New to Unraid and cleaning out the closet build


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I am new to Unraid and have not even managed an array since the late 90's.  The purpose of this server will be for music storage/access and eventually a Plex server for just the network, no outside use.  We have an extensive DVD collection and it is unorganized and the physical disks are in multiple locations, the Plex server seems to make sense.

 

The hardware is stuff I have left over from years of upgrades.  I believe all of this will work, with some caveats like the MX500 drives and their known issue.  If someone sees something I have missed, please speak up, I can take criticism and abuse, one of the benefits of being retired.  :D

 

Thermaltake Core X2 Micro ATX Case
Ryzen 3-2200G W/Radeon Vega 8 Graphics
MSI B450 Pro-VDH mATX  (only 4 SATA Ports)
Patriot Viper Steel DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz
Rosewill ARC 450 80+ Bronze

2-Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND (cache)
2-Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB  (parity)
3-WD Blue 1TB PC Hard Drive - 7200 RPM-WD10EZEX (storage)

 

New stuff waiting on delivery...

SAS 9207-8i PCI-E LSI00301 IT Mode
Amphenol MiniSAS SFF-8087 to 4xSATA Cables
Molex 07-00021-01 MiniSAS SFF8087 4SFF8482 SAS Cables

 

I plan on getting higher capacity drives in the future, but this is what I have for now.  I was sad to see that WD has acquired HGST.  Those Ultrastar drives were IMO some of the best drives ever made.  For grins, I have a Deskstar 500gb that is ancient and still in daily use and reports as in perfect condition.  I may pick up more of the 3TB Ultrastars to replace the WD Blue's but who knows. 

 

This should all be a good start to learn, and I have a lot of learning to do.

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Maybe not of direct help, but as an ex-Plex user, I moved to an Emby/Kodi set up years ago and find it much, much better.

 

If you're into HiFi, you'll understand when I liken Plex to an integrated system (all in one source/pre./amp), while an Emby/Kodi system is more of a separates set up with much greater flexibility.

 

I got really fed up with Plex costs as well as restrictive functionality. Though I really liked Plex unification and the 'start watching anywhere, finish somewhere else' approach.

 

Here's some of the reasons I switched, and stayed there;

  • Emby server is an excellent standalone media manager / organiser
  • Using Emby server is free, no need for paid functionality
  • The free fork 'Jellyfin' is available if required
  • The Emby plugin for Kodi is excellent, exposing all your media in Kodi categories
  • Kodi has tons of customisation options so it can look however you want
  • Kodi has excellent playback configuration options (video sync, audio bit-streaming etc.)
  • I can decouple my PVR from my media organiser so not stuck with the limited tuner devices supported by Plex/Emby
  • Kodi runs on almost anything
  • I can build out any other functionality I want in Kodi - it's a great piece of software with an undeserved bad rep. for dodgy streaming
  • I'm not locked in to a proprietary system

 

I'm sure, for some people, Plex is absolutely the right solution. I'm a BetaMax / Syquest EZ kind of guy - I always end up with the best if not most popular technology. IMO, Emby/Kodi is the superior solution.

 

 

Edited by meep
typos
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Thanks for that Meep.  Though I know I am far away from making those decisions, your point of view and experience is very welcomed as I have zero experience with it.  I briefly looked at JellyFin and it looked like a good option.  My wife and I have discussed opening up our media library for our adult children to enjoy in their own homes and that was the initial desire for Plex.  We are security minded so that is off the table for now.  As I learn more I will revisit letting our family share. My personal view of Plex is it appears bloated and overgrown but that is from someone who hasn't used it yet just watched some video's on it's use. 

 

I am glad there are other options.  I have converted tons of CD to .wav (almost 5,000 songs) and use Foobar 2000 to enjoy them.  I had all of them on my music PC and thought I would enable a share and have a backup copy on my main PC.  This of course led me the idea of creating a NAS because of all of the other benefits.

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  • 2 months later...

A few months in, some hardware changes and the thing has been rock solid with no real issues.  I did remove one of the Crucial MX500's and reformatted cache to XFS because of massive writes to the cache drives (known issue).  I had one 3TB drive with write cache disabled and just today I found the solution to that.

 

Thermaltake Core X2 Micro ATX Case
Ryzen 5-1600AF  (changed from the 2200G)
MSI B450 Pro-VDH mATX  (only 4 SATA Ports)
32 gigs G.Skill Trident Z rgb 3000 mhz (I upgraded my main PC memory and put this in the Unraid server, it is a few years old now but still excellent memory)  Now to figure out how to turn off the RGB on the ram.


Corsair CX Series 650 Watt 80 Plus Bronze  (upgrade from Rosewill ARC 450)

1-Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND (cache)
2-Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB  (parity)
3-WD Blue 1TB PC Hard Drive - 7200 RPM-WD10EZEX (storage)

SAS 9207-8i PCI-E LSI00301 IT Mode
Amphenol MiniSAS SFF-8087 to 4xSATA Cables
Molex 07-00021-01 MiniSAS SFF8087 4SFF8482 SAS Cables

ZOTAC GeForce GT 710 (for rudimentary video)

ICY DOCK MB830SP-B 3X 3.5 Inch

2-Noctua NF-F12 PWM, 120mm

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