jArtibise Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hi folks! I'm currently running a simple FreeNAS server on an old desktop computer I've built from spare parts. I currently only run a 1.5TB drive and two 5TB drives that are mirror. It's ONLY used right now as a Plex Media Server. In terms of performance it is just fine, it can transcode/stream with no issues to 2-3 users simultaneously. FreeNAS on the other hand has become more of a burden then anything, every week I have run into some other setting or configuration that has 'magically' changed itself without my knowledge. I wont get into all the problems but I'm ready to try something new and hoping to make the jump to unRAID. I'm hoping the community can answer a couple questions for me though! (please be friendlier then the FreeNAS forums ) 1. I understand version 6 is expected to be released shortly and that it will have pre-made dockers which will contain Plex. This is correct? All I'm using this server for is mainly storing media and playing it via Plex. If I were to switch right now, is the beta version of 6 stable enough to handle this and how seamless will the upgrade process be from the beta to the final version? 2. I currently have about 1.5TB worth of data on the FreeNAS server. This is currently in ZFS format... my understanding is that unRAID doesn't support this? What is my best option for transferring all the media to a new server, I will be using the drives in the FreeNAS on my unRAID server. Unfortunately I don't have new storage for the unRAID server and will have to use the same drives that are currently in the FreeNAS server. I've thought about just using Teracopy and storing it on my main PC and some external drives I have laying around, formatting them, then transferring it back to the disks used in the unRAID server. or Is it possible for me to pull one of the drives out of my FreeNAS server, plug it into my main PC, format it, then copy all the data from the FreeNAS server to it and plug it back into the unRAID server? I am unfamiliar with how FreeNAS will act if I pull one of its drives out. I'm also unfamiliar with unRAID and if you need to format the drives during initial setup. 3. My other option is to just install Windows 7 on the old desktop and use it for Plex this way. Seems pretty primitive but it may be all I need. I would still need to transfer all the data. Any suggestions or input is GREATLY appreciated. Hopefully I posted this in the right area. Thanks Link to comment
trurl Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 1. I understand version 6 is expected to be released shortly and that it will have pre-made dockers which will contain Plex. This is correct? All I'm using this server for is mainly storing media and playing it via Plex. If I were to switch right now, is the beta version of 6 stable enough to handle this and how seamless will the upgrade process be from the beta to the final version? The current beta is definitely stable enough for this. Upgrades from the current beta are just a click of a button. 2...or Is it possible for me to pull one of the drives out of my FreeNAS server, plug it into my main PC, format it, then copy all the data from the FreeNAS server to it and plug it back into the unRAID server? I am unfamiliar with how FreeNAS will act if I pull one of its drives out. I'm also unfamiliar with unRAID and if you need to format the drives during initial setup. I assume here you are talking about "breaking the mirror" so you can free up one of the 5TB drives. That sounds like a good approach, though I don't really have any experience with FreeNAS. You must let unRAID do its own formatting. Maybe run the preclear script (search) to check out the drive, or at least get SMART reports on it before trusting it in unRAID. You can get SMART reports directly in the unRAID webGUI in v6 Link to comment
itimpi Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Thought I should mention that starting with v6 unRAID will not be free except in a capacity limited mode suitable for testing its capabilities. The new licensing model is described here. For your requirements it sounds as If you would need the Basic license. Link to comment
jArtibise Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 1. I understand version 6 is expected to be released shortly and that it will have pre-made dockers which will contain Plex. This is correct? All I'm using this server for is mainly storing media and playing it via Plex. If I were to switch right now, is the beta version of 6 stable enough to handle this and how seamless will the upgrade process be from the beta to the final version? The current beta is definitely stable enough for this. Upgrades from the current beta are just a click of a button. 2...or Is it possible for me to pull one of the drives out of my FreeNAS server, plug it into my main PC, format it, then copy all the data from the FreeNAS server to it and plug it back into the unRAID server? I am unfamiliar with how FreeNAS will act if I pull one of its drives out. I'm also unfamiliar with unRAID and if you need to format the drives during initial setup. I assume here you are talking about "breaking the mirror" so you can free up one of the 5TB drives. That sounds like a good approach, though I don't really have any experience with FreeNAS. You must let unRAID do its own formatting. Maybe run the preclear script (search) to check out the drive, or at least get SMART reports on it before trusting it in unRAID. You can get SMART reports directly in the unRAID webGUI in v6 I suppose I could always just take a drive out of the FreeNAS server and see how it reacts to missing one... if everything is okay I can proceed from there. From the sounds of it though, unRAID needs to check/format the drives anyways so its probably best just to store it on my daily PC and external drives? I could then setup the unRAID server, format the drives or whatever is necessary and start fresh. It'll just be a pain in my butt and lengthy to transfer the data to my PC and then to the new server. Oh well, hopefully its worth it in the end! Thought I should mention that starting with v6 unRAID will not be free except in a capacity limited mode suitable for testing its capabilities. The new licensing model is described here. For your requirements it sounds as If you would need the Basic license. Ah yes, I forgot to ask this question. Totally willing to pay as long as the product provides a better service then FreeNAS has! I was going to ask which license I would need but you have already answered that, if I bought the basic license I see I can upgrade in the future if I needed more. Thank you! Link to comment
kaiguy Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hey there. I'm the guy that referred you to unRAID on Reddit. Sounds like you're getting it all sorted out. If you have enough space and trust your various drives to just copy everything off FreeNAS then back to unRAID, then that may be your best bet (since you can then preclear all the drives ahead of time, and thus immediately have parity when you copy over to unRAID. To answer some of your other questions, upgrading the underlying unRAID OS is pretty straightforward, and doesn't affect your data drives. I think you've already figured it out, but unRAID will automatically format any drive you add to the array, so you can't just put in a drive full of data and begin using it. Link to comment
jArtibise Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hey there. I'm the guy that referred you to unRAID on Reddit. Sounds like you're getting it all sorted out. If you have enough space and trust your various drives to just copy everything off FreeNAS then back to unRAID, then that may be your best bet (since you can then preclear all the drives ahead of time, and thus immediately have parity when you copy over to unRAID. To answer some of your other questions, upgrading the underlying unRAID OS is pretty straightforward, and doesn't affect your data drives. I think you've already figured it out, but unRAID will automatically format any drive you add to the array, so you can't just put in a drive full of data and begin using it. Hey kaiguy! Fancy meeting you here! Haha. Thanks again for the referral, I think its all pretty straight forward from here on out... time to start transferring data /sigh I'll come out of my hobbit hole in about 12 hours. Link to comment
trurl Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 ...(please be friendlier then the FreeNAS forums )...Just thought I would add. This is one of the best forums I have ever been involved with, and the main reason I chose unRAID 4 years ago. Link to comment
jArtibise Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Of course, once again, FreeNAS decides it wont show up on my network so I'm back to struggling to try and access it just to recover my media files. I can't wait until I'm done with this OS. Link to comment
skyhawk Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hi folks! 1. I understand version 6 is expected to be released shortly and that it will have pre-made dockers which will contain Plex. This is correct? All I'm using this server for is mainly storing media and playing it via Plex. If I were to switch right now, is the beta version of 6 stable enough to handle this and how seamless will the upgrade process be from the beta to the final version? Thanks IF you wanted to go with the stable v5, there are 'plugins' for plex and all of the various other programs that are popular. Plugins worked just like 'apps'. Dockers just offer greater expandability, and better permissions control (and more apps available!) However, I have been using unraid for the better part of 5 years now. Ive been on v6 for 2 weeks now and its very well polished and stable. For what its worth, i was accidentally on a beta version of unraid 5 for the last 2-3 years. I just forgot to update it. My point is that even the unraid beta's are fairly stable and trouble free. I dont think that much of the unraid 'core' has changed from 5-6, so the main functions will be stable and secure with your data. There is a slight learning curve, but dont hesitate to post in the forums. Everyone is very helpful. MOST of my questions are just answered through a google search. I can usually find what I need to know in the wiki or it will find a forum post. Avoid a windows setup at all costs. Unraid is set-it and forget-it (except for when you want to add). My last unraid build was up for 6 months without a restart or me even opening the case or doing anything with the OS. And, while Im computer literate, Im a total noob to linux or anything complicated. Link to comment
jArtibise Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 I ended up doing the switch! My server is currently setting up unRAID as we speak, setup thus far has been SIMPLE! My old drives are currently being formatted. Hopefully it doesn't take long because I'd like to start transferring my media back before I hit the sack for the night! Link to comment
SSD Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Welcome aboard! We don't have much discussion of FreeNAS here, so no one to refer you to for that ABC of the differences. After switching over, maybe you'll post what you like better aboud unRAID, and, if there are any, things you liked better about FreeNAS that you wish unRAID would add. Link to comment
jonp Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Love getting feedback from new "converts" like you! Your insights are extremely important to us and help shape the direction of the product. Anything else you can share with us about how you like our offering compared to FreeNAS (or any others you've tried as well) would be greatly appreciated. Specifically interested in how you feel the learning curve with unRAID has been compared to when you started with FreeNAS. Link to comment
Johev Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Hi all, this is my first post in your forum. I have been coming to this forum for a while, and now that unRaid 6 is out I would like to ask if my setup would be possible. I am currently using FreeNAS 9.3 with 2 volumes. One in RAIDZ1 [3x4TB HDDs] and another volume with only 1 HDD (1TB) for the TV recording target. Would I still be able to keep the 2 volumes separated under unRAID or would I have to change to 1 volume with 4 HDDs (3x4TB + 1x1TB)? I am asking this because the 1TB HDD has a RPM of 7200 while the 4TB ones are NAS drives with 5900 RPM. Furthermore, I don't really care if the 1TB drive dies, as the important TV recordings get transferred to the other volume, however I really want to keep the volume with 3x4TB HDDs safe. Does unRAID also do scrubs / SMART HDD / temperature monitoring? Would you consider it to be reliable with important data? As a side note what base OS is unRAID built on? Is it FreeBSD like FreeNAS? My setup is the following: Dell T20 (server motherboard) with E3-1225v3 / 12GB ECC RAM / 3x4TB Seagate Surveillance + 1TB Dell drive that came with the system. Many thanks in advance for your input and sorry for kind of hijacking the topic. Link to comment
archedraft Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Hi all, this is my first post in your forum. I have been coming to this forum for a while, and now that unRaid 6 is out I would like to ask if my setup would be possible. I am currently using FreeNAS 9.3 with 2 volumes. One in RAIDZ1 [3x4TB HDDs] and another volume with only 1 HDD (1TB) for the TV recording target. Would I still be able to keep the 2 volumes separated under unRAID or would I have to change to 1 volume with 4 HDDs (3x4TB + 1x1TB)? I am asking this because the 1TB HDD has a RPM of 7200 while the 4TB ones are NAS drives with 5900 RPM. Yes, you could setup unRAID to have some drives in a protected array and other drives just mounted but not protected. I currently have 2 drives that are mounted at boot but are not in the protected array. Furthermore, I don't really care if the 1TB drive dies, as the important TV recordings get transferred to the other volume, however I really want to keep the volume with 3x4TB HDDs safe. Does unRAID also do scrubs / SMART HDD / temperature monitoring? unRAID 6 monitors the SMART values and temperature on the protected array drives and will send you an email/web notification/& or custom notifications if any of the hard drive values change or if the temperature reaches a specific defined temp threshold. Would you consider it to be reliable with important data? I would consider it reliable with important data but I would also strongly recommend having backups of all important data. See this very good post for more info on why to have additional backups: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31020.msg279579#msg279579 As a side note what base OS is unRAID built on? Is it FreeBSD like FreeNAS? It is built on slackware Link to comment
Johev Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 @archedraft Thank you very much for your fast and clear replies. As for the backups I'll still have to see how I will proceed. My current issue was that I have information scattered on 3 laptops, 4 Smartphones / tablets, 2 external drives and some USBs. The point of a NAS is to centralise everything and hopefully provide some fault tolerance. By the way I have read the post on backup that you have linked to, very interesting. Unfortunately FreeNAS is unable to mount external HDDs and write to them. The process is always connect the external HDD to a laptop and copy into it from the lan. Does unRAID allow us to mount and write directly to external HDDs? Would I be able to mount a DVD drive and share it over lan (this is interesting for media players that don't have a DVD drive and when you don't have it ripped or just want to play something fast)? Link to comment
archedraft Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Does unRAID allow us to mount and write directly to external HDDs? I haven't tried but I think so if you install a plugin called "Unassigned Devices" http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=38635.0 Link to comment
CHBMB Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Does unRAID allow us to mount and write directly to external HDDs? I haven't tried but I think so if you install a plugin called "Unassigned Devices" http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=38635.0 I've tried it and it works well arche is correct. Link to comment
archedraft Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Would I be able to mount a DVD drive and share it over lan (this is interesting for media players that don't have a DVD drive and when you don't have it ripped or just want to play something fast)? You might be able to accomplish this if you had the right hardware to install a virtual Windows 7/8 machine and passthrough the DVD drive. It looks like your processor supports vt-d which is required to passthrough devices to a virtual machine but I am not sure if your motherboard/bios has vt-d? Link to comment
Johev Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 @archedraft and @CHBMB Thank you for both your assistance. As for the DVD, I thought of the VM way, however I was curious if it could be done directly from unRAID. I would also probably just use a linux VM and assign the DVD there instead of having to use a windows one with a licence key . As for my configuration, Dell T20 has a server motherboard that supports all kind of VT that my CPU does. I even have the IPMI configured in order to be able to play with the BIOS without needing a monitor or keyboard in the system. Sorry for this off-topic however as it is related to the move from FreeNAS to unRAID I thought it would be better to keep it in the same topic. I hope the OP agrees . Link to comment
trurl Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Does unRAID allow us to mount and write directly to external HDDs? I do this all the time. There is a plugin called Unassigned Devices Would I be able to mount a DVD drive and share it over lan (this is interesting for media players that don't have a DVD drive and when you don't have it ripped or just want to play something fast)? unRAID doesn't have DVD drivers Link to comment
CHBMB Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 unRAID doesn't have DVD drivers I suppose they could be enabled akin to enabling media build stuff. But not a beginner nor particularly user friendly solution. Link to comment
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