I'm interested in transitioning to unRAID from Windows Home Server. With Windows Home Server, I got read and write speeds in excess of 50MB/s over gbit.

 

(1) My understanding is that 50MB/s write speeds are not possible with parity in unRAID, is that correct?

(2) Is it possible to turn off parity, such that if any drive fails, I just lose the data on THAT drive? Will write speeds be >50MB/s in that case?

(3) Re: user shares (http://www.lime-technology.com/technology/usershares), the page says that if I have two drives with Videos/Camping, then one drive will have it's data be invisible. I have my share set up like Videos/Movies/Movie Name/Movie.mkv, so multiple drives would have Videos/Movies. Would unRAID recognize my format or would I have to reorganize my collection such that it is Movies/Movie Name at the root level?

(4) Specifically, I'm interested in the MD-1510... If I were to use parity and a cache drive, what sustained read and write speeds would I realistically get?

1. You're likely to see 25MB/s to 35MB/s write speeds.

 

2. You do not need the parity. Write speeds would be quicker.

 

3. Camping is a file name. Any exact file name in the same directory on 2 different disks will cause a conflict and the file on the higher numbered disk will not appear. You can have any directory structure you want.

 

4. You should get >50MB/s writes with a cache disk.

 

Peter

 

(3) Re: user shares (http://www.lime-technology.com/technology/usershares), the page says that if I have two drives with Videos/Camping, then one drive will have it's data be invisible. I have my share set up like Videos/Movies/Movie Name/Movie.mkv, so multiple drives would have Videos/Movies. Would unRAID recognize my format or would I have to reorganize my collection such that it is Movies/Movie Name at the root level?

As long as you don't have duplicate filenames you won't have a big problem. You can mess around with your split levels for user shares to optimize playback quality (i.e. no pause while spinning up a disk during playback) and energy use. Some users seem to be confused by split levels but once yu get the hang of it I'm sure you'll find a good setting.

Awesome! Thanks for the replies.

 

unRAID seems like it satisfies all my needs. My only issue now is that I need 3TB support for future-proofing 

My only issue now is that I need 3TB support for future-proofing   

Yeah I hear ya there.  Heck I'm just hoping for support for 4KB sectors soon.

To my knowledge LimeTech hasn't sold any servers in quite a while (probably 6 months+).  If you are interested in building your own server, start here.

 

On the other hand, if you don't want to build your own server, either prostuff1 or I would be willing to build one for you.  PM us if you are interested.

OK, that's good to know Rajahal. I thought it was odd that everything was sold out and had emailed support about it. I came upon a few more questions while researching...

 

(1) Let's say I have 10x2TB drives and I had the 11th 2TB drive, will it be added to the storage pool immediately or will it have to rebuild the array?

 

(2) If (when) one of the drive fails, and I replace it, how long until the array is protected and back up to speed?

 

(3) Since the drives aren't striped, if I remove a drive from the array and plug it in to another computer, can it be read?

(1) Let's say I have 10x2TB drives and I had the 11th 2TB drive, will it be added to the storage pool immediately or will it have to rebuild the array?

Unlike other RAID systems, in the unRAID world there's basically no such thing as 'rebuilding the array' (OK, technically there is, but it is an extreme case that you shouldn't ever run into).  When you add the 11th drive you would have the option of adding it as a new data drive (disk10), as a replacement of any other drive (data or parity), or as a cache drive.  If you add the new drive via stock unRAID, your server will be down while the drive is cleared, which will likely be an overnight process (or possibly longer).  Alternatively, you can preclear the drive outside the array and turn those hours of downtime into mere minutes.  Preclear has all kinds of other benefits as well, so it is the recommended practice for all new or suspect drives.  The only downside of preclear that I can think of is that your new drive won't be ready for use for about 35 hours, but at least the rest of your array will be up and usable during that time.

 

(2) If (when) one of the drive fails, and I replace it, how long until the array is protected and back up to speed?

This is called a data-rebuild.  The length of time depends on the speed of your drives, bottlenecks in your system, etc.  However, with a modern server with all 2 TB green drives, no bottlenecks, etc. you can expect your array to be unprotected for around 12-24 hours while the rebuild progresses.  Your data will still be usable (readable and writable) during that time, but the more you access it the slower the rebuild will go.

 

(3) Since the drives aren't striped, if I remove a drive from the array and plug it in to another computer, can it be read?

Yes, if the other computer has the appropriate drivers.  unRAID uses ReiserFS, so if the other computer can read that then you are all good.  Many flavors of Linux can, and there's a driver for Windows as well (not built-in, you have to install it manually).  I don't know about MacOS.