[GortWillSaveUs]

Another thing you need to know about FlexRaid vs unRAID is that FlexRaid would need a Windows OS, and a SATA slot needs to be dedicated to the OS drive.
However for unRAID, you would use a USB sitck to boot the OS and since unraid is an OS on its own, you don't need a windows OS.

What this means is that, to get FlexRaid working, you would need to purchase a separate license for the windows. IF you get WHS 2011 i'ts not too bad.. but still that's extra $$ you have to spend.

Except for the fact that unRaid is $70 for up to 6 drives and $120 for up to 21 drives. So for me I would have spent $120.

With FlexRaid I spent $40 for WHS2011 and $60 for FlexRaid (or $40 if you don't want pooling) making it actually a cheaper option.

True enough to some extent.
But don't forget that with Windows OS,..you're going to probably want to install a virus scanner.
They can be anywhere from $50-$100++ whether you're buying one for a workstation or a server.
Even though you might only store movies,..if you're connected to the internet,...why take chances.
Sure,..I suppose you could install a free virus scanner. I actually do this on all of my Windows machines.

There is no need for a virus scanner on unRaid since it runs Linux.

Again,..this isn't a criticism of FlexRaid,..just tryign to compare apples to apples.

[assassin]

I use mse. Free.

[formiko]

FlexRaid works on linux as well, hmm free os right there, plus you can do a lot more with your machine than with unraid.

The following is going to be my setup once all my hardware shows up:

Ubuntu server 12.04
It is going to be my webserver, mysql server, file server, and maybe even email server down the road.

I will use Webmin/Virtualmin to administer the webserver, mysql, and samba settings. On top of this it will also do my Sabnzbd, Sickbeard, and Couchpotato setup.

The total cost to me for software is $40-50 that I spent on FlexRaid 6 months ago. I have been using FlexRaid on my desktop for the last 6 months or so and It has been trouble free.

My hardware is going to be:
Intel Pentium G620
ASROCK H61M/U3S3 H61 LGA1155
4Gigs of ram
430W Corsair PSU
250G hd as a system drive and as a temporary drive to process all of my downloads.
Then there is the drive pool:

1- 2TB Parity Drive
2- 2TB Data Drives
1- 1TB Data Drive

Plus a case and other small bits.

[Rauf27]

If you gonna use FlexRaid use it on top of Win7 machine. It doesn't work properly under linux.

[ixnu]

I'm an unRaid guy for many of the reasons mentioned above.

Some additional features of unRaid that are nice to haves:

* Easier recovery from a variety hardware failures: Motherboard, disk controller, or NIC fails - replace it with a different or new one and you are good to go without re-installing an OS.

* Mix and match hardware: Easily change, add, or remove controllers and mix drives.

* Trivial installation of a cache drive: I put an 80GB SSD and have ~100 MB/s writes and reads without spinning up the array which is like having an SSD scratch disk in all of my workstations. This is very nice for quick backups of workstations or files. It also reduces fragmentation of the array.

[Beer40oz]

I'm an unRaid guy for many of the reasons mentioned above.

Some additional features of unRaid that are nice to haves:

* Easier recovery from a variety hardware failures: Motherboard, disk controller, or NIC fails - replace it with a different or new one and you are good to go without re-installing an OS.

* Mix and match hardware: Easily change, add, or remove controllers and mix drives.

* Trivial installation of a cache drive: I put an 80GB SSD and have ~100 MB/s writes and reads without spinning up the array which is like having an SSD scratch disk in all of my workstations. This is very nice for quick backups of workstations or files. It also reduces fragmentation of the array.

+1...

I still need to add my 320GB cache drive in...