I'm going to be moving overseas for (hopefully) several months, then returning to the US.  I will be leaving my unRAID server at home, but I've been thinking about various ways to bring some digital entertainment along with me, as well as provide myself with parity protection to backup the work I plan to do while traveling.  The options I've considered are:

 

#1) Build a portable unRAID server with 3 drives (1 parity, 2 data, free version of unRAID) in a small (Shuttle, maybe?) case.

#2) Build a make-shift unRAID server out of several external hard drives and an old laptop (is this even possible?)

#3) Just buy one or more external hard drives and give up on having portable parity protection - I mean, am I really going to be doing anything all that important?  Or make manual backups of everything to the various externals.

 

#3 is a last resort, since I do plan on doing some important web design work while abroad, and I would like it all to be backed up sufficiently.  Perhaps my best option is to just invest in some online backup (such as CrashPlan), but I would rather avoid this too, since the backup and restore functions will be limited to my internet connection speed, which I expect to be rather slow.

 

Any ideas?

 

Other thoughts: I understand that unRAID is not designed to be a portable system.  I wouldn't need to carry this around with me, just be able to bring it with me on the plane, then back again afterwards.

How many drives?

How much space do you need protected?

How much space do you have to carry this?

 

As far as a laptop. If this is your only computer, you could reboot into unRAID, then you have to think about how will you transfer the data.

 

I might consider one of the smaller USB/eSata External units.

These have the ability to do a few levels of RAID, or combionations, on two drives.

 

I have this unit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332018

 

It also supports SAFE50/SAFE33 which allows some of your data to be protected and other data to live on spanned spare space.

 

I have not seen any PCMCIA or cards that support port multipliers.

So you would have to find something external that could support raid levels.

 

The other choice is to build an ITX server using the Chenbro chassis (see my posts on pimp your rig).

This turns out to be a pretty small server.

 

There was another post which had a small celeron based M server which could support 5 disks.

This is a perfect candidate for a baby unRAID server too.

 

My most important data would be backed up to an external drive.

I isually end up buying one of these cool multimedia 2.5" drive units that support music, tv and USB drive functionality.

Provides all uses for my media storage.

 

 

 

How many drives?

How much space do you need protected?

 

I'm flexible on these two.  Obviously more space and fewer drives would be better, but I don't want to spend too much either.  If I build a baby unRAID server, I was imagining 3 drives - 2 data and 1 parity, which would allow me to use the free version of unRAID.

 

How much space do you have to carry this?

A standard suitcase, I guess.  I would hope to be able to check it, since I wouldn't want to trust the baggage claim people with something potentially fragile like a small server.  I could look into shipping it to myself, but I expect this would be a lot more expensive.

 

As far as a laptop. If this is your only computer, you could reboot into unRAID, then you have to think about how will you transfer the data.

I was actually thinking of bringing an old, slower laptop dedicated to unRAID in addition to my current, all-purpose laptop.  I would then also need a crossover cable, gigabit switch, or something similar (the old laptop most likely won't have GigE).  This was just an idea of mine, I have no idea if its at all possible or feasible.  I figure it would require a laptop mobo that supports boot from USB, as well as at least 3 total USB ports (one for the flash drive, then two for externals) or Firewire/eSATA. 

I might consider one of the smaller USB/eSata External units.

These have the ability to do a few levels of RAID, or combionations, on two drives.

 

I have this unit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332018

 

It also supports SAFE50/SAFE33 which allows some of your data to be protected and other data to live on spanned spare space.

 

I have not seen any PCMCIA or cards that support port multipliers.

So you would have to find something external that could support raid levels.

 

The other choice is to build an ITX server using the Chenbro chassis (see my posts on pimp your rig).

This turns out to be a pretty small server.

 

There was another post which had a small celeron based M server which could support 5 disks.

This is a perfect candidate for a baby unRAID server too.

 

My most important data would be backed up to an external drive.

I isually end up buying one of these cool multimedia 2.5" drive units that support music, tv and USB drive functionality.

Provides all uses for my media storage.

 

All good suggestions, I will look into them.  Thank you for your feedback.