Hi There! and what next?

[sauerm]

Hi, 
Im brand new to Unraid, coming from FreeNAS.
I tested both and ended up with UR as it supports my purposes regarding storage device flexibility the most.

Im still in trial mode and testing the system

Therefore I have one problem or decission to take.
My Setup over a long time (before FreeNAS) was a Windows Server with simple attached NTFS HDDs where I stored my Movies (without redundancy).
I now have bought myself a 12TB HDD and stored most of that content there.

Plex on UR works great with the movies shared over UD so far.
To store the rest of, and further movies, I would need to add other drives (e.g. first a 8TB drive, later another 12TB) as UD and had the movies spread over different shares what I dont like. On the other hand it would, for now, be cheaper.

Alternatively I could integrate the 12TB into my Array. Therefore I must buy another 12TB for parity and a third 12TB drive to extend storage.

With that I could have all, and further movies in one "movie" share AND parity-protected. But it would be much more expensive. Also I would get in trouble with buffering the 12TB while I preclear and add the drive to the array (while copying all movies from my old HDD collection I recognized that most of them were worn out 😬) as for now I could only afford one additional 12TB drive...

So my options are to spend 300€ for 12TB with the need of another 300€ for a third drive in near future OR to spend 150€ for e.g. 8TB additional storage as UD and be safe (regarding storage space) for the next time.

 

What would you do? Mostly its a question of investment. But as a student I allready put a lot money in my hobby

Im sorry for all the words and hope you could understand my question.
So or so Im glad to be here and agog to learn and experience new things with Unraid

so long

 

Marcel

[trurl]

In UD shares can't span disks and you have no parity. 

 

In the array shares can span disks and parity is optional. 

[sauerm]

Yes, I know- thats what I tried to mention 
I likewise need parity for my regular stuff like documents, pictures, etc. so I would stay on my parity array.
I just cant decide if I should integrate my movies into it for "high costs", or mount it as UD with less safety and less manageable (in future there will be more movie disks which would be all as separate shares what I dont like).
I guess its mostly its a queston of investment.

[trurl]

16 minutes ago, sauerm said:

I likewise need parity for my regular stuff like documents, pictures, etc. so I would stay on my parity array.

Parity is not a substitute for backups.

[Vr2Io]

5 hours ago, sauerm said:

Mostly its a question of investment.

All my 8, 10, 12TB are shuck disk from WD, you can get 12TB as cheap as 175 USD.

[sauerm]

52 minutes ago, trurl said:

Parity is not a substitute for backups.

Yes, I have a separate backup for my most important files.
 

43 minutes ago, Vr2Io said:

All my 8, 10, 12TB are shuck disk from WD, you can get 12TB as cheap as 175 USD.

Ah, okay - sounds interesting. I was struggling between WD Red and Seagate Exos. In the End I choosed the Exos.
What is the meaning of "shuck" (couldnt translate it properly).

[trurl]

3 minutes ago, sauerm said:

What is the meaning of "shuck"

External USB drives are often cheaper than internal drives. You just remove the drive from the case and it becomes an internal drive.

 

I think the expression probably comes from "shucking corn", which means to remove the husk from the ear of corn. Probably this explanation won't translate well either.😉

[sauerm]

Ah, I see. Yes, that makes sense. With "shucked" drives I become plenty results. Wasnt aware of that notion but about the process, thanks 
 

So I looked around a bit and the cheapest drive from WD I could find is a 12TB WD My Book for 217€ and a 12TB Seagate Expansion Desktop for 230€.
Last one could contain BaraCuda, IronWolf or Exos... I bought my Exos in sale for 270€. Unfortunately not that much difference. I also read some posts here and it seems these drives are somewhat cheaper in the US than here in Germany.
I will wait until Black Friday in hope there is a good deal. 
thanks for all the information 

Edited November 17, 2020 by sauerm