Looks like I need to move my array to some new hardware. Its not what I wanted to do, but for reasons I need to. Is this possible without screwing it all up? If not, what precautions do I need to take before I switch everything? Currently my system has four drives hooked to the MB, and three more on a sata card. Thanks (For what its worth the power supply isn't sufficient, but more importantly there is not enough room in the case. Its a dell comp which has all those crazy intakes and fans, etc.)

If you're running version 5 you don't even need to remember what order the drives are assigned in, you can swap motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc and power it back up and you'll be good to go. I've gone through 4 different motherboards and 3 different CPUs while running version 5. Never had a problem.

I recently replaced everything except my drives and had no problems at all.

Excellent news. Thanks guys.

A bit off topic -- but a question for Trurl:  I noticed you built a system with the superb little Lian-Li PC-Q25.    I used the same case for my 2nd UnRAID server, and it's SUPERB.    I used a SuperMicro Atom-based motherboard, and it's been absolutely rock-solid.    Only reboots have been when I've been upgrading versions.    What I really like about it is the "night-light-like" power consumption ... it draws about 20w on idle (drives spun down), and still less than 50w with all drives spun up and doing a parity check (6 WD Red 3TB).

 

I'm thinking of building another identical system; but have been toying with using a somewhat more powerful CPU like your i3.    Have you measured your power consumption in both idle and all-drives-spun states?    If you have a Kill-a-Watt, it'd be nice to know the power consumption with all drives spun down; and during a parity check (probably the most power the system ever draws).

 

 

Indy1204 => You didn't mention anywhere which version you're running.    As long as it's version 5, you're fine (as already mentioned).    But if by chance you're running v4.7, be sure that you (a) copy the Config folder from your flash drive (I'd just copy the whole flash drive) while the array is on but in a stopped state;  and (b)  print a screen capture of the web interface, so you know the correct drive assignments.    Those need to be set the same when you boot on new hardware -- and since the SATA controller will be different, you may need to do that in the web interface before you Start the array.

 

I presume you're on v5 and it's not an issue -- but just want to be sure you have this info captured if needed.

 

A bit off topic -- but a question for Trurl:  I noticed you built a system with the superb little Lian-Li PC-Q25.    I used the same case for my 2nd UnRAID server, and it's SUPERB.    I used a SuperMicro Atom-based motherboard, and it's been absolutely rock-solid.    Only reboots have been when I've been upgrading versions.    What I really like about it is the "night-light-like" power consumption ... it draws about 20w on idle (drives spun down), and still less than 50w with all drives spun up and doing a parity check (6 WD Red 3TB).

 

I'm thinking of building another identical system; but have been toying with using a somewhat more powerful CPU like your i3.    Have you measured your power consumption in both idle and all-drives-spun states?    If you have a Kill-a-Watt, it'd be nice to know the power consumption with all drives spun down; and during a parity check (probably the most power the system ever draws).

I haven't tried to measure power consumption, but there are at least 2 builds similar to mine on the forum. Maybe they have. See here

A bit off topic -- but a question for Trurl:  I noticed you built a system with the superb little Lian-Li PC-Q25.    I used the same case for my 2nd UnRAID server, and it's SUPERB.    I used a SuperMicro Atom-based motherboard, and it's been absolutely rock-solid.    Only reboots have been when I've been upgrading versions.    What I really like about it is the "night-light-like" power consumption ... it draws about 20w on idle (drives spun down), and still less than 50w with all drives spun up and doing a parity check (6 WD Red 3TB).

 

I'm thinking of building another identical system; but have been toying with using a somewhat more powerful CPU like your i3.    Have you measured your power consumption in both idle and all-drives-spun states?    If you have a Kill-a-Watt, it'd be nice to know the power consumption with all drives spun down; and during a parity check (probably the most power the system ever draws).

 

If you're looking to go with another server board may I suggest the Xeon E3-1220L V2? It's rated 17 watts TDP so it should be super power efficient, even more so than the low powered version i3 chips, and support all the virtualization features. Intel makes the Mini-ITX DBS1200KPR which supports it. It would make for a nice super low power ESXi setup. Could be a lot of fun.

Indy1204 => You didn't mention anywhere which version you're running.    As long as it's version 5, you're fine (as already mentioned).    But if by chance you're running v4.7, be sure that you (a) copy the Config folder from your flash drive (I'd just copy the whole flash drive) while the array is on but in a stopped state;  and (b)  print a screen capture of the web interface, so you know the correct drive assignments.    Those need to be set the same when you boot on new hardware -- and since the SATA controller will be different, you may need to do that in the web interface before you Start the array.

 

I presume you're on v5 and it's not an issue -- but just want to be sure you have this info captured if needed.

 

I'm using the latest v5 release. 12a I believe. That being said I can just move the USB and drives to another system and plug in? Does it matter which ports I plug into? Currently some are on the mobo, others are on a sata card. Does it matter what goes where?

 

Thanks

 

P.S. This is somewhat off topic, but I'm basically swapping with a Windows 7 box. Anyone have any experience taking a Win7 HD and popping it into a new system? I know this would almost be impossible in XP, but Win7 seems much more forgiving. Any tips?

I haven't tried to measure power consumption, but there are at least 2 builds similar to mine on the forum. Maybe they have. See here

 

garycase, I'm one of the ones with a similar build.  I don't have a Kill-A-Watt for precise measurements, but I can tell you based on UPS readings that my server pulls approximately 55W at idle (all array drives spun down and a 7200 rpm cache drive spun up) and 72W with 5x 7200 rpm drives spun up.  I do not have a reading during a parity check but will see if I can get one.

It'd be nice to know the more precise "Kill-a-Watt"-measured consumption (if only to do an apples-apples comparison to my server);  but that's a pretty good approximation.

 

For a basic UnRAID server, I can't imagine using anything except an exact clone of what I have ... but I'm thinking I may want one to experiment with various other add-ons, so an i3 or i5 based unit would be a better fit for that.    I've also been tempted to use a Xeon and run everything under ESXi => I had planned to build a mid-tower for that later this year; but it's an intriguing thought to just do it with an ITX unit 

DBS1200KPR does it support ipmi or KVM.

It'd be nice to know the more precise "Kill-a-Watt"-measured consumption (if only to do an apples-apples comparison to my server);  but that's a pretty good approximation.

 

For a basic UnRAID server, I can't imagine using anything except an exact clone of what I have ... but I'm thinking I may want one to experiment with various other add-ons, so an i3 or i5 based unit would be a better fit for that.    I've also been tempted to use a Xeon and run everything under ESXi => I had planned to build a mid-tower for that later this year; but it's an intriguing thought to just do it with an ITX unit 

 

Per my build thread I ordered a Kill-A-Watt and will have accurate numbers soon.  I'll be posting the results in the build thread.

 

As for ESXi vs ITX unit, the P8H77-I mobo in my build is VT-d capable but the i3 is not.  There are many i5's (even 35W TDP i5's) that support VT-d, so you could put an i5 with that mobo and have a mini-ITX ESXi rig!