Hey everyone,  I have had unraid for over 5 years now, but for the last 6 months or so my server has been down for some unknown issue (tried second PSU, replacing BIOS battery, etc.).  I was about to scrape the unraid idea and just move to multiple external harddrives, but I realized it would be cheaper to just replace the mb, cpu, and memory than buy more HDs.

 

So I have a question, what is the cheapest cpu/mb combo that can run unraid at maximum read and write transfer speeds not using a cache drive and parity checks?  I only use this for document back up so don't need plex or vm.  All the other recent questions asking for hardware suggestions seem to need much beefier cpus than me.

 

Thank you!

 

One last unrelated question.  I might have to ask in a different forum though.  If I don't map the unraid to my computer as a network drive and have to manually type its location to access it, can ransomware still encrypt it?

Hey everyone,  I have had unraid for over 5 years now, but for the last 6 months or so my server has been down for some unknown issue (tried second PSU, replacing BIOS battery, etc.).  I was about to scrape the unraid idea and just move to multiple external harddrives, but I realized it would be cheaper to just replace the mb, cpu, and memory than buy more HDs.

 

So I have a question, what is the cheapest cpu/mb combo that can run unraid at maximum read and write transfer speeds not using a cache drive and parity checks?  I only use this for document back up so don't need plex or vm.  All the other recent questions asking for hardware suggestions seem to need much beefier cpus than me.

 

Thank you!

 

One last unrelated question.  I might have to ask in a different forum though.  If I don't map the unraid to my computer as a network drive and have to manually type its location to access it, can ransomware still encrypt it?

My server_b (specs in sig) is about as low as you can go and has no problems.  Think I paid something like $120CAD for the mobo/cpu.

 

But running single parity, just about anything you can buy nowadays should be sufficient.

 

And yes, today's ransomware does not require mapped drives to encrypt.  They will scan the network looking for any other computers (not just servers) / devices to encrypt the files on.  Mapped drives will make it easier for them however.

If you prefer Intel, people are running unRAID on multi-core Atoms.  Also dual core Celerons and Pentiums.  I'd stick with Haswell era or newer.

I also run a second server on the AMD AM1 5350, I picked up a combo at Micro Center for about $40 USD for CPU/MB... Which is still available!

Agreed with above - pick up an Athlon 5350, board, and you might need a cheap 4-port SATA card as AM1 boards generally only have 2 or 4 SATA ports.

 

jayztwocents on YouTube picked up a 5350 and Gigabyte board for $40 all in, which he used in his recent $300 gaming PC build (and it ran surprisingly well).

 

I've got a 5350 here, which I use for various random stuff (it's like a test bench sort of machine for preclears, cloning disks and the likes), and it is fast and uses less than 15W under full load, and is passively cooled.

Just a note that if you every intend to run Dual Parity setup, you will need a more recent system in order to be able to process the Dual-Parity calculations without having major slowdown in parity checks, parity builds, failed drive simulation, and failed drive recovery.