Hi all,

 

Did some research but being a novice some terms/information is over my head. I am in need of a NAS in my home and was wondering is unRAID is a good solution for me.

 

• ONLY need it for media streaming purposes - will be using it for PLEX/KODI and maybe some Dropbox storage
  
• I will have CP, uTorrent, and Eventghost managing my automation. Plan is to DL to personal PC and have files copied over to NAS automatically. This shouldn't be an issue right? Do I need a VM or how would this work?
  
• Currently have different brands/storage of HDD (If unRaid isn't right for me, I wouldn't mind starting from scratch and buying all the same brand/size of HDD)
  
• Not really willing to risk losing my whole media collection - so security is key?
  
• Somewhere I read FreeNas is faster than unRaid - We will be streaming in 1080p/720p to anywhere from 1-4 devices simultaneously. Should this be a concern?
  
• Build will be fresh (apart from HDD)
  

 

Please let me know if I need to consider any other information before making a decision .

 

 

Would you think unRaid is the right solution for me?

Yes

You can run cp and torrent on unraid,  no need for a separate computer (docker containers work great for that)

 

Different size or brand hdds are fine

 

For security, you can set your shares to read only, or private with password protection

 

Other nas solutions may have faster writes to the protected array, but read speeds are all the same (bottleneck is usually the drive itself or the sata interface) (you can read about parity vs snapshot and about the cache drive)

 

• Not really willing to risk losing my whole media collection - so security is key?

Unraid is not a backup unless it is the second copy of your files. If the files are important to you, they must be saved elsewhere as well. That applies to ANY storage system.

• Not really willing to risk losing my whole media collection - so security is key?

Unraid is not a backup unless it is the second copy of your files. If the files are important to you, they must be saved elsewhere as well. That applies to ANY storage system.

 

I mean in terms of redundancy - what are the options? My media collection is at 10tb right now and I can easily fill up 30-40tb once I expand the storage capabilities. Are you really saying I need to have 2x40tb so I can back up my media collections?

 

You can run cp and torrent on unraid,  no need for a separate computer (docker containers work great for that)

 

Different size or brand hdds are fine

 

For security, you can set your shares to read only, or private with password protection

 

Other nas solutions may have faster writes to the protected array, but read speeds are all the same (bottleneck is usually the drive itself or the sata interface) (you can read about parity vs snapshot and about the cache drive)

 

I already have it set it up this way - so all I would need to do is change the path of where the files are transferred. I feel like setting up automation on the server it self would just be extra unnecessary work

• Not really willing to risk losing my whole media collection - so security is key?

Unraid is not a backup unless it is the second copy of your files. If the files are important to you, they must be saved elsewhere as well. That applies to ANY storage system.

 

I mean in terms of redundancy - what are the options? My media collection is at 10tb right now and I can easily fill up 30-40tb once I expand the storage capabilities. Are you really saying I need to have 2x40tb so I can back up my media collections?

Yes - if it really matters then you need complete copies of the files elsewhere.

 

unRAID will use the parity disk to protect against failure of any disk (or 2 disks if you use dual parity), but it cannot protect against more catastrophic failure.

unRAID has 2 key protection mechanisms:

1. Parity drive allows 1 drive failing (2 if you are on 6.2 beta)

2. Even when more drives fail than the number of parity, you would still possibly be able to recover some data on the failed drive. Each disk is basically an independent xfs-formatted disk so partial recovery is usually possible as long as you dont hit "format".

 

FreeNas has faster write speed but if, for example, 2 drives fail and you are in RAID 5, you can say farewell to all your data, unless you use very advanced data recovery tool / service.

 

UnRAID can mitigate slow drive speed with its cache drive and / or Turbo Write.

 

Regarding 2x40TB stuff, the keyword is "important" i.e. how much pain for you if you lose such data. If a lot then you need the data backed up with multiple copies. My family photos are important so I have multiple backups, including offsite. My movies are not that important so parity is more than good enough.

My main unraid server is 9TB, which is mostly media (movies and tv shows).

I built a second unraid server with old salvaged parts (old laptop hdds and such), total capacity of just 1TB. Plenty of space for my super important files like family photos and videos, google drive backup, etc. If I lose some of the movies and tv shows, no big deal.

 

You can also use a service like crashplan that can back up your data off site, that way you won't need a second server.

 

I have the following unRAID servers working:

• 66TB server 78% full with HD recordings from networks and DirecTV both premium channels and non-premiums.  No backups because I have copies for many of the shows that were recorded from different boxes with different tuners.  But if I don't have a copy I can just record it again the next time it is broadcast.  Recorded from HD-PVRs in 1080i and 720p format off component.
  
• 52TB server 88% full with recordings from networks and local sub channels.  No backups because I have copies for the network programs on other servers and I can just rerecord any I might loose the next time they are broadcast.
  
• 55TB server 57% full of DVD and BluRay rips mostly with some important files that I make backups to other servers and eventually to the cloud when I get setup for that later this year.  The DVDs and BluRays I can just rerip again.
  
• 45TB server ~80% full - off line currently and in process of being rebuilt so can't be specific.  Recordings from networks and DirecTV most files recorded here have a duplicate on server 1 but these are slightly higher quality recordings as they were done with a Hauppauge Colossus off of HDMI.
  
• 48TB server 80% full of SD recordings from networks and sub channels and DirecTV - my oldest recordings and this server has been retired and broken down.  The drives are off line and will only be accessed if I want to view a recording I haven't gotten again in HD.  Would also be used if I loose the HD version while I'm waiting for it to be re-broadcast again.
  
• Other servers that I will setup again to act as backups for my important files - size ~4-5TB.
  

Need to update my out of date signature (so don't go by that) but waiting until all my server re configurations are done so maybe later this year.