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<blockquote data-quote="drealit" data-source="post: 380961" data-attributes="member: 70031"><p>Hmmm tasty plans...</p><p></p><p>Currently I have a 2 Server setup-</p><p></p><p>Primary Storage Server:</p><p><strong>UnRaid Pro Operating System</strong> Fantastic for media servers! Very low maintenance, doesn't cost a lot, highly functional and a great support community.</p><p><strong>6x1TB Drives</strong> - 5 Usable one for Parity/Redundancy</p><p><strong>1x160GB IDE Hard drive</strong> used as a cache drive... data gets moved here before automatically being moved over by UnRaid in the middle of the night to the protected array. This leads to faster writes to the server and doesn't waste a SATA connector.</p><p><strong>2x2GB Crucial 6400 DDR2 Memory</strong> Great ram... UnRaid doesn't fully take advantage of it... but hell it's so cheap!</p><p><strong>Abit AB9 Pro Motherboard</strong> UnRaid does not utilize true Hardware/Software RAID for it's functionality so no need for expensive RAID cards etc.... this motherboard is perfect for the OS since it has 9 native SATA ports on it with a PCI-Ex16 slot for an 8xSATA card, 2 PCIex1 slots for 2xSATA cards, and some PCI slots which I don't use</p><p><strong>Intel Celeron 440 Single Core Processor</strong> Don't need anything more for a media server like this</p><p><strong>Corsair 550VX Powersupply</strong> Very efficient more than enough power for a lot of drives</p><p><strong>Coolermaster Centurion 5 Enclosure</strong> Room for 15 drives up front once you drop in 3x 3x5.25 into 5x3.5 bay convertors... and you can probably weasle more inside the case... not as spiffy as your enclosure but is a great budget case for a home brewed budget server.</p><p><strong>4GB USB Drive</strong> This is where the heart of UnRaid is... it runs right off the USB stick</p><p></p><p>If one drive fails I'm fully backed up (via the dedicated Parity disk which is equal to your largest drive or IS your largest drive), if 2 drives fail at the same time there's potential for me to lose data on both disks... but the chances of this are slim. If the motherboard dies I'm fine, if the CPU dies I'm fine, if the memory dies I'm fine, if the SATA cards die I'm fine, and if the PSU dies (provided it doesn't nuke everything else with it) I'm fine. This software is very secure for media storage purposes but ideally you'd want a 2ndary backup server... which you should always have in a remote location anyway. I've been using this server for almost a year now and it works wonderfully. Stores all my movies, music, tv shows... steams them all perfectly fine even 1080p encoded mkv's.</p><p></p><p>My secondary server is where all the nonstorage related activities happen - SQL hosting, Torrenting, Encoding, TV Server responsibilities sooner or later? etc. etc. and this truly was a budget computer for me... completed for under $140 (that's everything including the processor haha) excluding the harddrives which I had laying around:</p><p></p><p>Secondary Server:</p><p><strong>Windows Server 2008 32bit</strong> although I might switch to the 64bit edition since my encoding would benefit from it.</p><p><strong>Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 Motherboard</strong> Extremely efficient and a very low power consumption... plenty of features for this type of build</p><p><strong>AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core CPU</strong> Encodes as well as my E8400 and stays at reasonable temperatures with the heatsink/fan I have on it (Zerotherm ZFS10?)</p><p><strong>4GB Crucial 6400 DDR2 Memory</strong> Same stuff from before... cheap as dirt and very stable</p><p><strong>2x320GB Seagate 7200.10 hard drives</strong> in RAID 1 for the OS and all my configurations etc.</p><p><strong>1x500GB Western Digital Harddrive</strong> used for Storage and primary torrent location before I move the downloads over to the media server and also where my encodings go before I move them over.</p><p><strong>Antec NSK4400B Enclosure</strong> looks good, not too big, has room inside with decent airflow</p><p><strong>Antec Earthwatts 380W Powersupply</strong> more than enough for this build and is highly efficient</p><p></p><p>My endgame plan is to upgrade both servers to "Server" grade parts but I built both of these on a very low budget... had just finished school and was still suffering from loans etc. haha. Migrating from my current UnRaid build to a new hardware setup will be extremely easy provided I pay attention to which drives are in what location etc. The other server will be a little more work to migrate to different hardware but it will get done in due time.</p><p></p><p>For Media Storage responsibilities and media streaming I highly recommend an UnRaid setup. It's very easy to setup and doesn't depend at all on big expensive hardware to run. It is very easy to setup... and I truly had my first test build up and going within 10 minutes of installing the hardware into a temporary box. It really is that easy to do. The only draw backs to UnRaid is that you lose the speed of a true RAID setup... but for media storage I don't believe you really need that benefit. I write at around 30-40MB/s depending on what I'm doing/where I'm doing it from and I can read at up to 75MB/s.</p><p></p><p>I like having 2 separate servers since I find it easier to maintain and less to worry about. I don't touch the media server except to stream my media off it or put more media on it. I remote desktop into my other server and do whatever I need to do whether it be maintain my databases, torrent something, rip/encode a bluray or dvd... it's all very convenient and easy to use.</p><p></p><p>My home network is a CAT6 based Gigabit network to ensure no hiccups there.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="drealit, post: 380961, member: 70031"] Hmmm tasty plans... Currently I have a 2 Server setup- Primary Storage Server: [B]UnRaid Pro Operating System[/B] Fantastic for media servers! Very low maintenance, doesn't cost a lot, highly functional and a great support community. [B]6x1TB Drives[/B] - 5 Usable one for Parity/Redundancy [B]1x160GB IDE Hard drive[/B] used as a cache drive... data gets moved here before automatically being moved over by UnRaid in the middle of the night to the protected array. This leads to faster writes to the server and doesn't waste a SATA connector. [B]2x2GB Crucial 6400 DDR2 Memory[/B] Great ram... UnRaid doesn't fully take advantage of it... but hell it's so cheap! [B]Abit AB9 Pro Motherboard[/B] UnRaid does not utilize true Hardware/Software RAID for it's functionality so no need for expensive RAID cards etc.... this motherboard is perfect for the OS since it has 9 native SATA ports on it with a PCI-Ex16 slot for an 8xSATA card, 2 PCIex1 slots for 2xSATA cards, and some PCI slots which I don't use [B]Intel Celeron 440 Single Core Processor[/B] Don't need anything more for a media server like this [B]Corsair 550VX Powersupply[/B] Very efficient more than enough power for a lot of drives [B]Coolermaster Centurion 5 Enclosure[/B] Room for 15 drives up front once you drop in 3x 3x5.25 into 5x3.5 bay convertors... and you can probably weasle more inside the case... not as spiffy as your enclosure but is a great budget case for a home brewed budget server. [B]4GB USB Drive[/B] This is where the heart of UnRaid is... it runs right off the USB stick If one drive fails I'm fully backed up (via the dedicated Parity disk which is equal to your largest drive or IS your largest drive), if 2 drives fail at the same time there's potential for me to lose data on both disks... but the chances of this are slim. If the motherboard dies I'm fine, if the CPU dies I'm fine, if the memory dies I'm fine, if the SATA cards die I'm fine, and if the PSU dies (provided it doesn't nuke everything else with it) I'm fine. This software is very secure for media storage purposes but ideally you'd want a 2ndary backup server... which you should always have in a remote location anyway. I've been using this server for almost a year now and it works wonderfully. Stores all my movies, music, tv shows... steams them all perfectly fine even 1080p encoded mkv's. My secondary server is where all the nonstorage related activities happen - SQL hosting, Torrenting, Encoding, TV Server responsibilities sooner or later? etc. etc. and this truly was a budget computer for me... completed for under $140 (that's everything including the processor haha) excluding the harddrives which I had laying around: Secondary Server: [B]Windows Server 2008 32bit[/B] although I might switch to the 64bit edition since my encoding would benefit from it. [B]Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 Motherboard[/B] Extremely efficient and a very low power consumption... plenty of features for this type of build [B]AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core CPU[/B] Encodes as well as my E8400 and stays at reasonable temperatures with the heatsink/fan I have on it (Zerotherm ZFS10?) [B]4GB Crucial 6400 DDR2 Memory[/B] Same stuff from before... cheap as dirt and very stable [B]2x320GB Seagate 7200.10 hard drives[/B] in RAID 1 for the OS and all my configurations etc. [B]1x500GB Western Digital Harddrive[/B] used for Storage and primary torrent location before I move the downloads over to the media server and also where my encodings go before I move them over. [B]Antec NSK4400B Enclosure[/B] looks good, not too big, has room inside with decent airflow [B]Antec Earthwatts 380W Powersupply[/B] more than enough for this build and is highly efficient My endgame plan is to upgrade both servers to "Server" grade parts but I built both of these on a very low budget... had just finished school and was still suffering from loans etc. haha. Migrating from my current UnRaid build to a new hardware setup will be extremely easy provided I pay attention to which drives are in what location etc. The other server will be a little more work to migrate to different hardware but it will get done in due time. For Media Storage responsibilities and media streaming I highly recommend an UnRaid setup. It's very easy to setup and doesn't depend at all on big expensive hardware to run. It is very easy to setup... and I truly had my first test build up and going within 10 minutes of installing the hardware into a temporary box. It really is that easy to do. The only draw backs to UnRaid is that you lose the speed of a true RAID setup... but for media storage I don't believe you really need that benefit. I write at around 30-40MB/s depending on what I'm doing/where I'm doing it from and I can read at up to 75MB/s. I like having 2 separate servers since I find it easier to maintain and less to worry about. I don't touch the media server except to stream my media off it or put more media on it. I remote desktop into my other server and do whatever I need to do whether it be maintain my databases, torrent something, rip/encode a bluray or dvd... it's all very convenient and easy to use. My home network is a CAT6 based Gigabit network to ensure no hiccups there. [/QUOTE]
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