hi,

 

i've been running single PC with Windows 7 OS for a few years now (24x7), it's main job are running Blue Iris, BitTorrent, jdownloader, and file sharing (no RAID, only manual backup to external HDD)

i'm purchasing new PC with Pentium G4400 and 8GB RAM. i'm planning to run it with XPEnology (free, no support) but reading about unRAID makes me interested with it's VM capabilities

 

the original idea was :

1. my current Windows 7 PC still running it's jobs like before 

2. my new PC running NAS OS for on-the-site backup (data from my 1st PC)

3. the NAS OS should stop HDD spin and power down/sleep if no access needed and can be powered on with WOL

4. the main objective for NAS for me are disk/data redundancy, so hopefully i won't lose another data while the old PC pumping data to NAS periodically

 

however if i'm not mistaken here, i could use unRAID as NAS, and using VM with Windows 7 (which replace my current PC)

 

now, onto the questions  - keep in mind, i haven't tried unRAID, since my new PC haven't arrived yet

1. using 1 PC with unRAID, will i satisfy my original idea needs? (using unRAID for NAS and VM host)

2. can i run VM on specific disk, so that particular disk won't spin down while the rest of disk/arrays get "auto-spin" treatment?

3. currently i have : 4TB, 640GB and 3x500GB, can i someday change the lower capacity to a new 4TB and expand the volume - without losing the data?

4. same as above, if i'm already using 4TBx6 and would like to change it to 8TBx6, can i do this without losing the data?

 

Thank You

1 hour ago, thematic said:

1. using 1 PC with unRAID, will i satisfy my original idea needs? (using unRAID for NAS and VM host)[/quote]

2. can i run VM on specific disk, so that particular disk won't spin down while the rest of disk/arrays get "auto-spin" treatment?

3. currently i have : 4TB, 640GB and 3x500GB, can i someday change the lower capacity to a new 4TB and expand the volume - without losing the data?

4. same as above, if i'm already using 4TBx6 and would like to change it to 8TBx6, can i do this without losing the data?

 

Thank You

1.  Yes.   You do need to make sure that the hardware (motherboard and CPU) supports VT-D as this is required to support hardware pass-through in VMs so you can use the GPU attached to unRAID for the VM.   

2.  You will not want to run the VM off an array disk as this will severely impact performance.  It is normal to run VMs from a disk that is not part of the array as this gives best performance.   You do need, therefore, sort out how to handle backing up the VM data.

3/4.  With unRAID you can upgrade disks to larger ones, or add new disks at any time.   The one restriction is that parity disk(s) are at least as large as the largest data drive.   This is one of unRAID's strong points for home users.

 

You can get a free trial key (time limited) to allow you to try out unRAID facilities before you commit to purchasing a license.

Edited August 26, 20178 yr by itimpi

Hi -

 

You will want to evaluate a bigger CPU and more RAM if you combine the boxes.  You should also look at the Dockers available for unRAID, they're a lighter weight solution than VMs.

alright, thanks guys

i'll try it when my new PC arrive