Hi, i'm a new user and looking at using unRAID in my new server. My end goal is 8x 1.5TB Western Digital Greens for a total of 10TB usable space. I have a couple questions/concerns.

 

1. Is there any problem with me buying 3x 1.5TB (3TB usable) and using unRAID free edition.. and then upgrading to 6+ drives and unRAID Pro later on down the road? Will I need to transfer my data to another computer?

2) Would you guys recommend 1.5TB or 2TB drives? Price/Size Ratio seems best at 1.5TB.

3) When the time comes that 10TB usable space is not enough, and I want to step up to 2TB or future 3-4TB drives, will this be possible?

4) Which motherboard would you guys recommend? I would like 8 SATA ports on the motherboard and it has to have onboard video.

 

Thanks.

Hi, i'm a new user and looking at using unRAID in my new server. My end goal is 8x 1.5TB Western Digital Greens for a total of 10TB usable space. I have a couple questions/concerns.

 

1. Is there any problem with me buying 3x 1.5TB (3TB usable) and using unRAID free edition.. and then upgrading to 6+ drives and unRAID Pro later on down the road? Will I need to transfer my data to another computer?

 

No.  This is very easy to do.

 

2) Would you guys recommend 1.5TB or 2TB drives? Price/Size Ratio seems best at 1.5TB.

 

Personal preference.  I'd personally go with the bigger drives if you see your array growing to a very large size, although the 1.5s are a bit more mature.

 

3) When the time comes that 10TB usable space is not enough, and I want to step up to 2TB or future 3-4TB drives, will this be possible?

 

Go with the PRO license and you can get many more disks (Tom just mentioned expandability to 24!).  10TB will not be a limitation.  But yes, if you want to swap out a lower capacity disk with a larger one, there is a straightforward process to do that.  Remember, though, that parity must be equal or greater size than the largest data disk.  If you must upgrade the parity disk, the process is slightly more complicated, but still well documented and easy to do.

 

4) Which motherboard would you guys recommend? I would like 8 SATA ports on the motherboard and it has to have onboard video.

 

Look at the hardware compatibility section of the wiki, and at the Motherboard section of the forum.  Many of the most recommended motherboards (like the P5B VM DO) that I use are no longer available (unless you find one on eBay or Craig's list).  Check out the more recent posts to find a good candidate with the features you require.

 

Thanks.

 

You're welcome.

Hi, i'm a new user and looking at using unRAID in my new server. My end goal is 8x 1.5TB Western Digital Greens for a total of 10TB usable space. I have a couple questions/concerns.

 

1. Is there any problem with me buying 3x 1.5TB (3TB usable) and using unRAID free edition.. and then upgrading to 6+ drives and unRAID Pro later on down the road? Will I need to transfer my data to another computer?

The unRAID software is the same, whatever license you are using, only the maximum number of array drives and a few features are different.  Start with whatever you want, and whenever you add another license, all that will change is the number of drives you can add.  See the FAQ entry:  "How is unRAID licensed?"

 

2) Would you guys recommend 1.5TB or 2TB drives? Price/Size Ratio seems best at 1.5TB.

3) When the time comes that 10TB usable space is not enough, and I want to step up to 2TB or future 3-4TB drives, will this be possible?

One of the advantages of unRAID is that you aren't tied to any one size, but you can buy whatever drive size and model you want.  Many users buy drives close to the "sweet spot", at the best price/size ratio.  Then as prices fall and sizes increase, they upgrade at will.  Drive size is irrelevant to unRAID.  If it is supported by the standard Linux kernel, and you have a supported disk controller that supports the drive, then unRAID will handle the drive, now and in the future.

 

Oops!  Brian beat me, and I'm adding very little to his.