Hello everyone,

 

I am looking at using unraid for my home file server. I already bought the base components I will be using and I am wondering if there are specific hardware requirements for unraid.

 

I have

Fractal Array R2 itx case

Zotac G45ITX-B-E (originally bought as it has hardware raid 5 and 5 SATA ports. The hardware RAID does not work)

Intel E6320

2GB DDR3 1333

4 x 1TB Seagate 7200RPM

1 x 32GB OCZ Onyx SSD

 

Is there a way to use the SSD as a cache drive, I found lots of references to using a cache drive, but no details as to whether it should be similar size to the other drives. Will using a SSD as a cache drive make a difference, or should i just reuse a 160 or 250GB HDD I have?

 

I will attempt to give the trial a go and see how I go with it tomorrow, but hoping to get some info before I start. I have limited Linux exposure, I am very competent in Windows environments, I have some scripting writing ability, but read it fairly well.

 

Thanks for any input.

Josh

On behalf of my friend who will most likely be implementing a similar setup to mine, Would using an enterprise class drive be more beneficial to be used as the parity drive? I know the parity drive will cop a flogging so does having a drive thats designed for it make it last a bit longer, or is it better just to save the money an buy another data drive? 2TB regular drive approx $130 2TB enterprise approx $300.

Hi,

 

You should find unRaid will work on most setups fairly easily. Not sure about the specifics for the motherboard though. what you have should be bucket loads for unRaid. Just plug in the basic version to test it out if you are unsure.

 

With regards to the cache drive, you can use the SSD but the only issue you may run into is that it is a fairly small size. Most people here who use a cache drive to load stuff onto usually pick a bigger drive. The cache drive stores all the files until a later time and then moves it onto the storage drives then so if you copy more than 30 odd Gb then the cache drive will fill up and you end up copying onto the data drives negating the cache drive.

 

I personally don't use the cache drive for moving as it is a little faster but I just set the computer to copy overnight directly to the storage array and leave the computer on overnight.

 

I do use a cache drive to store other stuff like my tv recordings though so it is still useful for me.

 

Josh

On behalf of my friend who will most likely be implementing a similar setup to mine, Would using an enterprise class drive be more beneficial to be used as the parity drive? I know the parity drive will cop a flogging so does having a drive thats designed for it make it last a bit longer, or is it better just to save the money an buy another data drive? 2TB regular drive approx $130 2TB enterprise approx $300.

Actually, the parity drive is the LEAST used drive in my server.  I seldom write to the array compared to the activity reading from it.  Therefore, most of the time the parity drive is spun down.  An enterprise class drive would not help anyone but the disk manufacturer (they get more of your money)

 

There are other benefits to using an SSD as a cache drive besides speed - namely low power consumption and no spin up lag.  The small size may or may not work for you, depending on your usage patterns.  Do you expect to write more than 30 GBs of new data to the server per day?  If so, then use a larger drive.  If not, then your SSD will work fine.

 

The only other concern with SSDs is that they have a limited number of writes (just like flash drives or any flash media).  So if you do use it as a cache drive, you should expect to replace it in a year or two.

 

Also, what Joe said about the parity drive being the least used is true if you are using your server as a media server.  However, if you are using it as a backup repository and writing more than you read, then that may not be true.  Your drive wear-and-tear will vary based on your usage patterns.  However, in general unRAID is very gentle on drives, since most operations are sequential writes/reads, with generally minimal random writes/reads/seeks etc.  I think it is safe to say that you can expect a drive in an unRAID server to last longer than any boot drive in a regular computer.