First Success!

[abernardi]

I'm brand new to unRAID and Linux for that matter (I'm a mac user).  But I've been building a HTPC on a Windows 7 platform and saw I was going to need a ton of storage and unraid seems perfect for my needs.

 

I bought a used Visonman server with an Asus P5N-MX moto, Intel e2180 dual core CPU. 

 

I had some initial trouble getting the "syslinux.exe" onto the flash drive.  I ended up having to go to the command line instead of the run menu for it to work.  Then I kept getting a "boot error" when I'd try to boot the server.  I went down the list in the excellent tutorial and found the problem.  On this moto, if the flash drive is formatted as fat32, it will see it as a removable drive and doesn't like it.  But if I format it as straight fat, it sees it as a hard drive and it's happy.  Hopefully this will help someone else in my position.

 

Also, for others with the P5N-MX motherboard, I've read around the web that the onboard NIC isn't compatible with Linux, so you need a PCI card.  But so far I've had not trouble.  However, I've only logged onto the tower, I haven't actually formatted any drives.  Tonight we'll have a little test run w/ a few small drives.  Geeky cool.

[dogmanky]

Welcome to the real "geek squad".

[Auggie]

I'm brand new to unRAID and Linux for that matter (I'm a mac user).  But I've been building a HTPC on a Windows 7 platform and saw I was going to need a ton of storage and unraid seems perfect for my needs.

 

n00b in the house here as well, Mac-head to boot!  I put together my UnRAID using a Supermicro X7SPA-HF board, 4GB sticks and got it up and running on BASIC with no problems!  I was able to make the UnRAID flash drive under Windows 7 32-bit in Boot Camp on my laptop also with no problems (ensuring I ran the CMD prompt as Administrator, then executing syslinux.exe inside that).  I have 8 drives lined up, but my PRO version is still "in the mail" so that's why I'm running BASIC at the moment.

 

Unfortunately, all 8TB of my data is stored on HFS+ drives, so I'm doing the dreadfully-slow-shoot-me-before-its-over network copy via SMB :-(  What I may do after my first 2TB copy is done is format that free 2TB as NTFS, copy another HFS+ 2TB to it, then move the loaded NTFS to the UnRAID box and "cp" the files to a freshly formatted Reiser 2TB.  While the UnRAID is doing it's internal shuffle, I'll repeat with another pair of 2TB drives, copying HFS+ to NTFS, and so forth...

[Auggie]

Install your HFS disk in your unRAID server.  You can read and write Macintosh HFS volumes directly in unRAID.

http://linux.die.net/man/1/hfsutils

 

Hmmm...  That looks promising!  But before I read your post, I found this old post:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=1914.0

 

It looks like HFS+ READ is now built-in to UnRAID out of the box.  I tested it by stopping my current transfer, shutting down, installing an HFS+ drive and booting up.  Created a mount point (mkdr) then mounted the HFS+ drive, partition 1 to that using:

mount -w -t hfsplus /dev/<devid> <mntpoint>

 

I had first determined the <devid> and partition by listing:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-id

 

I was able to verify the directory contents before resuming my initial SMB transfer since there too many folders and files to deal with and it's only several more hours to complete.  But once that is done, I will install the original source 2TB into the UnRAID box, reformat, then do a copy with "cp" in Linux from the next HFS+ drive and see how that goes!

 

If that doesn't work out, then I will definitely try the hfsutils that you pointed out.

 

Tanks!

[Joe L.]

Install your HFS disk in your unRAID server.  You can read and write Macintosh HFS volumes directly in unRAID.

http://linux.die.net/man/1/hfsutils

 

Hmmm...  That looks promising!  But before I read your post, I found this old post:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=1914.0

 

It looks like HFS+ READ is now built-in to UnRAID out of the box.  I tested it by stopping my current transfer, shutting down, installing an HFS+ drive and booting up.  Created a mount point (mkdr) then mounted the HFS+ drive, partition 1 to that using:

mount -w -t hfsplus /dev/<devid> <mntpoint>

 

I had first determined the <devid> and partition by listing:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-id

 

I was able to verify the directory contents before resuming my initial SMB transfer since there too many folders and files to deal with and it's only several more hours to complete.  But once that is done, I will install the original source 2TB into the UnRAID box, reformat, then do a copy with "cp" in Linux from the next HFS+ drive and see how that goes!

 

If that doesn't work out, then I will definitely try the hfsutils that you pointed out.

 

Tanks!

unRAID requires the partitions on he disks holding the reiserfs be set exactly as it would do it, otherwise it will consider the disk foreign and will clear it prior to incorporating it into an array.  Even if it is exact, you cannot just assign a formatted drive unless you specificallt initialize a new configuration and re-compute parity.

 

The unRAID reiserfs partition must start at sector 63 and extend to the full size of the drive.

[Auggie]

unRAID requires the partitions on he disks holding the reiserfs be set exactly as it would do it, otherwise it will consider the disk foreign and will clear it prior to incorporating it into an array.  Even if it is exact, you cannot just assign a formatted drive unless you specificallt initialize a new configuration and re-compute parity.

 

The unRAID reiserfs partition must start at sector 63 and extend to the full size of the drive.

 

Hi Joe!  I have to thank you for the original post from WAAAY back when (2008) that I have used and works perfectly to transfer an HFS+ formatted drive that I physically installed into the UnRAID box but did NOT add it to the array via web GUI.  I simply used the console to mount and copy the contents of said drive to an existing drive in the array that was properly added and formatted via UnRAID web GUI.  When a full copy is finished and verified, I then go into the UnRAID web GUI and formally "add" the original source disk into the array and then have it formatted to ReiserFS.  So far, it was worked perfectly and I'm on my second drive in this process.

 

So I'm not sure what exactly you were referring to or what context your reply above applies to.  Or did I just do something completely wacko and lost all hope of making it with the girl next door, even though all the target files I've checked were perfect working copies?

 

EDIT:  FYI, I don't have a parity drive enabled since this is my initial population of the array.  Once that is done, I will add the parity drive.

[Joe L.]

unRAID requires the partitions on he disks holding the reiserfs be set exactly as it would do it, otherwise it will consider the disk foreign and will clear it prior to incorporating it into an array.  Even if it is exact, you cannot just assign a formatted drive unless you specificallt initialize a new configuration and re-compute parity.

 

The unRAID reiserfs partition must start at sector 63 and extend to the full size of the drive.

 

Hi Joe!  I have to thank you for the original post from WAAAY back when (2008) that I have used and works perfectly to transfer an HFS+ formatted drive that I physically installed into the UnRAID box but did NOT add it to the array via web GUI.  I simply used the console to mount and copy the contents of said drive to an existing drive in the array that was properly added and formatted via UnRAID web GUI.  When a full copy is finished and verified, I then go into the UnRAID web GUI and formally "add" the original source disk into the array and then have it formatted to ReiserFS.  So far, it was worked perfectly and I'm on my second drive in this process.

 

So I'm not sure what exactly you were referring to or what context your reply above applies to.  Or did I just do something completely wacko and lost all hope of making it with the girl next door, even though all the target files I've checked were perfect working copies?

 

EDIT:  FYI, I don't have a parity drive enabled since this is my initial population of the array.  Once that is done, I will add the parity drive.

If you don't have other copies of those files you are migrating, then I'd suggest you add the parity drive before you put your only copy of anything critical on the array, otherwise you are trusting that the disk with the only copy will not crash.  Of course, you probably have it only on one drive now, so you are no worse off.

 

Once you have a parity drive assigned and the initial parity calculated it will give yo some sense of relief from a single disk failure.

 

Joe L.

[Auggie]

If you don't have other copies of those files you are migrating, then I'd suggest you add the parity drive before you put your only copy of anything critical on the array, otherwise you are trusting that the disk with the only copy will not crash.  Of course, you probably have it only on one drive now, so you are no worse off.

 

Once you have a parity drive assigned and the initial parity calculated it will give yo some sense of relief from a single disk failure.

 

Joe L.

 

I bought 3 extra 2TB drives but I have 5 2TB drives of data to move over.  Two of those are DVD rips of my 700 DVD collection, so I was willing to accept the risk of losing that data as I could eventually recreate them (after much painful and lengthy re-ripping!) if need be!

 

It's all about balancing risk with cost and time when conducting an Operational Risk Management assessment...

[Joe L.]

If you don't have other copies of those files you are migrating, then I'd suggest you add the parity drive before you put your only copy of anything critical on the array, otherwise you are trusting that the disk with the only copy will not crash.  Of course, you probably have it only on one drive now, so you are no worse off.

 

Once you have a parity drive assigned and the initial parity calculated it will give yo some sense of relief from a single disk failure.

 

Joe L.

 

I bought 3 extra 2TB drives but I have 5 2TB drives of data to move over.  Two of those are DVD rips of my 700 DVD collection, so I was willing to accept the risk of losing that data as I could eventually recreate them (after much painful and lengthy re-ripping!) if need be!

 

It's all about balancing risk with cost and time when conducting an Operational Risk Management assessment...

The very fact that you know the phrase "Operational Risk Management" tells me you have some idea of how to balance the risk with the rewards...  I know about the time it takes to rip the DVDs.  I've got about a third more than you in my collection.  I'd rather not do it again, but if I needed to I can since their all on my library shelves.

[Rajahal]

Hmm, I wonder how ORM coincides with WAF when building a new server... 

[Joe L.]

Hmm, I wonder how ORM coincides with WAF when building a new server... 

I'll tell you one thing... around my house if the server is not available 24/7 I hear about it.  Occasionally my wife will awaken in the middle of the night and put on a familiar movie to fall asleep to... 

 

When you have media players around, you get used to the media being there to be played.

[Rajahal]

Hmm, I wonder how ORM coincides with WAF when building a new server... 

I'll tell you one thing... around my house if the server is not available 24/7 I hear about it.  Occasionally my wife will awaken in the middle of the night and put on a familiar movie to fall asleep to... 

 

When you have media players around, you get used to the media being there to be played.

 

Interesting, you bring up the opposite argument that I was imagining.  I figured the WAF would dictate the cost, location, flashiness, etc of the server.  So the avid unRAIDer would have to manage 'operational risk' against 'emotional risk' and the potential withholding of sex.

 

I'm unmarried, so I really can't comment, just speculate.  If/when I do eventually marry, I'll post something a new thread with a title like 'Life, server hindered by WAF'.

[prostuff1]

The way I look at it is this:

 

If i can get my toys all set up before i get married then at least they are there and I can get the girl and the server acquainted with each other. This will make it easier for me to always be working with it.  I figure if I set some sort of expectation from the start I may (big may) have an easier time of it later on.

 

I can tell you that from living with my room mate that he got very accustomed to it being on all the time and available.  I just moved into my new house and for nearly 2 weeks the server was shut down.  He complained every other night about the server being down and him not being able to watch the downloaded shows.  He works nights so the server is one of his only forms of entertainment (since he does not seem to like watching infomercials at 3am).

[abernardi]

Yeah, at first my wife was indifferent to my growing obsession, but as this unRAID project progressed with the tower sitting next to the HTPC sitting next to the Mac in the living room as i tinker deep into the night...!  Needless to say, she's been looking at me funny, wondering if that tower has to be on ALL the time...But, once I get it stabilized and in the other room, I think she'll totally dig having instant access to all this media.  BTW, I know this is off topic, but I've been playing with a lot of different front ends for the HTPC because the Windows Media Center is just a slow hog, and I think I'm settling on XBMC.  It's snappy, beautiful and plays well with unRAID. 

[kizer]

XBMC for the win. MY wife loves it. I mean WAF was a HUGE decision when I built mine and she loves it.

 

Of course there are things to overcome like finding all the fanart, thumbnails and a few other things, but apps like "Ember" will do all that for you as long as your media is stored in a manner it can scan it and build it for you.

[abernardi]

What I need most right now is a way to catalog my "home movies" and I have different versions of movies, early cuts, etc.  I'll check into "Ember".  Also, I can't make heads or tails of the TV Show nfo format...

 

but this really is for another forum.

 

kizer, is there a good tutorial or forum that you would recommend?