New Mega Media Server


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https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NkBwQZ

 

You guys think this too Much, doing alot of transcoding with handbreak docker.

I also plan on running a couple of Vm's  like PFsence to name one.

 

2-27-19 EDIT

 

After looking though thousands of diffrent posts i decided to change out some of my list based on suggestions form others with more know-how.

 As for back story ive been using unraid for years now first put to use as a media server to store all my movie collection to serve my kodi htpc.  With help form spaceinavder videos I have put together a very well built docker downloader running deluge, nbzget, sonarr, and radarr to serve Tv shows aswell.

Now as the years gone by my movie/tv series collection has grown and parts are starting to fail, I feel a major update is needed.  

Edited by dirknina
change of parts and backstory update
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LSI SAS 9201-16e  ($162.72 @ Amazon) 

Other: iStarUSA DAGE840DERD-2MS 8Bay 3.5-Inch SAS SATAIII miniSAS Tower Red  ($359.99 @ B&H)

 

3x HBA + 3x External Enclosure?

 

Why not use one HBA and one 24-drive enclosure? Storage space is identical.

 

You get cheap and used Supermicro enclosures at eBay. For that price you can get one completely filled with mainboard, CPU, RAM and cooler - just pull that out. Don't know where you are located, but I think you will get them there too. It's business grade hardware - so it's loud and heavy. Look for the "home lab" box called SC846. It should contain a BP-SAS2-EL* or BP-SAS3-EL* backplane for drives bigger than 2TB.

 

I bought several of them from eBay. IMHO, they are build to run forever.

 

E.g.: Located Germany, shipping free within European Union:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro-SC846E16-6GBs-SAS-Expander-4U-24Bay-920W-Platinum-PSU-846-G/283197618235?hash=item41efe4b83b:g:cLUAAOSwoM5buPmF:rk:9:pf:0

 

I found further ones located in Poland, United Kingdom, ...

 

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I did think of that option but living in the states in a hot environment I think the spacing would kill the drives. Unless I had a dedicated cold server room. I also wanted to be able too move it easily with out needing help. On a side note after looking at my parts I realized that I put one too many LSI cards in.  I'll update my list after work.

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Ok, got your points. The Supermicro chassis is 60 pound I think. It's easier to move four parts (1x PC, 3x enclosure) than a single big one, sure. However, the weight of 24 drives is identical. I take them out before moving.

 

Most people run these "home labs" in their basement without further cooling equipment. The sound is a bigger problem ...

 

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I have this external enclosure:
  https://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/scsat84xt.asp 
I don't really know how it compares to the iStar one, just wanted to mention another option :)  I use the LSI SAS 9201-16e as well, 2 of those could support four 8 bay enclosures.  And if you plan to put your array in external enclosures, you could get a smaller/cheaper main case.

 

I like the IronWolf drives too. The price/TB for the (non-pro) 6,8,10,12 drives ranges from $29 to $31, and the 14 TB is $36.  Based on that, I would not bother with the 6TB drives. Get two 12's instead of four 6's, you'll spend about the same but only use two drive bays.  Less electricity, less heat, and longer before you need to buy those enclosures.  So far I have not opted for the pro versions of IronWolf.

 

Whatever you do, don't get the Syba card. That is based on a Marvell chipset which does not work well with Unraid. If that was for the SSDs, you should be able to plug them directly into the motherboard.

 

I'd suggest spending more time looking at motherboards. I don't think any of the "gaming" features will be helpful (certainly not the wifi). The main things you want are:
* 6 onboard SATA3 (by Intel, not an off brand).
* Onboard GB LAN (by Intel, not an off brand). Oh you are getting a 4x GB Lan card for pfsense so the onboard lan may not matter to you. I do not know what pfsense needs.

 

Not everyone thinks it is important, but personally I would look for a server motherboard with:
* ECC RAM support (this may require a Xeon chip rather than I7)
* IPMI

 

64GB of RAM is way overkill unless you need it for VMs

 

With a setup this impressive I would also look at 10GB ethernet options, but you'd have to research which ones Unraid supports

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