Need Advice - Switch from Fedora to unRaid possibility


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I have been running Fedora for the last few years on my home server.  I use the server for NAS Raid 5, Plex transcoding and Sickbeard related downloads.  A recent Mobo/CPU failure has caused me to make some changes and I am contemplating a change from an old version of Fedora 22 to the newest version of unRaid.  I am really not very technical, I have a good friend that helped me with the Fedora set-up a few years ago and it has been pretty rock solid since then other than an occasional disc failure and replacement.  

 

Here is my current hardware list after the replacement parts:

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-8400
  • MOBO: Gigabyte Z370P D3
  • 64GB RAM DDR4
  • SAS Card: LSI SAS9201-16e Quad Port
  • I have 10 Hard Drives in the current array - 8 are 2TB drives and 2 are 3TB drives connected to the LSI
  • I am using a Hitachi 160GB 2.5" drive connected directly to a SATA port on the MOBO as a boot disc for Fedora

 

I have a spare 2TB WD Red drive for future drive failures sitting on my desk that I have not added to the array

I have a 128GB SSD that I am not using today that I was going to use for the future upgrade of fedora to replace the Hitachi drive I am using today

 

I have about 16TB of Movies, TV Shows, Home Movies and Photos on the Server

 

I have done a little reading and see that I need a parity drive at least as large as my largest disc.  Since my largest disc today is a 3TB drive that would be my minimum but in the future, if a drive fails, I would like to start replacing drives with larger 4TB drives so I think I need to buy a 4TB drive as my parity drive or maybe I splurge for a 6TB or 8TB for future proofing.  Do I need one or two party drives?

 

What else am I missing here, is there other HW necessary?

 

Is there anyway to upgrade from Fedora to Unraid and read the discs that are currently in place or do I need to get everything copied over somewhere before I bring up unRaid?  

 

I could possibly borrow a couple 8TB USB drives to copy all my content onto so I can start fresh with unRaid, then copy them back onto the new unRaid server.

 

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Matt

Edited by Matt k
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1 hour ago, Matt k said:

Is there anyway to upgrade from Fedora to Unraid and read the discs that are currently in place or do I need to get everything copied over somewhere before I bring up unRaid?

unRAID requires a specific partition table, you'll need to empty them first.

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Thanks Johnny, so I will plan on getting everything off of my server and onto the portable drives.

 

I am hoping to get some feedback on my plans for the parity drive and for whatever additional hardware is needed.  Specifically I would like to know if the 128gb SSD is a good starting point for a case drive or do I need something bigger?

 

Thanks, Matt

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7 minutes ago, Matt k said:

Specifically I would like to know if the 128gb SSD is a good starting point for a case drive or do I need something bigger?

 

Cache is the default drive for VMs and dockers. Whether or not you cache writes for any user share is up to you. And you can have user shares that exist only on cache.

 

I have my dockers on cache (no VMs), a subset of my photos and music as cache-only to allow other things on my network quick access without spinning up the array, and my DVR share as cache-only for improved performance when streaming and recording simultaneously. Recordings are usually deleted after watching, or moved to another share if keeping. None of my other user shares use the cache drive.

 

So, lots of ways to use and how much space you need depends on how you will use it.

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