Advice on a New Unraid Build

[igeekus]

I currently have an 6 drive SFF unraid server shamelessly lifted from here years ago.  It's time for something a little more powerful.  I'm hoping to run Unraid (obviously) and would like to be able to 1080p transcode if necessary.  Don't have any real external playing yet, but would like to be able to transcode 3 streams simultaneously.  I'll be running Plex as a Docker (or is the plug-in better?).

 

For Dockers, I was thinking of sabnzbd (nzbget?) / sickbeard (sonarr?) / couchpotato / utorrent, but these could easily be offloaded to a little Atom computer I have lying around if necessary. 

 

Any advice or thoughts would be great   Looking forward to a fun build. 

 

Requirements:

 

Drives: 12-15 (I'd like a bit of room to grow)

Power: As low as possible without sacrificing usability

Noise: Lives in the basement, so not really a problem.

 

Hardware:

 

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352050

I've seen excellent reviews on this case, but not sure if it's the best, especially with hot swap bays?

 

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139121CORSAIR RM Series RM650 650W

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1241 v3 Haswell 3.5GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117315

 

Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

 

RAM: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148770

 

Drive Cage(s): ICY DOCK MB155SP-B (x2 for now, x3 later) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994155

I've seen a bunch of once you go hot swap, you don't go back.  I rarely enter my server once it's up, but the idea of being able to swap out drives without getting in the case is a nice idea.  Could easily do without though.

 

SATA Expansion Card(s):  Don't think I need any with 14 spots on the mobo? 

 

Cables: generic SATA cables.  Any recommendations?

 

Fans: Stock Fans

 

Parity Drive: Seagate 6TB Desktop HDD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JBJ34WC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cache Drive: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OAJ412U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

"Docker" Drive: Samsung 830 128GB SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146846&SID=i7cal53djr000kb500053

 

Data Drives:

Seagate 6TB Desktop HDD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JBJ34WC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

5 x 3TB Hitachi Somethingorother (in my current build so I'd have to look)

1 x 3TB Western Digital Somethingorother (in my current build so I'd have to look)

1 x 3TB Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146846&SID=i7cap9bped000kb500053

 

Total Drive Capacity: 27 TB or so

 

Primary Use: Unraid Server, Plex Server (w/1080p Transcoding), sabnzbd (nzbget?), sickbeard (sonarr?), couchpotato

Likes: Nerdy things, long walks on the beach

Dislikes: That guy over there. 

Add Ons Used:

Future Plans:

 

 

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PS:  Sorry I didn't get the linking right.  I'll go look at the syntax and fix, but wanted to get the post up. 

[tdallen]

That case doesn't look like it would accept anything more than a single 3in2 drive cage, everything else in internal.  Actually, I'm not even sure it will support a 3in2 without modding - it has contoured edges on the 5.25" bays.  With 3 hot swap (maybe) and 8 internal bays you are capping out at 11 3.5" drives which is short of your goal.  While I don't have direct experience with the R5 it certainly seems to be a nice case - but if your goal is hot swap then you either need native internal support or externally accessible 5.25" bays to use with drive cages.

 

If you do go with that case I'd get an additional front fan.  It looks like it comes with a single one covering the top drive bays, but I like active cooling for all spinners - a fan blowing directly on them.  There's room to mount an additional fan below the top one, cooling the lower drive bays.

 

I don't feel a need to use a cache drive for caching these days, I just use it for Dockers.  You might be able to save a little and only get one SSD if you don't have a need for high speed unprotected writes to cache.

 

This seems like a nice build, lot of quality parts.  You just need to decide if hot swap is your priority and adjust the case/cage plans to match.

[danioj]

I am building a server with this case. The advice is correct - it will NOT accept a 3 in 2 or higher cage of ANY type that I have seen!

 

However, there is a fan mount on the bottom of the case (to the left of the lower drive cage and to the right of the PSU as you look into it) Soooo, I bought one of these: http://www.caselabs-store.com/hdd-cage-assy-standard/?src=prn

 

This allows for an extra 4 drives. Taking the drive amount to 14. 3+5+4+2.