[JustinAiken]

So I'm in the midst of ordering parts for an Unraid server, who's primary purpose is going to be to serve my XBMC HTPC... I know I've seen some other unraiders here, so here's a thread for us...

I'm not sure about my build yet, but I'm going with the Norco 4220 case, which holds 20 drives... I only have around 10 now, and I'm thinking of trying to sell all the 320-750 gig'ers on craigslist, and buying more 2TB drives... but that's getting ahead of myself, still need to pick a mobo/CPU/RAM/power supply first...

Anyways, anything in particular to watch for with XBMC and Unraid?

[Smolex]

I currently use XBMC and unRAID and have had no trouble. The setup was simple but I would suggest that on the setup of the unRAID you do a manual IP address can help to make things easier I have found. Thanks.

[TugboatBill]

When you first start using unraid do a regular parity check. Just to make sure everything is working fine.

So far I've swapped out the CPU with a slower one, moved to a new case, upgraded to Pro, and added 2 drives and I've never had a problem. I use it mostly for XBMC, but I also have my ESXi servers back up to it automatically.

Edit: I forgot to mention I also added a SATA controller too. All this with my data still on the original 3 drives.

[Smolex]

The other item that you should be aware of is Advanced Format Drives. A lot of people recommend Western Digital Green Drives with the designation of WD20EARS and WD15EARS. I currently use the 2TB version but if you want these drives then you will have to put a jumper on pins 7-8 for optimal performance. The two links below provide good information regarding the Advanced Format Drives. Thanks.

http://www.lime-technology.com/wiki/inde...o_NOT_Work

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5384.0

[JustinAiken]

Ooh, thanks for that info... I have 2 1.5TB WD Greens I'll be moving over, good to know!

[gabbott]

Ooh, thanks for that info... I have 2 1.5TB WD Greens I'll be moving over, good to know!

Just to note the jumper is specifically for the EARS drives, you don't need it for the EADS model.

[kizer]

unRAID and XBMC it just works and it works well. I have the EARS drive and I just jumpered the drive and it seems fine.

In unRAID there is a cache script you can run and it will perform a scan of your drives and store the listing in ram. When you fire up your XBMC to do a library update it will rip through all of your files in record time without even spinning up one drive. If of course it finds something new it will spin up a drive, but no sense in spinning up drives if you dont need to.

I have a BioStar motherboard and a 2.7ghz AMD processor and it runs super quite and hardly uses and juice at all. I think my UPS says I could get 106-97minutes with a power loss. LOL Its a 750 APC model. My regular desktop I think can get around 18minutes. Of course I'm running (2) WD 1.5TB drives, (2) WD 500 drives, (1) WD 2TB drive for parity.

[Smolex]

unRAID and XBMC it just works and it works well. I have the EARS drive and I just jumpered the drive and it seems fine.

Was wondering where you bought your jumpers. Thanks.

[JustinAiken]

Ordered my last part!

Norco 4220
E5200
C2SEE mobo
AOC 8 port SATA card
4GB DDR3 Ram (Patriot)
Corsair 850W single rail PSU

Now for the waiting...

To start I have:
3x 2TB
2x 1.5TB
1x 1TB

to move in...

[poofyhairguy]

Be sure to post pics. I love pics. I will trade once I get back from Europe with pics of my unraid box.

[Robgue]

I'm seriously considering paying for this software since I've been reading good things about it. I have a question though. Is there a mythtv backend add on? I couldn't find anything on their forum or wiki. Thanks.

[BLKMGK]

I'm seriously considering paying for this software since I've been reading good things about it. I have a question though. Is there a mythtv backend add on? I couldn't find anything on their forum or wiki. Thanks.

No, it's a NAS pretty much dedicated to serving content. It can be used for a few other things but in general no you just use it for storage.

ONE quirk of the unRAID system to be aware of that's a Linux quirk. If you're watching content on one drive and the other drives are sleeping and something spins up one of those other drives you can have a drop in the data stream while the hardware wakes up that drive. This is on a controller basis and has to do with a sort of master\slave thing I cannot easily explain but has been discussed at length on the unRAID forum. In my case I only ever have one device at a time accessing the NAS with my movies but I have managed to trigger this effect browsing shares on a laptop while a movie played :mad: Worth it to have the ability to sleep drives though!

Oh and someone commented on having swapped some hardware while using unRAID - I've actually swapped out entire motherboards with ZERO issues! controller cards too, so long as you keep track of drive order you're good to go...

[Kode]

When you have built an Unraid server, you might find this useful, its a guide i wrote on running sabnzbd+ and sickbeard on unraid, there's also a script to help keep sickbeard up to date http://www.lockstockmods.net/2010/06/03/...sickbeard/

[poofyhairguy]

When you have built an Unraid server, you might find this useful, its a guide i wrote on running sabnzbd+ and sickbeard on unraid, there's also a script to help keep sickbeard up to date http://www.lockstockmods.net/2010/06/03/...sickbeard/

Thank a bunch. That is a great guide!

[supertom44]

Thanks for link will come in handy, thinking about building an unraid server as my NAS's are full, main reason I want unriad rather than another nas is how easy it is to add more storage.

Hopefully ill order the hardware tomorrow or Monday, basing my system on the recommended hardware on the unraid wiki.