Hi together,

 

I am browsing through forum and wiki since weeks collecting information about my upcoming migration. My Windows 2012 Server is anoying me since days and I have to change that - especially the storage spaces are not that good as expected and they are eating up my HDDs like I do eat cornflakes because the do not spin down.

 

Nevertheless I decided that unRaid is the choice - because of the feature - if disks are dying and raid crashed I can still access data on the other discs.

Now my problem is how I get all the little pieces together do migrate my system.

 

I used a windows 2012 essentials installation for CIFS, CrashPlan, Torrent and Plex on a HP MiniServer with 4 Data Disks and one SSD as System Disk. This was working fine - also transcoding was never an issue with the setup.

 

For the start of the migration I do only use 3x3TB Disks - so I can use the free version for the beginning (if it fits otherwise I gonna by a license) - now I have a view questions:

 

-) How easy is it to get plex running on the system?

-) Can I migrate my Plex database from my Windows to the unRAID?

-) What are the requirements to have my data disks still spinning down if I have plex or torrent installed and running but without actually letting it serve data. (I read this could be a problem)

-) Is it possible or recommended to install slackware packages manually - like a webserver, syslog or snmp server?

-) Is it possible to use CrashPlan with unRaid?

-) Which version of unRaid is recommended - I thought about starting with 5.0

-) Can I attach an USB disk and use it within the RAID or as a seperate disk for any purpose?

 

Whats available:

HP Miniserver

4 Slots 3,5 Disks

3x3TB and a lots of 1TB Disks

1x128GB SSD

a few USB ports and another eSata Port for attaching external drives.

 

Thanks for all the Input - I am starting to getting nervous if the migration is working and if I am happy afterwards.

 

 

 

For the start of the migration I do only use 3x3TB Disks - so I can use the free version for the beginning (if it fits otherwise I gonna by a license) - now I have a view questions:

 

 

[-) How easy is it to get plex running on the system?]

 

-- there is a Plug-in for running Plex , as well as Torrent  on UnRaid

 

[-) Can I migrate my Plex database from my Windows to the unRAID?]

 

-- not sure but it might be possible. I am sure someone will chime in with the info  sooner or later

 

[-) What are the requirements to have my data disks still spinning down if I have plex or torrent installed and running but without actually letting it serve data. (I read this could be a problem)]

 

-- it is not a problem. All you need is to use a cache drive and install  and configure all your apps to use it instead of array.

  Than use mover script to move the data to array when done.

  For example you would configure your Plex to run from cache drive and use it as a download and transcoding cache target.

Same with your torrent program. You would download all onto cache drive and then mover script would move things to array

 

[-) Is it possible or recommended to install slackware packages manually - like a webserver, syslog or snmp server?]

 

-- some one with more experience will chime in on this one, but I think there are plugin  exist for that functionality

 

[-) Is it possible to use CrashPlan with unRaid?]

 

-- I heard it can be used via Plug-in as well

 

[-) Which version of unRaid is recommended - I thought about starting with 5.0]

 

-- no contest here, the 5.0 is the latest release at the moment

 

 

[-) Can I attach an USB disk and use it within the RAID or as a seperate disk for any purpose?]

 

-- not sure what  you  are asking here.

-- I am not sure if you can use USB stick as part of protected array, but with a S.N.A.P. plugin you sure can mount and share  the USB stick with in the system.

  It will not be protected, but it will be accessible.

 

Whats available:

HP Miniserver

4 Slots 3,5 Disks

3x3TB and a lots of 1TB Disks

1x128GB SSD

a few USB ports and another eSata Port for attaching external drives.

 

Thanks for all the Input - I am starting to getting nervous if the migration is working and if I am happy afterwards.

? You can use your SSD as cache drive, but it will limit your file size to what ever free space left on it after all apps are installed.

 

sorry for taking so long to respond but seems that the forum is working great

 

two questions still left:

 

• If I use cache drive - I need a license isn't it ?
  
• About the USB topic - is it possible to attach a USBconnected drive and add it to the unRaid Raid? This was possible with storage spaces and I used it sometimes if I had disk failing.
  

 

thanks so far

If I use cache drive - I need a license isn't it ?

Yes - you need to have a licensed version to have support for a cache drive.  It is not supported on the free version.

 

About the USB topic - is it possible to attach a USBconnected drive and add it to the unRaid Raid? This was possible with storage spaces and I used it sometimes if I had disk failing.

No - a USB drive cannot be part of the array.  It can be mounted outside the array but that was not what you were asking about.

If I use cache drive - I need a license isn't it ?

Yes - you need to have a licensed version to have support for a cache drive.  It is not supported on the free version.

 

About the USB topic - is it possible to attach a USBconnected drive and add it to the unRaid Raid? This was possible with storage spaces and I used it sometimes if I had disk failing.

No - a USB drive cannot be part of the array.  It can be mounted outside the array but that was not what you were asking about.

 

E-SATA will work, however.

One added remark with respect to disks beiing spun down.

 

You would need to setup plex in such a way that it does not continuously keep your database uptodate, because that will cause the disks to spin.. With plex you can do that.. If you want to use Sickbeard and Couchpotato (quite common) you cannot really prevent them spinning up your disks when you access them... Its not so much of an issue but I state it in case you find this a nr1 requirement..

 

Also: it is debated if spinning disks up and down really increases their lifespan.. I like them spun down as much as possible also, but that is because of the electricity bill..

If it really makes so much sense to spin down disks is a topic to discuss - but I do have one disk which is for all my movies and music and another disk which is only holding backups and vmwares and isos.

the movies and music disk I do need more often in normal than the rest - therefore it makes sense to have the other sleeping

electrical bill is for sure another topic.

 

about plex - thats the only thing I use as a media center - runs on all my devices at home from anywhere - so thats fine also normally I do the scan of the library once a day or manually - so thats fine as well

 

so far - thanks for the tips - I gonna start migrating this week and will come up with a few other questions later on

 

thanks

hello,

 

so my array is getting created so I started to move to unraid

 

another question popped in my head - based on the fact that I do have an SSD lying around - is it possible to use it as a boot device having unraid on it and all the applications and application databases? this would fix performance and write cycles of the USB bar.

and also would fix my cache disk licenses problem at the fist step. I do not want to invest in a license at the beginning - until I know how great unraid is

 

thanks

You could use the FREE version of unRAID and boot from your SSD just make the SSD volume name UNRAID and I believe the "make_bootable.bat" file will use it - if I remember correctly.  The license is tied to the USB key and because of that at least some of the boot process will be done from the USB key.  That is why I boot from USB key (N40L & N54L) and from a VMDK (on virtualized unRAIDs in ESXi) which then switches to the USB key once bzroot and bzimage are loaded from the VMDK.

hello,

 

so my array is getting created so I started to move to unraid

 

another question popped in my head - based on the fact that I do have an SSD lying around - is it possible to use it as a boot device having unraid on it and all the applications and application databases? this would fix performance and write cycles of the USB bar.

and also would fix my cache disk licenses problem at the fist step. I do not want to invest in a license at the beginning - until I know how great unraid is

 

thanks

 

This is possible but the presents of a USB flash drive is still required for DRM. The Flash will hardly be used in this case.

thats good to hear

 

is there a tutorial for that - I mean which files have to reside on the usb stick - which are on the SSD?

how to setup the SSD for booting and so on ?

Search the wiki.