Is GigEthernet necessary for my planned unRaid configuration?

[WannaTheater]

... I realized this should have been in Hardware section, not Motherboards

 

 

Hi all,

 

I am new to the world of NAS and unRaid, but learning from this forum.  I currently have a 3.4G P4 HTPC which I run Zoomplayer for Video, and WinAMP for audio.  Currently I have a small subset of movies stored on an internal 250G SATA drive.  Movies are stored as original files (VIDEO_TS.IFO, etc).  I also have some AVIs stored on en external USB drive. 

 

I am now at the point of building an unRaid NAS device (about 4-5TB), as this looks like a great solution.  But before I commit, I have several questions:

 

1) My current network is only 100Mbps (wired-Linksys Router WRT54G).  Will this be a bandwith problem while playing a movie on HTPC, which is physically stored on remote unRaid system?  Only 1 HTPC will be accessing this array at a time (for movie playback)

 

2) I also run WinAMP on my HTPC.... sometimes 3 instances.  Would 100Mbps Ethernet be a bottleneck for this scenario (3 instances of winamp and 1 instance of Zoomplayer) all accessing data on the unRaid system? 

 

3) What is the best way to get all my movies on unRaid server? (I am unsure of any file operations/management with unRaid).  My thought would be to copy each movie from DVD to HTPC drive, then move to unRaid array (assuming that Windows explorer sees the unRaid discs - I'm running WinXP Pro SP2)  but this seems like it could take double the time for the 100s of DVDs I have (extra time for move across ethernet).  Any better way, local to unRaid?  Even if I have to purchase a few DVD drives...

 

4) If the parity drive crashes, can it be reconstructed?

 

5) Are individual sleeves with fans necessary for each drive?  My system will not be on 24/7 - more like 4 hours per evening.  (This adds a substantial cost to the build: $30 x 12 = $360 bucks) 

 

Thank you!

 

 

[Joe L.]

... I realized this should have been in Hardware section, not Motherboards

 

 

Hi all,

 

I am new to the world of NAS and unRaid, but learning from this forum.  I currently have a 3.4G P4 HTPC which I run Zoomplayer for Video, and WinAMP for audio.  Currently I have a small subset of movies stored on an internal 250G SATA drive.  Movies are stored as original files (VIDEO_TS.IFO, etc).  I also have some AVIs stored on en external USB drive. 

 

I am now at the point of building an unRaid NAS device (about 4-5TB), as this looks like a great solution.  But before I commit, I have several questions:

 

1) My current network is only 100Mbps (wired-Linksys Router WRT54G).  Will this be a bandwith problem while playing a movie on HTPC, which is physically stored on remote unRaid system?  Only 1 HTPC will be accessing this array at a time (for movie playback)

 

2) I also run WinAMP on my HTPC.... sometimes 3 instances.  Would 100Mbps Ethernet be a bottleneck for this scenario (3 instances of winamp and 1 instance of Zoomplayer) all accessing data on the unRaid system?

Odds are you will be fine.  I have a very similar configuration with a 100Mhz Belkin router and I don't have problems playing ISO images of DVDs.

3) What is the best way to get all my movies on unRaid server? (I am unsure of any file operations/management with unRaid).  My thought would be to copy each movie from DVD to HTPC drive, then move to unRaid array (assuming that Windows explorer sees the unRaid discs - I'm running WinXP Pro SP2)  but this seems like it could take double the time for the 100s of DVDs I have (extra time for move across ethernet).  Any better way, local to unRaid?  Even if I have to purchase a few DVD drives...

Easiest, but not fastest...

The folders on the unRaid server are accessible from Windows Explorer. Just drag the files from wherever they are to the unRaid server. (Yes, if you have 100s of DVD images the copy will take many hours.)

 

Fastest, but not easiest..

Under Linux, temporarally, install the drive with the DVD data in the unRaid server and copy the files from it to the unRaid target drive using a Linux "cp" command.  This is faster since the LAN is not involved, but does require you to know a few command line commands under Linux.

 

I ripped my movies exactly as you said, first to a local disk on the HTPC, and the copied them to the unRaid server when I have ripped a bunch. Often times I would copy the files to unRaid overnight and they would be there in the morning when I awoke.

 

4) If the parity drive crashes, can it be reconstructed?

It is the easiest to reconstruct. All the data from the other drives is read and parity is re-calculated.  With 500 Gig drives this takes about 5 or 6 hours.  If the parity drive was to be unavailable you could still get to all your other drives and the data on them.  Once you get the new parity drive, shut down the array, plug the new drive in the array, and re-start it. (You will have to assign the new drive to the parity role, and then press another button to recaclulate parity and re-start the unRaid array.)

5) Are individual sleeves with fans necessary for each drive?  My system will not be on 24/7 - more like 4 hours per evening.  (This adds a substantial cost to the build: $30 x 12 = $360 bucks) 

They are nice, but not necessary.  Most of the time, the drives will be spun down, and only the drives being used will be spinning in those 4 hours per night.  The hard-disks do need airflow, so make sure you have airflow across the drives by the other fans in your enclosure.

Thank you!

 

 

[WannaTheater]

Thanks for the response.

 

Some clarification on the "Fastest but not easiest"

1) I'm an ex-UNIX guy (about 10 years ago), so "cp" looks vaguely familiar     

Being unfamiliar with LINUX, I can only assume it similar file management functions (ls, cp, mv, etc).  If this is true, then would it be possible to install a DVD drive in the unRaid machine, somehow mount it, and then "cp" directly from DVD drive to array?   This would eliminate the need for the HTPC to be involved at all (except possibly for a telnet to get to a LINUX command window on the unRaid machine?)

 

2) Can external USB drives also be connected directly to unRaid?

 

 

 

 

[Joe L.]

Thanks for the response.

 

Some clarification on the "Fastest but not easiest"

1) I'm an ex-UNIX guy (about 10 years ago), so "cp" looks vaguely familiar     

Being unfamiliar with LINUX, I can only assume it similar file management functions (ls, cp, mv, etc).  If this is true, then would it be possible to install a DVD drive in the unRaid machine, somehow mount it, and then "cp" directly from DVD drive to array?  This would eliminate the need for the HTPC to be involved at all (except possibly for a telnet to get to a LINUX command window on the unRaid machine?)

 

2) Can external USB drives also be connected directly to unRaid?

 

 

 

 

Linux has all the same commands you used under UNIX and more.... with the same syntax even. You will be rusty, but at home. ls, cp, mv, mkdir, etc all exist as you knew them.

 

I'm not sure if the unRaid kernel has support for the DVD drive filesystem compiled into it, but it does support loadable modules and it is based on Slackware, so finding a loadable driver should be possible.  Yes, USB drives can be connected, but it might confuse the boot order, so plug them in after the unRaid server is up and running.  You will need to manually mount the USB drive. Also... there are no "ripping" programs on the unRaid server, nor does it have a swap device, so whatever you do needs to fit in memory with everything else that is running.

 

Best bet is to leave it be a file-server and do the ripping on your HTPC and then move the files.

[limetech]

(WannaTheater - I deleted your duplicate post under Motherboards).

 

Probably the fastest way to populate an unRAID array would be to use an external USB hard disk.  You could first plug it into your PC, copy files to it, then plug into unRAID and use commands via telnet session to transfer the files.

[WannaTheater]

Thanks.

 

I'm finally addressing the final piece of my Home Theater...mass storage.  I've been sold on the unRaid thing, and I'm pulling the trigger tonight and ordering up some parts!

 

I look forward to working with your technology!

 

-Greg

[dabl]

(WannaTheater - I deleted your duplicate post under Motherboards).

 

Probably the fastest way to populate an unRAID array would be to use an external USB hard disk.  You could first plug it into your PC, copy files to it, then plug into unRAID and use commands via telnet session to transfer the files.

 

If I have a usb drive formatted NTFS will unRAID will be able to read that?

[limetech]

If I have a usb drive formatted NTFS will unRAID will be able to read that?

 

Yes.