New here! Asking question for Unraid fileserver for Plex server on Synology NAS


SaintTDI

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Hi guys,

I'm new here, I'm Stefano from Italy! ;) I found about Unraid looking at some youtube videos. I think this is the best place on the forum to write this post, if not can you please tell me where to post? thanks!

 

I'm here for an "issue" with my Synology NAS 918+. I use it only for my Plex Server, I would like to use it also for my personal cloud for photos and music but my internet connection is really slow.

I have 4 x 8TB Ironwolf disks in my 918+, in SHR mode, similar to Raid5 with 1 disk for parity check. What I notice is that the HDD are always reading/writing all day long, I noticed this after installing Docker with Pihole, I read about continuos logging of Pihole so I uninstalled both. But I still can here the HDD read/write (the NAS is in my living room, I can't change place for it). I've done all the SMART and Ironwolf tests, and it's all healthy and ok. But I'm worried about these HDD keep moving, I think is the Synology DSM OS which use the HDDs, even with a "htop" command doesn't show any disk read/write... the disks are moving 😑

 

So I thought to create a fileserver where I can store my mkv for Plex (and even my photos and mp3 in a second time), using my 4 x 8TB Ironwolf and other 3 or 4 x 6TB WD Red (all disks are CMR). I was thinking of Unraid because in some videos that I saw it's easy to grow the array of the HDD, with different HDD size, using the biggest HDD for the parity check. I would use this Unraid server only as a fileserver, the Plex Server will still be installed on the Synology NAS (with SSD instead of HDD) and other Synology services for Music and Photo on cloud.

 

Sorry for the big introduction but is better to specify what I need :) Here are the questions:

 

  1. As I understood, Unraid works only on RAM and with a USB pen for the system right?
  2. So when the system is working, it won't use the HDDs, and they will be "off" unless I'm watching something on Plex?
  3. If I'm not using Plex (or Mp3 and Photos in the future) the HDDs shouldn't have read/write at all?

 

I don't want that the disks move if they aren't getting used :D 

 

I have some other questions for the Array Disk, Parity disk and other stuff after looking at some videos:

 

You have to choose the disk for the Parity:

  1. what happens if that disk brakes? Will another disk gets it place in the mean time that I plug in a new disk? 
  2. If I want to upgrade my 8TB disks to 10TB disks, can I change the Parity disk as well ?
  3. I've read that sometimes the USB used with Unraid doesn't work anymore, is it true? What can I do in that case?

 

And finally last questions on the Hardware that I have at home, I would like to know if it's good to use with Unraid (workload, which should be really soft, and compatibility with Unraid/Unix S.O.):

  • MB: GigaByte H77-D3H
  • CPU: I5-3570K
  • RAM: Corsair Ven. Blue DDR3 16GB(4x4)
  • SSD: I would get some new SSD for SSD Cache.
  • PSU: Cool Master 650W
  • RAID Controller: Silicon Image Sil 3114 Soft Raid 5 controller ( I got this info from Windows, I don't remember well)
  • Could I add a 10GB Ethernet PCI Card to this PC ?

 

Will this configuration work perfectly with Unraid? Is there a list of hardware that I can check?

 

Thaaaank you very much for any reply and I'm sorry for the long post! :) 

Edited by SaintTDI
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