I'm considering adding a few parts to my current rig to build a server and have some questions. Please would someone help answer some/any of my questions.

I have done a lot of reading (following unRAID since 2015!) but I would really love to get some more specific advice.

 

Hardware (+ means new addition)

• CPU: i7 5820K
  
• Motherboard: Asus X99 Sabertooth
  
• Memory 32GB
  
• GPU 1: MSI R9 390 for the main Windows VM - this massive monster covers 2.5 slots  !
  
• GPU 2: + Zotac GeFo?rce GT 610? 512MB PCI?-Express x?1 for a Ubuntu VM => no other choice I can think of since the PCIe x1 is the only empty slot
  
• PCIe storage: Samsung SM951 AHCI M.2 512GB SSD (on the M.2 slot, current Windows boot drive), Intel 750 1.2TB NVMe
  
• 2.5" SSD: Kingston 128GB, Samsung 850 Evo 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 2TB
  
• 7200rpm HDD: 3TB Toshiba, 4TB Hitachi, 6TB WD Black, + Hitachi He8 8TB
  
• 5900rpm HDD: 8TB Seagate Archive
  
• 7-slot 5.25 internal card reader (i.e. it shows up as 7 drives) + 1 Bluray drive
  

 

The plan:

• Use the Hitachi He8 as parity (for maximum future expandability)
  
• The rest of the 7200rpm in the array, total 13TB
  
• Samsung 1TB as cache
  
• Ubuntu VM will have exclusive use of the Kingston 128GB SSD (boot) + Seagate Archive 8TB
  
• Windows VM will have exclusive use of the Samsung SM951 (boot) + Intel 750 + Samsung 850 EVO 2TB
  

 

Questions:

[*]Is the above plan realistic? How would you rate the level of difficulty (I'm comfortable with command lines and following instructions)?

[*]Any potential issue you think I might run into? Any additional reading you recommend before I start?

[*]Which license do I need to buy? It's not very clear on the website whether passthrough / outside array devices would count toward the license device limit. If everything counts then I would need a Pro license - if only array devices count then I only need a Basic license.

[*]For the M.2 and PCIe SSD, would you recommend me to go on the PCIe-passthrough route or the outside-of-array route?

I think I read on the forum that the latter is more recommended but then it wouldn't work with NVMe and I'm not sure if M.2 PCIe slot (the PCIe 3.0 x4 slot is disabled if the M.2 drive is installed) can be passed-through.

[*]Do I need to get 6.2.0 beta 18+ in order to have reconstruct write? The forum posts I read seem to say it could be done as far back as 2014/2015 but then it is a feature of 6.2.0 beta 18 (March 2016) so I'm not too sure. I must misread something somewhere.

3. Every device connected at boot count count toward the device limit. you will need a pro license.

 

5. you need 6.2 beta to enable reconstruct write/turbo write. On 6.1.9 you can enable it from command line, or add it to the go file on the usb.

 

What do you mean with 7-slot 5.25 internal card reader?

3. Every device connected at boot count count toward the device limit. you will need a pro license.

 

5. you need 6.2 beta to enable reconstruct write/turbo write. On 6.1.9 you can enable it from command line, or add it to the go file on the usb.

 

What do you mean with 7-slot 5.25 internal card reader?

Many thanks - it will be pricey but at least I can save £10 having to upgrade.

 

The card reader has MS, Micro MS, SD, Micro SD, CF, + an eSATA so total 7 slots! I guess it means it alone would count as 7 devices (7 drives!) 

I hate to hijack this but I was wondering if you can use both of your NICs individually? (different iommu for passthrough?)