Considering unraid. Need clarification if I can do what I want.

[Barafu]

I am IT developer from Russia, big Linux enthusiast, Windows gamer, but never before worked with any virtualisation besides VirtualBox. I like trying new OSes. I want a clarification from an experienced unRAID user that unRAID fits my need, before I start learning it.

 

My home PC has many operating systems, Win10 for gaming and CAD, and several Linuxes. I am practically OK with dualbooting but have a storage problem. My PC has 10Tb of data, on 4 HDDS of different size and age. I want it to be accessible from all OSes, for Windows to have read-only access to some parts, and keep it with versioning and duplication in case of disk failure.

 

Right now I have data on BTRFS RAID10. Windows gets access to it through a small virtualized Linux server that autostarts. The drawbacks are low speed and that Windows still has a write access to drives, so that malware can destroy them. And I am uncomfortable using that BTRFS RAID from different kernel versions.

 

I was going to build a separate PC for NAS and home server and move my disks there. Then i found out about unRAID. So I thought: may be I should keep my disks in my PC (it has loads of good(but not ECC) memory, seasonic power unit and other good stuff) and set my OSes in virtual container? The questions are in ease of use.

 

1) Can different OSes, booted in sequence, not simultaneously, use the same peripherals and graphics card hassle-free?

2) What about OSes and unRAID itself? Do I have to use separate video cards for them? May be an Android device can work as an interface to unRAID?

 

If no, I may be better off with traditional NAS and traditional dualbooting. It will cost much more, though.

 

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[SpaceInvaderOne]

 

1) Can different OSes, booted in sequence, not simultaneously, use the same peripherals and graphics card hassle-free?

2) What about OSes and unRAID itself? Do I have to use separate video cards for them? May be an Android device can work as an interface to unRAID?

 

If no, I may be better off with traditional NAS and traditional dualbooting. It will cost much more, though.

 

Thanks a lot!!!

 

Ok

1. Yes you can boot the OSes on unraid (the vms) in sequence and use the same peripherals. So you could start windows 10 use a connected keyboard mouse, gpu, etc. Then you could shut that down and start another linux and use the same peripherals. You cant share the same periphals with more than one vm at a time. But you can run more than one vm at a time though. They just both couldnt share the same gpu or sound card etc. (you can use vnc to connect to vms that do not have a dedicated gpu)

 

2.Unraid uses a graphics card to display console/gui. Most people access the unraid from another laptop, tablet etc for this. I think this is what you mean by using an android device for an interface. So yes from the tablet you could administer unraid start and stop vms etc. The gpu unraid uses can be passed through to a vm. As soon as this happens you will not see the unraid console on that gpu (but would still see it on tablet)

For gpu passthough your motherboard and cpu need to support vtx and vtd. most modern cpus do so but check first.

[Barafu]

Thanks for the answer! Sounds good.

 

To clarify: so I can, start PC, run Windows, shut it down, run Arch, shut it down, run Windows... And all this without switching cables, using the same mouse and powerfull GPU, and having access to data storage, and with, say, DLNA server running in background. Yes? Cool!

[SpaceInvaderOne]

yep. Sure can. Do this every day 

( You can even startup windows and run arch at the same time (not giving arch a gpu but giving it vnc for graphics and keyboard). Then you can access this vm from within your windows vm that has the gpu on your monitor. Each vm can have different permissions etc for files too.)

 

but yes starting one at a time how you describe will work 100%. Plus you can also be running as many dockers at same time on unraid as you like.

[Barafu]

Cool. I am in!

[SpaceInvaderOne]

If you run into any problems setting up the people here in the forums are great. Also feel free to pm me if you want and ill do my best to help you.

Welcome to unraid!!