January 6, 201115 yr I am in the process of building a Media Server with XBMC and have decided on UnRaid as the NAS. I have decided on the Norco 4224 Chassis, but am undecided on mobo, proc, controller, HDD's, etc. I am more concerned about performance and longevity than about upfront cost. I am interested in getting suggestions for the remaining hardware. Thanks!
January 6, 201115 yr I suggest reading this thread first: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=7998.0 unRAID only supports 22 disks, but that may change, and you should be able to mount them up under unRAID; they will not be parity protected however. Just a quick newegg search swag, but: Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131482 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115065 HBA (x2): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227558 PSU: Probably around 700 or 750 watt, single 12v rail.
January 7, 201115 yr Specifically, check out the parts list for the 20 Drive Beast (not the budget version). Simply replace the case with the 4224 and add a second reverse breakout cable and you have a 22 Drive Beast (24 drive as soon as unRAID can support more than 22 drives). I've been meaning to spec out the 22 Drive Beast somewhere, but I ran into the character limit on my prototype builds thread, lol. I'll probably add it to the wiki after I'm done burning in and testing it. I'm currently building a server for a client with those exact specs. Beautiful build so far.
January 8, 201115 yr Author That is awesome! I'll get the parts ordered over the weekend! What is the consensus on HDD's? Haven't honestly ever been a huge WD fan, but they same to be getting good pub here...
January 8, 201115 yr WDs are my favorites, but the others are good too. Just avoid Samsung F4s for the time being.
January 8, 201115 yr Best bang for your buck are the WD20EARS.. They're the new 4k drives so you'll have to enable the jumper on it to work properly with unRAID (no big deal). Good drives, lower power, good cache and dirt cheap. Many of us are using these drives and we love 'em. You can pick these up on sale for 89.99.. Helluva good deal for 2TB.
January 8, 201115 yr Author Excellent, going to order parts today! Any reference/link to where you need to move the jumper on them? I assume for speed it will be best to dedicate one drive to cache? Many Thanks!
January 8, 201115 yr Author Just thought I'd post this here, TigerDirect has them for $79 right now!(for 5 anyhow) http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5758911&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=Yu..yCwCPS0-kttooqN701cFZrtAxe3rQQ Wonder if could pull off buying another 5 from CompUSA(same company, different site...) http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5758911&SRCCODE=LSCMPUSA&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=Yu..yCwCPS0-eAak2UAu4thDPlfqG5Dsdg
January 9, 201115 yr Excellent, going to order parts today! Any reference/link to where you need to move the jumper on them? I assume for speed it will be best to dedicate one drive to cache? Many Thanks! Still a bit of a newbie myself but http://homeservershow.com/wd-ears-drives.html explains how you set the jumpers (and why you need to do it). There's also a big discussion on the unRAID forum about it (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5384.0). If it's any help I'm using 2 x 2TB Caviar Green EARS drives in my setup and I've been more than happy with them. Not using a cache drive yet so I can't comment on that.
January 10, 201115 yr An alternative to the EARS drives would be the 2TB Hitachis. The Samsung F3s and the Seagate LPs also have merit. I would advise against purchasing 22 identical drives, and instead look to mix and match. And unless you actually need 44 TB next week, you should just order what you need when you need it, as unRAID will let you expand on the fly (one of its best features).
January 29, 201115 yr Author Ended up being out of town for a bit with work. All parts are ordered and on the way! Thanks for the suggestions and advice!
February 5, 201115 yr Author I'm a bit confused on the backlane of the Norco.(no manual...) Which cable do I connect from the backplane to the controller? Also, I understand the 12 mulex connectors are for redundant power. If I'm not using redundant power does it matter which row I power up? Thanks!
February 9, 201115 yr These cables allow you to connect the Norco 4224 backplanes to the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 controllers: NORCO C-SFF8087-D SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable You'll need four of the above (eventually). These are for connecting the backplanes to the motherboard's SATA ports: NORCO C-SFF8087-4S Discrete to SFF-8087 (Reverse breakout) Cable You'll need two of the above for 22+ drive support, or one for 20 drive support. It is true that the 12 molex power connectors on the backplanes are for redundant power. In theory you should only have to hook up one of each pair for the backplanes to work. However, others on these forums have reported problems when only one was connected. I recommend using simple molex splitters such as these to connect all the power ports.
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