Hey guys, I've been running my server for surprisingly quite some time now... surprising to me as I've just realised it's been going since 2010 on the same hardware!

 

I"m still on version 4.5.6, where if you had just 3 drives it was free to run

 

It's time to start thinking about adding more space, bigger drives etc. But first I want to ease my way up and it will likely take me months between each step (kids take ALL my time :))

 

So wondering what was the last version that allowed you to run for free still with the 3 drives? (assuming this option to run free is no longer an option in newer versions?)

 

And I guess also easiest to upgrade from 4.5.6? 

 

My idea is first step up as high a version I can to start, likely let it sit for a while and eventually start figuring out my new drive needs and then probably in the end (who knows when) get up to the 6.x versions with the 6 drive version

Latest versions have Trials you can use for a small time, and when you're satisfied it works you can buy a license. Pricing details here: https://unraid.net/pricing

 

The cost of even the Basic model (6 drives for $60) amortizes out for under $6.67 a year for your 9 years of existing use and will decrease even further as the years go by. 

 

I find this software well worth the 2 licenses for Pro Tier (2 * $130 today) even though I only have 1 active server with 6 devices (1 parity, 3 data, 1 cache) now.

Not disputing the value of Unraid, I've certainly benefited quite a bit from using the free version

 

Though I should have also noted that going forward I'm also not sure if I will be keeping a physical server or not, and until I know for sure and start to invest in hardware/software I would just like to at minimal get myself upgraded so something a bit newer than what I have now..

1 hour ago, eldorado said:

Not disputing the value of Unraid, I've certainly benefited quite a bit from using the free version

 

Though I should have also noted that going forward I'm also not sure if I will be keeping a physical server or not, and until I know for sure and start to invest in hardware/software I would just like to at minimal get myself upgraded so something a bit newer than what I have now..

I don't think there is a version that you can still download that has a fully free tier. 

17 hours ago, CHBMB said:

I don't think there is a version that you can still download that has a fully free tier. 

Using archive.org I was able to back track to see the history of events that I missed over the years, you can download from archive.org too

 

The 5.x series was the last to offer it

 

So looks like my upgrade path to at some point get me to 6.x:

 

4.5.6 -> 4.7 -> 5.06 (This is where I will sit until I figure things out).. then once I'm ready to commit, I'm assuming I can then jump to 6 without too much trouble

Edited March 18, 20197 yr by eldorado

Personally I'd probably stay where you are and upgrade straight to v6 when you're ready. From v5 to current v6 is a big jump.

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19 hours ago, eldorado said:

Not disputing the value of Unraid, I've certainly benefited quite a bit from using the free version

 

Though I should have also noted that going forward I'm also not sure if I will be keeping a physical server or not, and until I know for sure and start to invest in hardware/software I would just like to at minimal get myself upgraded so something a bit newer than what I have now..

Well... unless you are choosing some cloud service to put your data (which is not really an option from my point of view), you should stick to unraid

Since v4 (this is when I got in touch with it), unraid evolved into having full virtualization, docker support, and tons of other features enabling it to execute (almost) any task you desire. Since the licenes get Major upgrades for free, there is no risk for you at all