UnRaid Build

[smoothe]

Hi All,

I was planning on getting a new nas to replace my aging synology 210j, and also replace my nvr that is playing up recently, but after doing a bit of reading Ive decided to build a small unraid server. so far im trying to look for quiet and low power components.

Primarily i will probably be running zoneminder and a few other docker containers including some home automation.

I may run plex at some point but haven't decided yet. I also will probably expand its use over the next few years.

I've gone with the following spec so far.

Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2K4G4S240FSD 2400 MHz, DDR4, DRAM, Laptop Gaming Memory Kit, 8GB (4GBx2), CL16 (Grey)
ASRock J5005-ITX

so now trying to decide on PSU im thinking the following:
Seasonic 450 Watt FOCUS Gold Semi Modular ATX PSU/Power Supply does anyone have any other suggestions

Also id love some suggestions on a smallish case that will hold up to 4 drives in the future.

Thanks

[smoothe]

Im still thinking about the PSU but decided to go for a fractal design node 304 case, its a little larger than I was hoping for but looks very well designed and an efficient use of space.

[Millennium]

Keep us updated! I might build one of these but I've been thinking of a second hand HP Microserver based one since that's easy and pretty cheap and they seem to be able to take 5 HDD. I would also like to use UnRaid one day.

[smoothe]

sooo..... no PSU yet however I've been thinking about the Storage I'll be using.

I currently have 1 x 4 TB & 1 x 1.5 Drives in the old Synology and 2TB in the NVR. I also want to put in 2 240GB SSD drives in a raid 1 cache pool ( i have these already).

I want to use a new disk for the parity drive so I have decided to try shucking a 4TB drive from a WD 4TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive so thats on order.

The eagle eye people may be thinking that is a total of 6 drives and that the motherboard only supports 4 :/ ... Correct so I've ordered a generic PCI-E sata expansion card.
Zerone PCI-E Cards PCI Express to SATA 3.0 Controller Card, 2-Port SATA III 6Gbps Expansion Adapter £12.99

Its based on the ASM1061, so we shouldn't have any compatibility issues, the 1.5 TB drive is quite old so may not use it but I haven't made a final decision.

[Spreadie]

I've just finished a month trial of Unraid on my home-rolled NAS/server. I didn't buy a license - read and write speeds were much slower than I was willing to put up with, and the SSD cache implementation is seriously flawed.

Copying data to the array writes it directly to the SSD cache but the whole thing grinds to a halt if what you're copying is greater than the overall size of the cache. You have to manually start the Mover utility to clear the cache to the spinning discs before copying can continue, which sometimes has to be resumed manually. You can schedule Mover but it doesn't seem to work very well - you'd think it could be triggered by low capacity limits on the SSDs, but it can't.

Some might say the answer would be bigger SSDs, but I sometimes move several hundred gigs of data and a pair of raided 1TB SSDs flies in the face of Unraid's "use any old PC hardware as your server" shtick.

XPEnology (DSM) automatically writes the cache to disk asap, and doesn't interrupt the copy process.

If you're still looking for a 4 bay chassis, it might be worth a look at the U-NAS NSC-400.

I have a IW-MS04 running on a i7-3770t and H77 ITX board, but Supermicro do a decent case too, and Silverstone do a cracking little 8 bay case.

[Spreadie]

double post!

[smoothe]

Thanks Spreadie, Ill take a look at XPEnology, I may as well test both. I can see how the cache filling would be an issue, from what I've read its supposed to write directly to the array once the cache hits the minimum space threshold ( I think this has to be configured). I don't think my usage will be quite the same as I don't tend to write much per day but I certainly will be while I move data from old to new so that will be a nice test.

[Spreadie]

Thanks Spreadie, Ill take a look at XPEnology, I may as well test both. I can see how the cache filling would be an issue, from what I've read its supposed to write directly to the array once the cache hits the minimum space threshold ( I think this has to be configured). I don't think my usage will be quite the same as I don't tend to write much per day but I certainly will be while I move data from old to new so that will be a nice test.

If you have the time, try it out for yourself - Unraid is certainly easy to setup and use. As you said, it is supposed to write directly or initiate Mover once the cache gets low, and you do have to configure it, but it did neither. Perhaps it's glitchy, I don't know - maybe it'll be fine for you, but I still couldn't get on with the low read and write speeds.

I like XPEnology because Synology's DSM software is hands down the best out there - it's a shame their hardware doesn't live up to the same billing or I'd have kept my DS918+.

In an ideal world, QNAP boxes would run DSM.

[smoothe]

trouble if i go to synology again im guessing ill need 2 more cctv licenses and need to match drive sizes in the pool?

[smoothe]

Slight update as nearly all of the components are now here, still awaiting the case :/

Ive ordered a D-Link DGS-1008P/E 8 port gigabit switch that will allow me to remove the NVR and use the installed POE cctv camera. I tested their connection with Zone Alarm so all good now

[smoothe]

Drive successfully shucked . With no damage to case I successfully removed a wd40emrx white label drive from the 4tb elements external enclosure.

If I do need to return at least I will be able to return this to how it arrived

[smoothe]

Still waiting on case to arrive :/

But I need to make a final descision on PSU

I've narrowed it down to

drum roll.......

Be Quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 400W Modular PSU

unfortunately the Seasonic 450 Watt FOCUS Gold Semi Modular ATX PSU/Power Supply only supported 4 drives.

I really don't want to increase wattage as the system will be low load most of the time it will be reasonably in efficient.

Does that seem a good option?

[Spreadie]

What case have you decided on?

Does it have a SATA backplane for the drive bays? If so, you may only need a couple of power connectors.

Failing that, there nothing to stop you using splitter cables for SATA power - Your rig doesn't need a 400W PSU unless you're adding a really power hungry discreet card. You can run a mid-range gaming rig on 400W.

My NAS has an Ivybridge i7 (albeit a T variant), with 16GB RAM and 32TB of storage, on a 265W PSU.

[smoothe]

I went for the fractal design node 304, I didn’t want such a high wattage psu but couldn’t find one that was lower that was modular and efficient etc

[smoothe]

Or even any well made efficient atx psu that is under 350w

[DanceswithUnix]

Or even any well made efficient atx psu that is under 350w

I quite like the SFX ones, and have used a few with an ATX adapter plate (Corsair usually include one as standard). Problem is they seem to only come with 3 SATA connectors unless you go for a £100 Seasonic 500W which seems a bit mental.

The upside of a higher wattage PSU is that they usually work fanless to a higher power output, which in this case could be all the time.

Edit: I presume with a modular PSU you could get some extra SATA cables to plug into the PSU in the slots for things like Molex that you won't be using.