First unRAID Server. Will this Setup Work?

[Donnyp]

I have an older customer computer I built a few years back. I was wondering, since I will either be purchasing a Mac Mini, or build a new customer PC, if my old one will work with unRAID? I am a noob when it comes to this, and this would be my first build. I have done quite a bit of reading though.

 

Motherboard: GigaByte GA-EP45-UD3P

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale

Case: Antec 900

Ram: ADATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

Power Supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 550W

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD4670

 

Hard Drives: I have a mixture of Samsung and WD. Most of mine are WD Green's from 1TB to 2TB in size. I have a 250GB WD Blue drive as well, that I use for the main OS on this computer

 

Any options, recommendations would be great!

 

Thanks

[batt01]

IT would more than likely work ok. Its very easy to test. Just get a flash drive and install unraid basic and boot from the flash. You are limited to 3 drives in the basic version. You parity drve has to be as large or larger than nay disk in the array. Nothing is written to the hard drives, unless you decide to set up a array. If you decide to add disks to unraid, any data will be overwritten.

 

Install instructions:

http://lime-technology.com/support/unraid-server-installation

 

unRAID Server version 5.0-rc12a is the latest stable release canidate. One of the best features of unraid is the plugin system. I dont know what you plan to use your server for, but, if you are like most of us, and want to serve media.

have a look here..http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Plugins

Sabnzb, Sickbeard and Plex are very popular.

 

[mrow]

Yes, I that hardware will all work. I used the have that same CPU in my server. Make sure to disable the HPA feature in the BIOS if it isn't already as it can cause problems with the hard disks. You also don't need that graphics card. Unraid is designed to be run headless so you don't need a monitor/keyboard/mouse hooked up to it.

[Donnyp]

Yes, I that hardware will all work. I used the have that same CPU in my server. Make sure to disable the HPA feature in the BIOS if it isn't already as it can cause problems with the hard disks. You also don't need that graphics card. Unraid is designed to be run headless so you don't need a monitor/keyboard/mouse hooked up to it.

 

Yeah I remember reading about HPA and making sure its turned off. It's only for gigabyte boards I believe. Wouldn't I need the monitor/keyboard/mouse for initial setup of it?  I don't believe my mb has on board video, might have to find a low power card that won't consume a PCIe slot.

 

Also read I wouldn't need a cache drive. Just a parity drive, then your disk array.

 

I currently use xbmc for media client, linked to file locations in library. Haven't heard much About plex. isn't it based off of XBMC?

 

Anything else I'm forgetting?

[batt01]

Plex is an was base on xbmc. Plex uses the client server approach. All of your thumbnails and metadata are on the Plex Media Server which resides on your unraid server and you run Plex Media center on your HTPC or other device. Where Plex shines is in the apility to run on many devices like Androd and IOS. Also all of playstate is seemless on all of your clients. You really should give it a try. You can also share servers with other Plex users. If you you decide to try it, send me a PM and I will give you temp access to my plex server.

 

[mrow]

Yes, I that hardware will all work. I used the have that same CPU in my server. Make sure to disable the HPA feature in the BIOS if it isn't already as it can cause problems with the hard disks. You also don't need that graphics card. Unraid is designed to be run headless so you don't need a monitor/keyboard/mouse hooked up to it.

 

Yeah I remember reading about HPA and making sure its turned off. It's only for gigabyte boards I believe. Wouldn't I need the monitor/keyboard/mouse for initial setup of it?  I don't believe my mb has on board video, might have to find a low power card that won't consume a PCIe slot.

 

Also read I wouldn't need a cache drive. Just a parity drive, then your disk array.

 

I currently use xbmc for media client, linked to file locations in library. Haven't heard much About plex. isn't it based off of XBMC?

 

Anything else I'm forgetting?

 

 

Correct, it's only for Gigabyte boards you need to disable HPA for.

 

Nope, no monitor required. All configuration, including the initial setup, can be done from the web interface and telnet. Telnet is going to be the same interface you'd see if you hooked a keyboard/monitor up to it anyway.

 

You don't need a cache drive but it speeds up writes a lot. I'd suggest once you've gotten all your media moved over to the server you install a cache drive for future writes to the server. It doesn't have to be huge. An old hard disk you have lying around will do fine.

 

Plex is nice, and yes, it is based off XBMC. Plex allows your library data to all reside on your server so it will be consistent across all your media player clients, such as PCs, phones, iPads, etc. You can always install it and give it a try. It's free, just like XBMC.

[Donnyp]

IT would more than likely work ok. Its very easy to test. Just get a flash drive and install unraid basic and boot from the flash. You are limited to 3 drives in the basic version. You parity drve has to be as large or larger than nay disk in the array. Nothing is written to the hard drives, unless you decide to set up a array. If you decide to add disks to unraid, any data will be overwritten.

 

Batt01, IM assuming your implying that I should back up my current Hard Discs, because once installed into the array on unRAID, it will format (clear) any data that is currently on them?

 

Plex is an was base on xbmc. Plex uses the client server approach. All of your thumbnails and metadata are on the Plex Media Server which resides on your unraid server and you run Plex Media center on your HTPC or other device. Where Plex shines is in the apility to run on many devices like Androd and IOS. Also all of playstate is seemless on all of your clients. You really should give it a try. You can also share servers with other Plex users. If you you decide to try it, send me a PM and I will give you temp access to my plex server.

 

 

Yes, I that hardware will all work. I used the have that same CPU in my server. Make sure to disable the HPA feature in the BIOS if it isn't already as it can cause problems with the hard disks. You also don't need that graphics card. Unraid is designed to be run headless so you don't need a monitor/keyboard/mouse hooked up to it.

 

Yeah I remember reading about HPA and making sure its turned off. It's only for gigabyte boards I believe. Wouldn't I need the monitor/keyboard/mouse for initial setup of it?  I don't believe my mb has on board video, might have to find a low power card that won't consume a PCIe slot.

 

Also read I wouldn't need a cache drive. Just a parity drive, then your disk array.

 

I currently use xbmc for media client, linked to file locations in library. Haven't heard much About plex. isn't it based off of XBMC?

 

Anything else I'm forgetting?

 

 

Correct, it's only for Gigabyte boards you need to disable HPA for.

 

Nope, no monitor required. All configuration, including the initial setup, can be done from the web interface and telnet. Telnet is going to be the same interface you'd see if you hooked a keyboard/monitor up to it anyway.

 

You don't need a cache drive but it speeds up writes a lot. I'd suggest once you've gotten all your media moved over to the server you install a cache drive for future writes to the server. It doesn't have to be huge. An old hard disk you have lying around will do fine.

 

Plex is nice, and yes, it is based off XBMC. Plex allows your library data to all reside on your server so it will be consistent across all your media player clients, such as PCs, phones, iPads, etc. You can always install it and give it a try. It's free, just like XBMC.

 

Thanks for all this information, you two have  been awesome! Appreciate it. I will just have to dive in and see how it goes. If any issues come up, I know the correct place to go 

 

Batt, If I do decide to go with Plex, I will let you know. I do have a pretty substantial media library 

 

Since ill be taking my current rig and using it as a unRAID server, how will the new mac I purchase, work with this?

[mrow]

Yes, any disks you add to your unraid server will be formatted and any data on them will be lost. So if you're going to reuse disks, make sure they are backed up some how.

 

As for how it will work with your Mac, it will work just fine. All my computers, except for my HTPC which runs Ubuntu, are Macs and they work fine. There are actually lots of Mac users on this forum. Your server and all it's shares you have set as public will show up in the Finder automatically.