I have been running Unraid as my home media server since 2012.  Started with 4.6 and currently on 5.0.5 and other than replacing a few dying drive, it has been rock solid.  My rig is detailed below but I have a total of 23 TB and 92% full so I need to do something and I figured it might be time to upgrade.  Here is my tentative plan, I would love some expert comments.

 

My rig:

Motherboard: ECS A885GM-A2

Processor:  AMD Athlon II X2 260

RAM: 8 GB

SATA controller:  SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller

Disks:

Parity:  HGST HDN724040ALE640 (4GB)

1x:  HGST HDN724040ALE640 (4GB)

4x:  WD30EZRX (3 GB)

3x:  WD20EARX (2 TB)

1x:  WD-WCAU46849918 (1 TB)

cache: 1T 

Total: 23 TB, 11 drives

6 of the disks are in 3x2 Icydock trayless holders.  I would like to reduce the number of drives to fit in these.

 

I use this to run the MySQL package and host the KODI database and to store the media files.  I only run KODI and it performs perfectly.

 

My plan:

Phase 1: Upgrade to UnRaid 6.0

   - get some experience with Docker and run the MySQL docker (or possibly MariaDB) and get KODI running.

   Questions:

    1. the Athlon is 64 bit and has support for virtual machines, although I don't plan to use that.  Is this enough processor to run UnRaid 6 or do I need to think about a new processor?

   2. can I continue to use the Supermicro SATA controller?

   3. can I run the Dockers on the cache disk?

 

Phase 2: start moving to larger discs

  - Add an 8GB parity disk and re-purpose the old 4 GB parity as data (new capacity: 27 TB 12 drives)

   Question:

   1. which HDD to get?  I am considering: WD Red or Seagate Barracuda

   1. should I switch file systems from ReiserFS?  If so, too which one?

   2. if I switch, should I convert the old disks to the new file system?  Is this even possible?

 

Phase 3: 

  - add another 8GB disk and remove the old 1 and 2 TB disks to reduce number drives (new capacity: 27 + 8 - (2x3) -1 = 27 TB,  8 drives

 

Phase 4: add 8GB drive to get dual parity

Questions:

   1. Is this worth it?  With two parity disks, I would think you are pretty much into RAID territory.

 

Phase 5:  new hardware, faster processor?

1. unless I plan to transcode, is there a reason to do this?

 

Anyway, that's it.  I would appreciate and advice.

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Phase 1:

1. You processor and memory are fine for running unRAID 6.

2. You can, but a number of people have experienced problems with it and unRAID 6. Maybe the newer drivers are not so good. You may want to replace it. LSI-based HBAs are popular but usually need re-flashing with non-RAID firmware.

3. Yes. Most people do.

 

Phase 2:

1. WD Reds are highly regarded. If you prefer Seagate then go for IronWolf, not Barracuda. Some people will only use HGST. I really like Toshiba myself, though they are not so readily available as other brands.

1. [sic] ReiserFS is not being developed any more. Change to XFS but take your time and work through the process at your own pace.

2. You can't change them in situ. They have to be reformatted and that destroys their contents so move your data first, emptying the smaller disks and filling up the larger ones.

 

Phase 3:

 

Phase 4:

1. I think dual parity is worth it. It keeps the array protected when a disk fails and during the long rebuild process. YMMV. You might prefer to use the disk as part of your backup strategy instead. unRAID is not RAID. 

 

Phase 5:

1. Probably not. By the time you reach phase 5 you'll have a clearer insight and you might well be wanting to use the system in ways you haven't considered yet. Your ageing hardware is bound to become less reliable as time passes though so there will come a point where you want to replace it.

9 hours ago, John_M said:

 

 

Phase 4:

1. I think dual parity is worth it. It keeps the array protected when a disk fails and during the long rebuild process. YMMV. You might prefer to use the disk as part of your backup strategy instead. unRAID is not RAID. 

This is why I think I'll go dual parity when I remove my smallest 2TB drive.  I've recently changed a few drives/upgraded my parity and during the day or so it took me to do it I was really nervous  during that time

New question:  should I add the 8 TB parity drive before I upgrade to version 6?

Will version 5 even support 8TB?

5 hours ago, CaptainTivo said:

New question:  should I add the 8 TB parity drive before I upgrade to version 6?

Will version 5 even support 8TB?

Linux has supported large disks for a very long time. And the hardware standard to support really large disks is about 15 years old (2003).

 

In the end, it will be the disk controllers and not unRAID version that decides if large disks are supported or not. But you already have a number of drives larger than 2.2 TB so the same controller ports will not have any issues with 8TB drives. The newer standard can handle many thousand TB large disks.

 

It's only when it comes to booting from large disks that a number of BIOS has been slow with supporting a partitioning solution that can handle large disks. But that's beside the point for unRAID since unRAID boots from a USB drive.

That may be but I had to upgrade from UnRaid 4.6 to 5 to get support for 4TB drives so I assume that was something to do with UnRaid and not Linux.

So now I need to do some research and see if my HBA or my motherboard SATA controller supports 8 TB.

Yes - that was an unRAID limitation.  But that was unRAID 4.x.  Since then their have mostly only been restirctions on drive size caused by old harware. 

good to know.  I just got my first 8 TB drive (HGST HUH728080ALE600) and it is being pre-cleared as we speak.