Hi everyone,

 

A quick introduction:  I have been looking for a reliable NAS solution and came across this software.  I have spent several hours reading through this forum and feel very comfortable that Unraid will meet my needs.  The community here is great as well (very friendly and helpful).  I don’t plan on running into any problems, but I know you will all be there in case I do.

 

This will be my first build of an Unraid server (I have custom built dozens of computers over the past 15 years or so).  I will be using this to store all of my documents, music, pictures, event video footage (DV – HD next year), my DVD collection, etc.

 

So, here is what I chose to start this build.  I ordered these parts Sunday night and have received about half of the parts (remainder arriving on 12/24).

 

CoolerMaster Centurion 590 Case

Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 motherboard

AMD Sempron LE-1300 2.3GHz CPU

1GB G.Skill DDR2-800 RAM (1 stick) – might upgrade to 2 if needed, but it doesn’t sound like I will…at least to start)

2x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM  SATA 3.0 drives (1 for parity the other for storage)

Corsair 400W PSU

Lexar JumpDrive Firefly 4GB (tried to get 1gb or 2gb).

 

Cost: $500 shipped (before rebates)

 

My current storage that I use right now:

2x 500GB in RAID1

1x 500GB

1x 320GB external

1x 250GB external

 

I plan on doing the following:

First, I plan on checking the BIOS to see if my motherboard allows me to disable HPA.  I have read a few post with people stating that the upgraded the BIOS and now have the option to disable this.  I have Rev.4 of this motherboard and Gigabyte only shows it as having the initial BIOS from September (no upgrade yet).  Am I missing something?  Maybe they have an older revision (which has updates) – all seem to have a September release as the latest build.  So, I’m hoping that I will be able to disable this from the start.

 

Depending on the HPA, I’ll then hook up the 1.5GB parity drive to the first or last SATA slot on the motherboard (last if I can’t disable HPA).  I’ll plug in the other 1.5GB data drive.

 

I’ll run parity checks and check system logs to make sure I am comfortable with the way things look.  I will then…

Take my one independent 500GB drive that I have and copying that over to the array (I will be copying with parity as I am in no rush to copy things over).  I will then test it for a few days and eventually add this 500GB to the array and test some more.

 

Once I feel confident that everything is working right, I’ll purchase a license and remove one of the 500GB drives from my RAID1 array that has my critical data on it.  I’ll copy that over and then add this drive eventually to the array.  I’ll still have my other 500GB drive from the RAID1 setup and will probably keep that aside for a few months until I am 100% certain and totally comfortable with this system (all though I have no doubts that everything will work just fine!).  Eventually, I’ll add that drive.

 

I’ll probably remove the other 320GB drive from that enclosure and add it to the array as well (after copying the data of it and putting it onto the array).  The other 250GB drive will probably go to my brother for him to use as a backup drive.

 

So, how does that all sound?  Any suggestions?

 

I do have 1 networking question.  This is only a temporary situation, but the main computer I will be using this unraid server with is upstairs in the house.  The router and other computer in the house is downstairs (and won’t be using this unraid server).  Since the router is downstairs and I didn’t and don’t want to wire anything where I am, I purchased a Wireless PCI card that I use to connect to the router for internet.  My question is this, can I use a crossover cable and connect my desktop and unraid server together using that?  Will I still be able to access the internet?  Would I just access the drive using it’s IP address instead of the TOWER hostname?

 

A rough example would be this:

 

Router: 192.168.1.1

My Desktop – Wireless: 192.168.1.3

My Desktop – 1GB Ethernet: 192.168.100.2

Unraid Server: 192.168.100.1

 

I would then access the server by http://192.168.100.1.  Would that work?  Would my computer know to use the wired connection and not the wireless?  Would my computer know to use the gateway 192.168.1.1 for the router via my wireless NIC to access the internet?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any comments, suggestions, and recommendations that you might have.  I’m really looking forward to building this server and becoming an active member of this forum.  I’ve already been talking about this product to several people and I haven’t even setup it up yet.  I’m just very excited about this and am anxious to get started!

 

First, I plan on checking the BIOS to see if my motherboard allows me to disable HPA.  I have read a few post with people stating that the upgraded the BIOS and now have the option to disable this.  I have Rev.4 of this motherboard and Gigabyte only shows it as having the initial BIOS from September (no upgrade yet).  Am I missing something?  Maybe they have an older revision (which has updates) – all seem to have a September release as the latest build.  So, I’m hoping that I will be able to disable this from the start.

Since you have Rev. 4 of the board and the bios is from September it should already have the setting to disable HPA. I have Rev. 2 and updating to the July 2009 bios gave me the option to disable HPA.

I do have 1 networking question.  This is only a temporary situation, but the main computer I will be using this unraid server with is upstairs in the house.  The router and other computer in the house is downstairs (and won’t be using this unraid server).  Since the router is downstairs and I didn’t and don’t want to wire anything where I am, I purchased a Wireless PCI card that I use to connect to the router for internet.  My question is this, can I use a crossover cable and connect my desktop and unraid server together using that?  Will I still be able to access the internet?

 

The answer to both your questions is yes.

 

You might not even need a cross-over cable because gigabit nics usually detect the type of the cable and adjust.

 

 

First, I plan on checking the BIOS to see if my motherboard allows me to disable HPA.  I have read a few post with people stating that the upgraded the BIOS and now have the option to disable this.  I have Rev.4 of this motherboard and Gigabyte only shows it as having the initial BIOS from September (no upgrade yet).  Am I missing something?  Maybe they have an older revision (which has updates) – all seem to have a September release as the latest build.  So, I’m hoping that I will be able to disable this from the start.

Since you have Rev. 4 of the board and the bios is from September it should already have the setting to disable HPA. I have Rev. 2 and updating to the July 2009 bios gave me the option to disable HPA.

 

Thanks!  That's great news.  1 more day - I'm leaving early tomorrow, so hopefully they delivery before the early afternoon!

I do have 1 networking question.  This is only a temporary situation, but the main computer I will be using this unraid server with is upstairs in the house.  The router and other computer in the house is downstairs (and won’t be using this unraid server).  Since the router is downstairs and I didn’t and don’t want to wire anything where I am, I purchased a Wireless PCI card that I use to connect to the router for internet.  My question is this, can I use a crossover cable and connect my desktop and unraid server together using that?  Will I still be able to access the internet?

 

The answer to both your questions is yes.

 

You might not even need a cross-over cable because gigabit nics usually detect the type of the cable and adjust.

 

 

 

I didn't know that.  That's very interesting.  I'm going to have to read up on that one.

Hi everyone,

 

I just wanted to let everyone know that the motherboard did come with HPA disabled.  I also did not need a crossover cable, it did detect the standard cable I used.

 

The server has been very stable over the past 2 days.  I'll be moving more data to it over the next few days and should be installing the 3rd drive (2nd data) drive soon.

 

I average approx. 33MB/sec when writing to the drive (large files).  My parity checks are about 125MB/sec.  These are all using the SATA ports on the motherboard and the drives mentioned in my original post.

 

Matt