Request for recommendations from Unraid users...

[opentoe]

I'm at a stand still right now with my media player. I've used up all my 4TB of space and need more. Several people keep telling me to check out the new Synology 1511+ 5 bay NAS box. This box just itself cost around $650. Then have to fill it with hard drives. The read/write speeds of this box are incredible. Over 100MB/sec for both. That's what I need and want since I'll be transferring large files across my LAN all the time. I have a 1000Mbit home network.

 

I know Unraid can't read/write that fast, but since the cost of building a box is much more less expensive than the Synology was wondering how would Unraid actually be in a media file playing environment? If Unraid can't perform across the network to play high bit rate movies, then well that settles it. Anyone using this as a media server type box and gets good speeds and no problems with high bit rate files? I guess I'm just looking to hear information as to why I should at least try Unraid for this type use. Thanks!

 

 

[dgaschk]

Most people use UNraid as a video server. I use it to stream video as well as for backups. I've heard of people streaming 2 or 3 HD movies at a time. I'm not sure of the upper bound on the number of concurrent video video streams. It will depend on your hardware of course. You can speed up writes using a cache drive.

 

Remember that Blu Ray files have have a maximum rate of only 5MBps. Although, they can go above that rate for a short burst.

[prostuff1]

I use mine to stream 720p TV rips and the like to multiple machines at the same time and have never had a problem.  Granted, I have not gotten into the realm of BluRay yet, but some reading on this forum would tell you that there are many people using unRAID as only a Media server.

[Chuck]

I just replied to a thread about the new Synology on another forum. It is cool, but for most of us that write a file once, and play it back from time to time, all that performance is wasted, and expensive. With low end everything my unraid has no problem playing 2 different 1080p movies back concurrently, or preclearing several disks and playing back a movie. Which we did last night.

 

The scalability is nice, but I am not ready to use 3TB drives that cannot achieve SATA I transfer speeds. Parity build, clean and rebuild operations simply take toooo long.

[kizer]

I've easily streamed (3) 720Rips, (1) SdRips and did some file copying at the same time without one noticeable audio/video glitch. I tried to get another SD one going, but my old school Xbox wouldn't start up. I'm as well on a 1000mbs network, but some of my wiring is still 100mbs

 

(720) 28 Weeks Later

 

(SD) Ratatouille | (720) Despicable Me | (720) 28 Days Later

 

Most of my file copying from windows to my unRAID setup I've created some really basic .bat scripts so I don't have to sit and watch files copy. I just normally click a file and let it do its thing because I'd rather do the work up front creating things and then let the system do its thing.

 

As for your other box your considering check this out. I've had my unRAID loose a drive and while watching a few 720Rips back to back since it was a weekend and I dubbed it movie day I was able to restore the disk and do a parity check without noticing any audio/video glitches. There was a slight notice in delay starting the video since it was creating it on the fly, but I'm sure I was the only one that noticed since I'm always comparing things.

[opentoe]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

 

[stchas]

I use my unRAID as a media server and backup system.  I was just watching a 1080p HD stream (blu-ray rip) while concurrently ripping another blu-ray.  Rock solid performance.  Highly recommended by virtue of relatively low entry cost plus easy scalability.

 

Kevin

[lionelhutz]

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9746.0;topicseen

 

Seems quite capable to me.

 

Peter

[PeterB]

Another one here using unRAID to support a couple of media players (much material at 1080p), plus backup and other storage needs.

 

However, if you are doubting the capabilities, knock some old hardware together and give it a whirl with the free version.  In fact, since unRAID boots from a usb stick, you could temporarily set up an unRAID server on an existing machine - all you need is a spare drive or two.

[opentoe]

That's exactly what I'm going to do. I have two raid mirrors using 4 1TB drives. I'm copying off all that data and will setup a small array with three of those drives and try it out. Of course later on I will upgrade the drives/case/mainboard for better performance. Good suggestions and tips here! I also only use high speed drives like WD Black series. I know they are power hungry, but I just want that extra performance. I do always wonder what the difference would be by using all 5400 drives, since they are much less expensive. I know when I use a computer that has a 5400 drive, it is slower than a machine with a 7200 drive. Very noticeable and maybe unRAID will present the same type results.

 

 

[PeterB]

I know when I use a computer that has a 5400 drive, it is slower than a machine with a 7200 drive. Very noticeable and maybe unRAID will present the same type results.

 

unRAID is unlikely to be affected in the same way.  On your other computer(s), I'm guessing that all the O/S files, programs and data are held on the 5400 drive - you may also be experiencing contents of system memory being swapped out to the drive.  Now, the most likely time when the rotational speed of the drive may cause a bottleneck is when files from different parts of the disk's surfaces are being accessed concurrently - the heads have to move and then wait for the required sector to pass.

 

unRAID, in its purest form, holds all of its system and program files in RAM and there is (usually) no need to create a swap partition.  So, it will only be the data which is held on the drive, minimising the effects of concurrency.  In addition, spare system memory is used as an intermediate buffer for the data.

 

I would guess that the only activity which might show appreciable slow down due to a 5400rpm drive is if you copy large chunks of data between physical drives which have different rotational speeds.

 

Many people find that unRAID can play two, or even three, HD movie streams simultaneously.  If you are concerned about concurrent read and write activity, you can always use a fast cache drive in your unRAID system.

 

Without knowing the technical details of the Synology, I am a little sceptical about the 'in excess of 100MB/s read/write speeds' you quote. A single Gb ethernet is going to be saturated at those speeds.