Hi Everyone,

 

I am a newbie, and I am not familiar with Linux. Essentially, I want a system that will act as my media server and eventually, utilize the PC to run Windows for family use. So what I planned for was:

 

Phase 1: Install unRAID to serve as NAS while gaining familiarization

Phase 2: Configure as media server (Install the Plex Server) - no background on this but I think I can get this done.

Phase 3: Install a VM to run Windows 7  (My wife and kids normally use the PC/Windows for web browsing and watching movies. Can this be done without Windows? Just using plugins? How about the the audio drivers?)

 

I was initially successful at setting up a trial license of unRAID 6.2, however, when I tried to transfer my media files using direct ethernet connection to router, the speed was just a 12MB/s. Using WiFi, this dropped to 5MB/s. I tried to look for a solution as I have read that some users are reaching 60MB/s, but my greatest limitation is my zero knowledge of Linux to configure or tweak the system. At this point, I explored other software RAID solutions such as FlexRAID and SnapRAID - especially since these two run under Windows, hence I could meet my objective of having a Windows PC and a Media Server integrated in single machine.

 

After trying out the other two systems, I now believe that unRAID is still the way to go. I feel that unRAID is very mature and will allow me to easily rebuild data if one of my drives fail (which is the main point of having a NAS). Network connection was also very easy to setup but I just need to resolve the slow transfer speed concern.

 

In that regard, I would appreciate your inputs and suggestions on how I can meet my phase 1, 2 and 3 targets.

 

Btw, my hardware for this project:

 

New:

Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H

Intel Pentium G4400

8GB DDR4 RAM

 

Old:

3 x 2TB WD Green SATA 2 HDDs

550W 80+ Power Supply

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

hello

To try to answer the question about speed.

It seems a bit low. Then writing to the array, most people get around 20-40, but usually not more. It starts high, but then the cache in memory is full it drops down a lot.

This is, as far as I understand, because of the design with an dedicated parity. Then you write files, the system writes to both data disk and parity at the same time.

If you are familiar with RAID levels, this is simular to how RAID4 works.

 

The way to get better write speeds is to setup a disk as cache drive, and set shares to use it. Then, data will be writen to the cache first, getting max speed of what the network and cache drive can provide  and the data will be moved to the array later (can be set down to each hour or up to days/months)

 

Im using an old WD green 2TB drive as cache, and then I write data to an chache enabled share, In usually gets 80-90MB/sec, that is more or less max for an gigabit connection.

 

 

I was initially successful at setting up a trial license of unRAID 6.2, however, when I tried to transfer my media files using direct ethernet connection to router, the speed was just a 12MB/s.

 

This looks like 100Mbit Ethernet, check all your network connection speeds.

 

 

Thanks for your responses. Will reinstall unRaid to check the transfer speed using a gigabit router.

 

As for the audio, is there a way enable the audio in unRAID without requiring to install Windows?

 

Thank you once again.

Are you already using a parity drive ?

 

If not and your data is still on your old system I would advise to setup unraid without a parity drive, then transfer your data, and then add a a parity drive.

 

Should a drive fail on unraid before parity is completed you will loose that data but if its still on the old system that is not an issue.

 

Copying large amounts of files, like with an initial build, is a lot quicker without parity..

 

Check te info button in the upper right corner for info on the network speed unraid is sensing..

 

Do it wired in any case, wifi will be to slow.

 

And post your diagnostics when you are ready so we can look at the setup of the system..

 

Lots of luck !  unraid is great for what you need... unraid itself and plex will be easy.. A windows VM might sound difficult but it really is not very more difficult then installing windows on a regular device.. just a few steps extra..