Complete newb need help on first unraid build

[davidjanosky]

BUILD:

Case: Lian LI PC-Q25B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer case

 

MoBo: ASUS Mini ITX DDR3 1600/1333 LGA 1150 Motherboards H971-PLUS (I like the upgraded socket of this model and seems to be the perfect combo of low power and a great starter kit though the Sata port hit lacks expandability however plan on just a 5 drive system for forseeable future)

 

Processor: Intel Core i3 13-4170 Dual-core (2 Core) 3.70 GHz Processor - Socket H3 LGA-1150Retail Pack BX80646I34170 by Intel (could be persuaded to go i5 but hear this is solid and should be able to handle what I described in other post easily since there probably won't even be any transcoding and only 1 machine)

 

Power supply: SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply with +12V single rail, Active PFC (ST45SF) by SilverStone (smaller than something like corsair and just as good maybe even quieter?)

 

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) UDIMM Memory BLS2KIT8G3D1609DS1S00/ BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 by Crucial (just hear they are solid and compatible)

 

Drives: 3 of the WD Red 1TB NAS Desktop Hard Disk Drive - Intellipower SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD10EFRX with one being for parity

EDIT: Decided to go with 2TB drives instead

1 of the Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E250B/AM) for cache and possible virtualization

1 of the SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive- SDCZ33-008G-B35 for unRAID install/hosting and because I heard size of usb being an issue with some boards/case

 

Let me know if this build is stupid or if I forgot anything. Also any tips/guides/tutorials on how to set up unRAID and the cache would be helpful because I am shaky on that. Also have no idea about virtualization so I can remote access or whatever, and then there are plugins.

 

 

Here is what I wanted out of this unraid intro server: (I posted this on reddit at: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/43f33p/complete_newb_trying_to_build_an_unraid_media/ )

Okay, I've been researching for countless hours and have detrmined there are as many ways to build a NAS or media sever as there are colors in the rainbow, SO with that in mind here are my goals ...

1.) Must be able to stream video to a simple laptop (really prefer wireless but am so newbie not even sure this is practical)

2.) Relatively small like less than four shoeboxes if at all possible

3.) Relatively quiet

4.) Low failure rate as in won't have to redownload everything in a year

5.) semi cheap ... I have $500 now but am willing to invest more later for extra drives ... just want to get it off the ground

6.) Semi large storage capabilities but also relatively small in this community. I only really need 1tb or 1000 episodes but I don't want to have to worry about maxing out soon as my colection expands

7.) Straightforward build ... I don't want to be soldering if possible and I don't want 100s of wires.

So any builds you guys recommend? And possibly experience with these builds? I have some sights with builds that sound good but I know next to nothing so don't have firm ideas about what is good and what isn't.

EDIT: I don't know how the streaming works too well but I would wireless and local as in not routed through any internet pages or anything like that, just a file system my computer on a network can see locally.

[davidjanosky]

Well placed the order for parts list, no one responded over multiple forums so just had to go for it. Hope I can find people that know enough to walk me through the OS setup at least.

[kizer]

The OS setup will be pretty easy.

http://lime-technology.com/getting-started/

 

Nothing seriously stands out wrong about your build, however its been a while since I've built a machine and I don't run any VM's.

The case looks nice, but it also appears the top drive might not get direct cooling like the drives below it. Also looks like its going to be a tight fit for your cables.

[tdallen]

I'd use larger hard drives.  The thing with a small form factor case is that you have a limited number of drive bays.  I realize your current needs are pretty low, but if your needs suddenly increase where are you going to put the drives?  Also, 3TB and 4TB drives are where the cost/TB sweet spot is right now.  If you are really comfortable with your storage needs then 2TB WD Reds are fine, of course.

 

16GB is probably overkill for your intended use, but it's a very reasonable step up from 8GB, which most anyone would recommend.  The Core i3 will be fine for basic NAS duties and a handful of dockers, provided you don't need much transcoding.  An SFX power supply is definitely recommended with the PC-Q25b. 

 

The H97I-PLUS is a nice motherboard, though a little more consumer oriented than server.  For instance it has wifi which won't be useful, and only 4 SATA ports.  In that case it's worth considering a motherboard with 6 SATA ports, which is all you'd probably ever need.  I like Asus, but you might also want to look at ASRock. 

 

There's a strong case to be made for ECC RAM in an always-on fault tolerant server.  It requires a different motherboard and RAM, though, and increases your cost.  Definitely worth considering.

[ljm42]

That case is very popular here, and you've got the right power supply to go with it.  Here is a thread dedicated to that case:

  https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29670.0

and the last page has an update for current hardware.

 

The primary selling point of small cases like this (the size) is also their weakness.  They only hold mini-ITX motherboards, which are limited to a single PCIe slot.  If there is any chance you are going to want to pass a GPU through to a VM at some point, you need to make sure you won't need that slot for SATA connections.  So you want a motherboard with as many SATA connections as you can get. 

 

Along those same lines, you want to use as large of hard drives as you can, either 4TB or 8TB.  Believe me, you will find ways to fill it

 

In terms of streaming, you'll want either Plex or Emby.  Just be sure to install them as dockers and not plugins.

[davidjanosky]

Hmm thanks for the replies guys, I'm researching your suggestions to have ideas for future upgrades. If I have enough money after summer job was planning on going all out on a server in the future and retire this build to be mainly backup storage/sell it.