HP Microserver with unRAID?

This is my second one of these but this time I’m going to install unRAID on it via the internal USB socket with SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB. Is unRAID the best solution for maximum storage and safety for home use?

I’ve got 5*2TB drives and a 120gb SSD for the cache drive on a gigabit network. I was hoping to install a USB3 PCI Express 2.0 card for back up from the server to external HDD's. I’m looking for one that has two internal connections and maybe one external connection. I don't know but would the Startech 4-Port PCI Express USB3 card be suitable for the HP Microserver?

I’m looking at the Lokstor M51 from Scan for the extra 3.5" 2TB and the 2.5" 120GB SSD in the 5.25" bay as it has two USB3 connections on the front as well.

Also is it worthwhile putting 8GB, 2*4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 into it or is that OTT for unRAID? I still have the 2GB ECC DDR3 from the last one I bought so would have 4GB ECC DDR3!

Any help would be appreciated!

In the end I just went for 2*4GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3 probably is OTT but it wasn't that expensive. I also ordered a Lycom 2 port USB3 card to go along with the Lokstor M51 to make the most of USB3 for back ups and this is the tidiest looking bay converter for both 2.5" SSD and 3.5" mechanical drive I have found in my search.

I will test unRAID basic which is free with a few empty drives to see how I like it before paying for the registration key to use unRAID Plus. I really want to run OS off the internal USB maximise storage.

Has anyone had experience with unRAID on the HP Microserver?

i have used a few other NAS OSes but never unRAID, looks pretty interesting though so i would be interested to see how you get on!

Im curious as to how your fitting all of those drives into the microserver, doesnt it only have 4 drive bays and one for the optical drive which is limited by the bios?

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Originally Posted by Biscuit

i have used a few other NAS OSes but never unRAID, looks pretty interesting though so i would be interested to see how you get on!

Im curious as to how your fitting all of those drives into the microserver, doesnt it only have 4 drive bays and one for the optical drive which is limited by the bios?

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Yeah your correct about the BIOS limit in the optical drive bay but there is a working bios mod that allows full speed to be enabled plus I'm fitting a Lokstor M51 in there to allow a 3.5" 2TB drive and a 2.5" SSD to fit securely into the 5.25" bay.

I will have to route the cable for one of these drive out of the case at the back via a sata to esata cable unless I can find a 1 or 2 Port Low Profile Sata Card that will fit into a PCI Express 2.0 x16.

I'll let you know how I get on! :)

Ive got the N40NL networked over gigabit in the loft and it works a treat using unraid free for the moment with 3 samsung F4 2tb's, one as parity and other as disk1 and disk 2, i will be buying unraid so i can chuck in a 1.5tb & 1.0tb i to have used the modded bios to use the spare sata port in ahci mode also the esata port too, still running on the 2 gig memory and unraid is on 8gb flash stick so far all fine :P

ps as for temps in loft had a scorching day yesterday and the server sat at 40 degress so no problems overheating if ya got iphone theres a plugin called istat for iphone tis good.

Cheers Cougs