Beginners Hardware question


Jekmyster

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Hi there, i just wanted to verify what i know before i push through with building an unraid server on my own. I have watched a few videos and read up on the forums here, but i just wanted to make sure i am correct in my assumptions before i proceed. First off, i have been a proud user of 2 5-bay drobo NAS since 2010. Only until recently when both of the hardware failed on me only a week apart. What drew me to drobo at the time, is that they were marketing that you can use different capacity drives and it was as easy as pulling out the broken one and replacing it with a bigger drive. So here i am trying to build my own because i cant afford to buy a new stand alone NAS. The reason for the old drobo NAS is basic file storage. I'm a graphic designer and photoshop files tend to be big and i dabble into video editing. So that is the primary usage of this thing i am building, but i am interested in this Media Server i came across while watching tutorials, especially "Plex"?. I have a collection of over 1000 DVDs here that would be great if i can digitize them. In anycase i will need to research on that later on. 

 

1. I have an old computer here running what i think is Amd athlon II 250, Am3 Motherboard, and 1 x 4gb ddr3. I do need to change the power supply since what i have in the CPU is a cheapo generic 500 watts. Is this enough? or do i need to spend? I'm looking at a few used parts like an AMD A8 with an A68 motherboard which is in my budget. 

 

2. Can you stick in different capacity Hard drives with unRaid?

 

3. Is unRaid plug and play? What i mean is, the motherboard typically has 4 SATA ports. i'm for sure going to fill that up on the start. But after i set everything up and all is running. Is it easy enough that all i have to do is plug in a 4-port SATA expansion card with 4 more attached drives and when unRaid boots up it will detect the addition 4 drives and just add them in?

 

4. Is it as easy as the drobo to replace a broken down drive? Shut Down, replace drive, and then boot up, and it will automatically rebuild?

 

On a side note, i wont have the NAS running at all times. basically i only turn on my NAS drives when needed. Also questions 3 and 4 are there since im not really adept at manipulating settings. And from the videos i've watched, it really looks complicated, with so many options. 

 

Thanks to anyone who would respond.

Edited by trurl
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2 hours ago, Jekmyster said:

cheapo generic 500 watts.

Pitch it.  Regardless if it works or not, or is sufficient in terms of wattage, the "generic" P/S (especially the ones that used to come as a freebee with a case) are complete garbage.  The P/S is the single most important component in any system, as everything else depends upon it.

 

2 hours ago, Jekmyster said:

2. Can you stick in different capacity Hard drives with unRaid?

 

Yes.  The parity drive though has to be as large or larger than the largest data drive.

 

2 hours ago, Jekmyster said:

3. Is unRaid plug and play? What i mean is, the motherboard typically has 4 SATA ports. i'm for sure going to fill that up on the start. But after i set everything up and all is running. Is it easy enough that all i have to do is plug in a 4-port SATA expansion card with 4 more attached drives and when unRaid boots up it will detect the addition 4 drives and just add them in?

Yes.  But, for SATA expansion cards, it is best to avoid any card which is Marvel based.  LSI / AsMedia would be the go to's

 

2 hours ago, Jekmyster said:

4. Is it as easy as the drobo to replace a broken down drive? Shut Down, replace drive, and then boot up, and it will automatically rebuild?

 

Yes

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Hi, i posted this on at the Lobby, but i think it would be best posted here. Short story, i had 2 5-bay drobo NAS bought in 2010, and both had broken down recently. I came across unRaid in my research in finding a new NAS to buy, so i want to try it out first. I dont want to spend a lot, just in case i dont like it. In the event that is cheaper, i would spend for better parts. but for now i have an old pc that i dont know if its ok to use.

 

Primary purpose for the NAS is file storage. Basic drive to save all my data. Secondary, down the line, i'm interested in turning it into a Media server if i can.

 

So i have a CPU here that i think has an Amd athlon II 250, Am3 Motherboard, and 1 x 4gb ddr3. Is this enough for my use for a file server?

 

Do i need to spend a little more? i'm looking at a few used AMD A8 with an A68 motherboard.

 

Thanks

 

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18 minutes ago, Jekmyster said:

So i have a CPU here that i think has an Amd athlon II 250, Am3 Motherboard, and 1 x 4gb ddr3. Is this enough for my use for a file server?

As a file server, with light docker container usage, then yes that's sufficient.

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2 hours ago, Squid said:

As a file server, with light docker container usage, then yes that's sufficient.

as a follow up, will this setup be ok if i install lets say 10 hard drives. Does the hardware matter the more drives i put in? or the larger the capacity of hard drives i put in?

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Doesn't particularly matter.  If you're running dual parity drives on that system, then your speed may be slower when running a parity check / rebuild.  With only a single parity drive, it doesn't really matter how many drives are present.  (All subject of course to bandwidth limitations on the controllers, PCIe slots)

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