So I just dropped $1200 to build a kickass NAS setup that will run a couple Plex streams and get all my media through SABnzbd+ downloaded and organized. I thought building the computer would be the hardest part, but I was wrong. Last night I finished the build and loaded up unRAID and used this config guide to get me started. I was mistaken how much backend work I would have to do. So much from cmd prompt that is pretty overwhelming and confusing the hell out of me.

 

I'm kinda hoping this has been more streamlined and user friendly then I'm experiencing,  but everything I read says its not. It's hard to tell if I'm following the right guides since some of them say THIS IS NOT UPDATED FOR VER. 5+, or the last time they are updated was 2013. Before I get to far into this is unRAID old/outdated and I'm better off starting with something else?

 

I figured out how to preclear my new drives though using telnet and all cmd promt. I installed screen and unmenu so I thought those would allow me to use preclear in the webUI instead. I'm preclearing 3x 4TB WD Reds at the same time... this going to take days isn't it? Do I need to leave my telnet open on my computer? If I end the session will it stop the preclear?

 

I'm really out of my element with this stuff though. I've never done anything in Linux and very little in Terminal or DOS. I was pretty proud of myself that I got the preclear running (your probably laughing at me right) but is setting up SAB and Plex server going to be much more difficult than that? I read that they need to be installed on a separate HD thats not on the array or on a cache disk. I really didn't want to buy another HD though cause I maxed out my budget as it is.

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated

 

 

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot on the forum...

I'm really out of my element with this stuff though. I've never done anything in Linux and very little in Terminal or DOS.

If you started pre-clear under screen then you can close the telnet session and it will continue running.  If you started it directly from telnet then closing the session will abort the pre-clear.

 

I was pretty proud of myself that I got the preclear running (your probably laughing at me right) but is setting up SAB and Plex server going to be much more difficult than that? I read that they need to be installed on a separate HD thats not on the array or on a cache disk. I really didn't want to buy another HD though cause I maxed out my budget as it is.

It is not strictly necessary that you need a cache/extra disk to run SAB and Plex although it is often recommended for performance reasons.

 

You do not mention if you are running unRAID v5 or the unRAID v6 beta.    If you are just starting then it probably makes sense to start with v6 even though it is still a beta at this point (although we may soon be reaching Release Candidate stage).  With v6 you run add-ons such as SAB and Plex using docker technology.  Other functionality that requires add-ons for v5 is being built-in to v6.  Beta 8 has added a GUI for installing and managing docker containers so that telnet access is not necessary for this.  Documentation on this is still sparse for help/answers you need to look in the docker forum area.

 

 

So I just dropped $1200 to build a kickass NAS setup that will run a couple Plex streams and get all my media through SABnzbd+ downloaded and organized. I thought building the computer would be the hardest part, but I was wrong. Last night I finished the build and loaded up unRAID and used this config guide to get me started. I was mistaken how much backend work I would have to do. So much from cmd prompt that is pretty overwhelming and confusing the hell out of me.

 

I'm kinda hoping this has been more streamlined and user friendly then I'm experiencing,  but everything I read says its not. It's hard to tell if I'm following the right guides since some of them say THIS IS NOT UPDATED FOR VER. 5+, or the last time they are updated was 2013. Before I get to far into this is unRAID old/outdated and I'm better off starting with something else?

 

I figured out how to preclear my new drives though using telnet and all cmd promt. I installed screen and unmenu so I thought those would allow me to use preclear in the webUI instead. I'm preclearing 3x 4TB WD Reds at the same time... this going to take days isn't it? Do I need to leave my telnet open on my computer? If I end the session will it stop the preclear?

 

I'm really out of my element with this stuff though. I've never done anything in Linux and very little in Terminal or DOS. I was pretty proud of myself that I got the preclear running (your probably laughing at me right) but is setting up SAB and Plex server going to be much more difficult than that? I read that they need to be installed on a separate HD thats not on the array or on a cache disk. I really didn't want to buy another HD though cause I maxed out my budget as it is.

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated

 

 

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot on the forum...

 

Hi, and welcome to UnRAID.

 

First, know that while it can appear overwhelming at first, you will find that between the information available, and the very helpful people on the forums that what seems insurmountable right now, will quickly become easier.

 

If you've followed that config guide step-by-step then you are likely in a good spot right now. As itimpi mentions, if you used screen to start each of your pre-clear processes then it doesn't matter if you close your telnet window or not as the processes will continue to run in screen, and you can reconnect at any time.

 

Since you are pre-clearing 4 disks right now I am going to hope you ran screen (which if you didn't you'd have 4 telnet windows open right now). So, you are likely okay. As for time... if you are doing a single pass pre-clear on each disk you are likely looking at 2-3 days to complete. Basically, while this is running you are somewhat limited in what you can/want to do with the system. You can still configure other features, but you can't reboot or power-down your UnRAID server without killing the pre-clear processes (likely pretty obvious).

 

You have chosen to join UnRAID at a time when there is a lot of flux/changes going on to the product. Version 5.0.5 is the current stable version, but it's the last 32bit version. UnRAID is transitioning to 64bit with version 6, which is currently at beta8, and this move can have a large influence on how to configure your system (specifically around plugins such as SAB, Sickbeard, Plex and others).

 

I would agree with itimpi that if you are going to learn UnRAID at this point you are better investing that time in 6.0 vs 5.0. Even though 6.0 is in beta at this point, it's 100% safe for your data files today. The beta aspect is more around the management system, and we've evolved to a point where this is likely reasonably stable moving forward as well (again, as itimpi mentions we are likely close to RC1).

 

I would suggest that you look at including cache disk to your array if you have not planned on that already). This could be a spinner drive (i.e. WD blue or black), or a SSD. For most people 250-500GB is likely large enough for a cache drive, unless you plan on moving a lot of information to the UnRAID system on a daily basis. Regardless, you can get a smaller, cheaper drive for cache which will make writing to UnRAID much faster once it's fully configured, and will also be a good place to store your plugin info.

 

With version 6 you have a choice of installing traditional plugins or using docker which is the preferred method moving forward. Thankfully you are arriving at a point where there is a very solid gui extention that makes installing plugins very easy once you understand the basics.

 

As for configuring sab/sickbeard, etc - these can be somewhat tricky, but thankfully there are some really good guides out there to help get these apps talking to each other. I have historically pointed people to the following post to set these up:

 

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=120406

 

However, in searching just before this post, it appears that there is a nice PDF document available that walks you through end to end:

 

http://www.totalhtpc.com/the-complete-guide-for-setting-up-sabnzbd-sick-beard-couchpotato-and-headphones/

 

This seems more current and complete than the first post, but I have not done anything more than a cursory review so am including both guides for you to review. The other plugins (like Plex) are much easier to setup than SAB/SB, and there should be good info on those easily available through Googl

 

Since you likely have another day or two before your disks are ready, I would suggest you use that time to familiarize yourself with what you can, and ask whatever questions come to mind.

 

If you started pre-clear under screen then you can close the telnet session and it will continue running.  If you started it directly from telnet then closing the session will abort the pre-clear.

 

I'm not sure if I did it right.. is there a way to find out? I was having problems with screen I think and maybe have gone back to tower cmd prompt and then did prescreen. If my comp goes to sleep then that will kill the telenet session right? I turned off sleep till I found out.

It is not strictly necessary that you need a cache/extra disk to run SAB and Plex although it is often recommended for performance reasons.

You do not mention if you are running unRAID v5 or the unRAID v6 beta.    If you are just starting then it probably makes sense to start with v6 even though it is still a beta at this point (although we may soon be reaching Release Candidate stage).  With v6 you run add-ons such as SAB and Plex using docker technology.  Other functionality that requires add-ons for v5 is being built-in to v6.  Beta 8 has added a GUI for installing and managing docker containers so that telnet access is not necessary for this.  Documentation on this is still sparse for help/answers you need to look in the docker forum area.

 

 

Yea I installed unRAID 5 cause I was afraid of beta. If your saying v6 is real close to being done and I should switch then I will. Is it difficult going about that now? I mean I have to wait till the preclear is all done of course.

 

 

If you started pre-clear under screen then you can close the telnet session and it will continue running.  If you started it directly from telnet then closing the session will abort the pre-clear.

 

I'm not sure if I did it right.. is there a way to find out? I was having problems with screen I think and maybe have gone back to tower cmd prompt and then did prescreen. If my comp goes to sleep then that will kill the telenet session right? I turned off sleep till I found out.

 

If you are using Screen you can use "CTRL-A n" to cycle through the screen sessions. If it doesn't work, then you are running it just at the console (though if you are preclearing 4 drives you would need 4 telnet/putty sessions).

 

Assuming you followed the guide and installed UnMENU you can select the Main tab. It should show you the status of the preclears (at least it does when the array is up - since you don't have an array yet, it may not).

 

It is not strictly necessary that you need a cache/extra disk to run SAB and Plex although it is often recommended for performance reasons.

You do not mention if you are running unRAID v5 or the unRAID v6 beta.    If you are just starting then it probably makes sense to start with v6 even though it is still a beta at this point (although we may soon be reaching Release Candidate stage).  With v6 you run add-ons such as SAB and Plex using docker technology.  Other functionality that requires add-ons for v5 is being built-in to v6.  Beta 8 has added a GUI for installing and managing docker containers so that telnet access is not necessary for this.  Documentation on this is still sparse for help/answers you need to look in the docker forum area.

 

Yea I installed unRAID 5 cause I was afraid of beta. If your saying v6 is real close to being done and I should switch then I will. Is it difficult going about that now? I mean I have to wait till the preclear is all done of course.

 

Moving from 5 to 6 is very easy to do - even more so since you are not running 5 yet (just installed, but no disks).

 

Once the pre-clears are done I would wipe the USB disk, copy over the 6.0-beta8 files and re-run make_bootable. Then you can start with 6.0.

 

One other immediate suggestion... assuming you have existing data you want to move to UnRAID, when you first assign disks I would not assign a parity disk - just data disks. This way you can copy files over quickly. If you assign parity right away then you will only get 1/3 of the copy speed as parity will check each file as it's coming across the wire and calculate parity. Usually we skip parity until the data is moved over, then stop UnRAID, add parity, re-start UnRAID and let it build parity once.

If you are using Screen you can use "CTRL-A n" to cycle through the screen sessions. If it doesn't work, then you are running it just at the console (though if you are preclearing 4 drives you would need 4 telnet/putty sessions).

 

Assuming you followed the guide and installed UnMENU you can select the Main tab. It should show you the status of the preclears (at least it does when the array is up - since you don't have an array yet, it may not).

 

This is great news! I can cycle between sessions, so I guess it's in screen mode. So everything is running directly on the NAS and my computer is just viewing it happening?

 

Moving from 5 to 6 is very easy to do - even more so since you are not running 5 yet (just installed, but no disks).

 

Once the pre-clears are done I would wipe the USB disk, copy over the 6.0-beta8 files and re-run make_bootable. Then you can start with 6.0.

 

One other immediate suggestion... assuming you have existing data you want to move to UnRAID, when you first assign disks I would not assign a parity disk - just data disks. This way you can copy files over quickly. If you assign parity right away then you will only get 1/3 of the copy speed as parity will check each file as it's coming across the wire and calculate parity. Usually we skip parity until the data is moved over, then stop UnRAID, add parity, re-start UnRAID and let it build parity once.

 

Ok I'll have to switch to v6 once the pre-clears are done. Yea I read not to turn on Parity right away when moving over data. I have like 7tb I need to move over... that's going to take another week isn't it? How do you suggest I go about moving over that much? I have a 500gb external USB3 but it's better to transfer over the network right?

 

As for configuring sab/sickbeard, etc - these can be somewhat tricky, but thankfully there are some really good guides out there to help get these apps talking to each other. I have historically pointed people to the following post to set these up:

 

You mean it's tricky setting up within SAB? oh I have that part down cause I have it setup on my computer already. I just copy all the info into the new one on unRAID. As long as it's the same UI that I have now and I'm not doing it all by cmd promt or something. I don't use sickbeard since I use dognzb and watchlists and it does the same thing w/o having to have sickbeard.

If you are using Screen you can use "CTRL-A n" to cycle through the screen sessions. If it doesn't work, then you are running it just at the console (though if you are preclearing 4 drives you would need 4 telnet/putty sessions).

 

Assuming you followed the guide and installed UnMENU you can select the Main tab. It should show you the status of the preclears (at least it does when the array is up - since you don't have an array yet, it may not).

 

This is great news! I can cycle between sessions, so I guess it's in screen mode. So everything is running directly on the NAS and my computer is just viewing it happening?

 

Correct. So you can disconnect/reconnect to the screen sessions as desired.

 

Moving from 5 to 6 is very easy to do - even more so since you are not running 5 yet (just installed, but no disks).

 

Once the pre-clears are done I would wipe the USB disk, copy over the 6.0-beta8 files and re-run make_bootable. Then you can start with 6.0.

 

One other immediate suggestion... assuming you have existing data you want to move to UnRAID, when you first assign disks I would not assign a parity disk - just data disks. This way you can copy files over quickly. If you assign parity right away then you will only get 1/3 of the copy speed as parity will check each file as it's coming across the wire and calculate parity. Usually we skip parity until the data is moved over, then stop UnRAID, add parity, re-start UnRAID and let it build parity once.

 

Ok I'll have to switch to v6 once the pre-clears are done. Yea I read not to turn on Parity right away when moving over data. I have like 7tb I need to move over... that's going to take another week isn't it? How do you suggest I go about moving over that much? I have a 500gb external USB3 but it's better to transfer over the network right?

 

Definitely just map a drive and copy over. Even 7TB shouldn't take that long if you are copying without parity. Assuming you have gigabit between your computer and UnRAID it should copy overnight, or possibly a bit longer. I don't think it should take more than 1/2-3/4 of a day.

 

As for configuring sab/sickbeard, etc - these can be somewhat tricky, but thankfully there are some really good guides out there to help get these apps talking to each other. I have historically pointed people to the following post to set these up:

 

You mean it's tricky setting up within SAB? oh I have that part down cause I have it setup on my computer already. I just copy all the info into the new one on unRAID. As long as it's the same UI that I have now and I'm not doing it all by cmd promt or something. I don't use sickbeard since I use dognzb and watchlists and it does the same thing w/o having to have sickbeard.

 

Okay... when you had asked about plugins I didn't know if you'd done this setup previously. Moving to docker may require a bit of re-work, but it shouldn't be bad. Since the app is running in a container you are only pointing to your config folder. You should be able to just copy over the required config files, but at worst you may have to set it up again (just follow the screen by screen compare with your existing config). Once it's setup once, even if you need to rebuild the Docker container your config will be safe in the config directory.

Okay... when you had asked about plugins I didn't know if you'd done this setup previously. Moving to docker may require a bit of re-work, but it shouldn't be bad. Since the app is running in a container you are only pointing to your config folder. You should be able to just copy over the required config files, but at worst you may have to set it up again (just follow the screen by screen compare with your existing config). Once it's setup once, even if you need to rebuild the Docker container your config will be safe in the config directory.

I have no idea what most of that means...but I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way. Since all the guides I'm reading say nothing about docker do you have one I should be using instead? I would like to read up on it over the weekend though while I'm waiting for the pre-clears to finish.

 

Is that like the way I downloaded and installed screen? from Pkg manager, or this replaces that?

It's confusing how the option is to install on reboot on some applications. So every time I reboot the NAS the application has to reinstall? Is this why I should install apps onto the cache disk instead?

Okay... when you had asked about plugins I didn't know if you'd done this setup previously. Moving to docker may require a bit of re-work, but it shouldn't be bad. Since the app is running in a container you are only pointing to your config folder. You should be able to just copy over the required config files, but at worst you may have to set it up again (just follow the screen by screen compare with your existing config). Once it's setup once, even if you need to rebuild the Docker container your config will be safe in the config directory.

I have no idea what most of that means...but I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way. Since all the guides I'm reading say nothing about docker do you have one I should be using instead? I would like to read up on it over the weekend though while I'm waiting for the pre-clears to finish.

 

Is that like the way I downloaded and installed screen? from Pkg manager, or this replaces that?

It's confusing how the option is to install on reboot on some applications. So every time I reboot the NAS the application has to reinstall? Is this why I should install apps onto the cache disk instead?

 

Yes, you are correct on the cache drive question. UnRAID boots off of the USB drive into a virtual drive in memory, so basically the OS gets destroyed and rebuilt every time you reboot, and the plugins basically get re-created on each boot, which is why it's recommended to have them point to the cache drive for configuration since that is a physical drive that won't get wiped out during reboots.

 

As for Docker... I am not sure if you are familiar with virtual machines, or VMs. Basically it allows you to build a computer inside of a computer, and other than virtually tying into the hardware (like CPU, memory, disks) it is self-contained. So... You could have a Windows machine and install VM software (like Hyper-V) on it, and then you could build virtual machines for various tasks, and because they are isolated from the Windows OS you can install Linux, MacOS, Windows Server, DOS, or whatever else you like in each VM, and run them all on the same hardware. This allows you to maximize the utilization of the cpu and memory on a machine that may be very under-utilized by default.

 

There are two downsides to VMs. The first is that you need to dedicate CPU cores and memory to each VM, so you can run out. You can also have issues where you overcommit CPU cores and memory to a VM that doesn't need them, so you are still wasting resources. Additionally, because you are installing an OS into each VM, the size of VMs can grow and grow. The other point that you need to be aware of is because each VM is a separate computer each needs it's own IP address, which while not an issue per se, can make keeping track of multiple machines a bit of a pain.

 

Docker is a unique solution that gives the benefits of a VM without the limitations. Instead of installing the OS into each VM, Docker allows you to use one base OS VM, and then thin-provision applications on top of them, so you have very small VMs (or containers in Docker speak) for each application. Additionally, unlike traditional VMs Docker containers share cpu, memory and networking with the host machine, so you never have to worry about wasted resources as the host OS (UnRAID in our case) and each Docker container can share all the system resources.

 

The awesome thing with Docker is that while all this sharing is going on, each application is still isolated in it's container, so you don't need to worry about it interfering with the base OS (UnRAID). Traditional UnRAID plugins installed on the actual UnRAID OS, and could cause issues and have conflicts and could impact the ability for UnRAID to do it's core tasks, so this was never an ideal solution. Using Docker containers keeps each application isolated, so you don't need to worry. For example, say you had SAB running as a plugin on UnRAID, and you updated it, but there was something mis-written in the new code and it caused memory leaks, or other issues. This could eventually impact UnRAID. However, if the app was in a docker container it could cause the container to fail, but your root OS is safe.

 

It's pretty remarkable technology.

 

If you want to read more about it I would suggest you start with the Lime Tech blogs. They have covered a lot of the evolution of virtualization within UnRAID. The latest post on UnRAID 6.0 developments will give a snapshot of the details. There are likely also a number of forum posts talking about this.

 

There is a docker specific forum category that will have a lot of info including a number of people asking questions and getting clarity. There are also some guides written by jonp (who works for LimeTech) with some good explanations.

 

Or you can google it as it's a hot topic over the last 6-9 months and lots of people are posting details on it.

 

Okay... when you had asked about plugins I didn't know if you'd done this setup previously. Moving to docker may require a bit of re-work, but it shouldn't be bad. Since the app is running in a container you are only pointing to your config folder. You should be able to just copy over the required config files, but at worst you may have to set it up again (just follow the screen by screen compare with your existing config). Once it's setup once, even if you need to rebuild the Docker container your config will be safe in the config directory.

I have no idea what most of that means...but I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way. Since all the guides I'm reading say nothing about docker do you have one I should be using instead? I would like to read up on it over the weekend though while I'm waiting for the pre-clears to finish.

 

Is that like the way I downloaded and installed screen? from Pkg manager, or this replaces that?

It's confusing how the option is to install on reboot on some applications. So every time I reboot the NAS the application has to reinstall? Is this why I should install apps onto the cache disk instead?

 

Yes, you are correct on the cache drive question. UnRAID boots off of the USB drive into a virtual drive in memory, so basically the OS gets destroyed and rebuilt every time you reboot, and the plugins basically get re-created on each boot, which is why it's recommended to have them point to the cache drive for configuration since that is a physical drive that won't get wiped out during reboots.

So I really need a cache drive then. Can I install another drive if its off the array? So I can use the free version for now? Not even use it as cache but use it to install SAB and Plex server for now? Then change it over to a cache drive later.

 

It's pretty remarkable technology.

Wow it sounds it. I guess I have some reading to do this weekend then

I have used VMware a bit on my Mac to install windows.

Is the main point of using docker, so if something goes wrong it wont crash unraid and it's contained? Or so it expands the possibilities of programs to run being able to emulate other OSs?

 

btw.. in unMenu the pre-clear does show status, you said you weren't sure if I didn't have an array setup. Currently at 15% post-read in with 23+ hrs elapsed. Guessing it would have showed some errors by now if something was wrong.

Docker is now installed to a virtual drive, which is a file that can be on one of your array drives, so a cache drive for this is not really needed. Still a good option though, since it can be an SSD.

 

Be sure to get some advice on your preclear results when done. You can post them here.

Okay... when you had asked about plugins I didn't know if you'd done this setup previously. Moving to docker may require a bit of re-work, but it shouldn't be bad. Since the app is running in a container you are only pointing to your config folder. You should be able to just copy over the required config files, but at worst you may have to set it up again (just follow the screen by screen compare with your existing config). Once it's setup once, even if you need to rebuild the Docker container your config will be safe in the config directory.

I have no idea what most of that means...but I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way. Since all the guides I'm reading say nothing about docker do you have one I should be using instead? I would like to read up on it over the weekend though while I'm waiting for the pre-clears to finish.

 

Is that like the way I downloaded and installed screen? from Pkg manager, or this replaces that?

It's confusing how the option is to install on reboot on some applications. So every time I reboot the NAS the application has to reinstall? Is this why I should install apps onto the cache disk instead?

 

Yes, you are correct on the cache drive question. UnRAID boots off of the USB drive into a virtual drive in memory, so basically the OS gets destroyed and rebuilt every time you reboot, and the plugins basically get re-created on each boot, which is why it's recommended to have them point to the cache drive for configuration since that is a physical drive that won't get wiped out during reboots.

So I really need a cache drive then. Can I install another drive if its off the array? So I can use the free version for now? Not even use it as cache but use it to install SAB and Plex server for now? Then change it over to a cache drive later.

 

You don't *need* to have a cache drive, but it definitely brings a lot of extra value. I seem to remember seeing that version 6.0 with beta7 or beta8 now allows you to have a cache drive, even if you are running the free version of UnRAID. However, I think you said you were pre-clearing 4 drives, which is over what the free version will allow (you can have 3 drives - 2 data and one parity). With Docker you can choose to put the image file on an array disk, but a cache drive makes more sense - especially since it's helpful when you download files with SAB, and you can store you plugin configs there as well. If you don't want a cache drive per se, you can mount another disk external to UnRAID, but I don't think this is required anymore with the addition of the cache drive to the free version.

 

It's pretty remarkable technology.

Wow it sounds it. I guess I have some reading to do this weekend then

I have used VMware a bit on my Mac to install windows.

Is the main point of using docker, so if something goes wrong it wont crash unraid and it's contained? Or so it expands the possibilities of programs to run being able to emulate other OSs?

 

btw.. in unMenu the pre-clear does show status, you said you weren't sure if I didn't have an array setup. Currently at 15% post-read in with 23+ hrs elapsed. Guessing it would have showed some errors by now if something was wrong.

 

Docker has a couple of key benefits:

 

1) It keeps the plugins isolated from UnRAID so they can't crash your NAS or cause unexpected results

2) Plugins were a pain because only a few people knew how to create/update them, so it was common for someone to create a plugin, maintain it for a few months or a year, and then disappear, which left users stranded. Docker is everywhere now, and since it's not tied to the development of UnRAID in any way, you can download docker containers from anyone under the sun, with any application that sparks your interest. It's even way easier to create a docker container if you have a requirement that isn't covered by someone else.

3) Because your application configuration is maintained outside of the docker container it's very easy to delete and reinstall an app. Just re-point it to your config folder and it will act exactly as it did before.

 

That last point is also great for copy applications to a new server. I just built an UnRAID server for my brother and am running 6.0-beta8. Rather than install and configure SAB, SB, MariaDB, CP and others I copied my config folder from my server to the one I built for my brother. I then went into each app and updated IP info and a few other points - easier than re-configuring from scratch, and I know the configs are valid.

 

Thanks for the UnMENU tip. I had thought it may provide pre_clear info, but haven't tried in your scenario, so wasn't 100% sure.

 

As for errors, not seeing anything really tells you nothing. It's not until pre-clear finishes that it reports if there were any bad sectors/blocks on the disk or anything to worry about. It would only be a catastrophic failure that would prevent the pre-clear from finishing. As trurl mentions, it's not a bad idea to post your pre-clear reports if there is any doubt as to whether issues were found or not.

btw.. in unMenu the pre-clear does show status, you said you weren't sure if I didn't have an array setup. Currently at 15% post-read in with 23+ hrs elapsed. Guessing it would have showed some errors by now if something was wrong.

Worth pointing out that in v6 beta 8 the standard unRAID GUI also shows pre-clear status for any drives that are not part of the array and are being or have been pre-cleared since you booted, so you no longer need to be in the unMenu GUI to see this. 

Docker is now installed to a virtual drive, which is a file that can be on one of your array drives, so a cache drive for this is not really needed. Still a good option though, since it can be an SSD.

I just remembered I have some external HDs laying around. Maybe I should pull one apart and use the HD?

 

Be sure to get some advice on your preclear results when done. You can post them here.

will do thanks!

You don't *need* to have a cache drive, but it definitely brings a lot of extra value. I seem to remember seeing that version 6.0 with beta7 or beta8 now allows you to have a cache drive, even if you are running the free version of UnRAID. However, I think you said you were pre-clearing 4 drives, which is over what the free version will allow (you can have 3 drives - 2 data and one parity). With Docker you can choose to put the image file on an array disk, but a cache drive makes more sense - especially since it's helpful when you download files with SAB, and you can store you plugin configs there as well. If you don't want a cache drive per se, you can mount another disk external to UnRAID, but I don't think this is required anymore with the addition of the cache drive to the free version.

No I'm pre-clearing 3 new drives. figured 2 data 1 parity. I also have 2 more I'm going to eventually bring over from my old comp once I transfer all the media to the NAS. Then I will have to upgrade my key to plus or pro. Prob just go with pro.

Also how important is doing 3 cycles for pre-clear? I'm doing 1 and I'm currently on the postread with 47% and 28hrs elapsed. I prob have another 10hrs? to go so do I need to do 2 more cycles, this thing is going to be down for another 80hrs+ after this finishes  I'm not very patient...haha

It is all a matter of how much you want to test the drive before you commit data to it.  Many impatient  people do a single cycle, but more are a better test of the drive

Also how important is doing 3 cycles for pre-clear? I'm doing 1 and I'm currently on the postread with 47% and 28hrs elapsed. I prob have another 10hrs? to go so do I need to do 2 more cycles, this thing is going to be down for another 80hrs+ after this finishes  I'm not very patient...haha

 

Another advantage is that three cycles will get you by the early mortality failure point in the failure curve.  (Look up 'bathtub curve' on google.)  Trust me, you really want don't want to have a hard drive fail in the first few hours (and days) when you are trying to get your new server up and running!  Plus, it will also help burn-in all of the other hardware.  (Back in the early days of PC's (the 1980's and early 1990's) computer manufacturers usually burned all new systems in for a minimum of 72 hours before they shipped them!)