time the CMOS battery will die, and the default will be in effect once more, and you'll end up with an HPA on one or more of your disks. If it does it to a data disk, it will corrupt the file system and unRAID will interpret the size difference as if you replaced the drive. It will take it out of service, and it will NOT be able to be used as its own replacement since it will be too small. (or rather, it will not be able to be used until the HPA is removed) You have some time, probably even a few years, as it is not likely the CMOS battery will die in the near term, but it will eventually die... that is guaranteed.
July 6, 201213 yr Author No worries! I've never use a motherboard longer than 2-3 years, so I should be fine. But to make sure, I'll replace the battery before building the unRAID array. That way I should be good for at least a couple of years Besides, if the battery was to fail at some point, upon the next reboot, the system would state something like "bios error-defaults loaded, press F1 to continue". Should this ever happen it's only a matter of resisting to press F1. But thanks for the warning, this is good info! I'll certainly keep it in mind!
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