In short- can I install DVD drive into my up-and-coming UnRaid machine to most efficiently transfer my terabytes of data into the system?  (Keeping in mind, I know NOTHING of Linux or ReiserFS)

 

I'm slowly building a server.  Now that I have my second drive, I'd planned on simply copying my files across my home network onto the shared drive.  It only took one 8Gb file to demonstrate that's not practical (my daily machine's 10/100)- only my server is 1Gb-capable at the moment.  THAT I can address, but it prompted me to begin thinking- even with an updated network, transferring my discs (and I have LOTS of them) is going to be a genuine effort, so any way I can streamline the process will pay off.  Problem is- I know absolutely nothing about Linux or the ReiserFS that UnRaid uses. 

 

And my first file copy (with the second drive) made me wonder- would the process go faster/smoother if I DIDN'T assign a parity drive until I had the data ON the data disks?  I ask because that copy seemed much slower than the testing I'd done earlier- with only the one drive in the machine.  (slower than I expected, even though the parity drive was concurrently doing a parity sync at the time)

 

I'm sure I can't be the first newcomer to face this task.  And since I'm totally new, any advice would be appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

The less you know about Linux, the more you'll just want to keep it simple.

 

Just drag and drop your files.  Yes, it will take days...  You are not the first.  Any other solution requires different hardware, and more complicated commands.   

 

If possible, ad a Gigabyte LAN card to your source PC and get a gigabyte capable router.

 

Joe L.

I was hoping I could simply boot using a live copy of linux on a USB key- just a distribution with a slightly less hardcore user interface.  Anything this-side of a '98 Explorer style interface would be just fine.