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The original was posted on /r/unraid by /u/skinna555 on 2023-10-05 11:11:33.

Hi all,

A few weeks back I had posted some questions regarding an unRAID server I was about to build. I would like to thank everyone who helped me out, but in particular: u/Lonely-Fun8074 and u/soxekaj. I went into this just wanting to have a plex server - and have come out of it having so much more.

I thought I would share the details of my setup and some things I really like and (not that I have many) dislike about unRAID. I have had it for a week now, and honestly - I can’t think of any reason to ever go back to having a windows based server. The only time I would consider building one would be for someone else.

My Setup:

The PC: Core i5 12400 with quicksync, 32GB RAM, mini ITX case (Node 304) and motherboard. No graphics card.

Parity: 10TB WD Red

Array: 8TB WD Red x 3

Cache Pool: 2x500GB nvme SSD’s

Downloads Pool: 2 x 2TB WD External Drives (once a week, I unplug a drive and take it to my parents house for offloading to their plex system). Why do I have 2 plugged in? because I have heaps of older externals sitting around, and this allows me to keep downloading and seeding while the other drive isn’t plugged in).

Things I really like:

  • Power usage is amazing.

  • The UI.

  • Parity was dead simple to setup. I have, believe it or not, never had redundancy before now. I always assumed you needed DOUBLE THE SPACE. What unRAID does is one step off a magic trick for me.

  • The ease of making shares available on windows.

  • The array itself, cache, shares and pools are SUPER GODDAMN EASY to set up.

  • The ability to use the arrayed hard drives as though they are one, no matter the share you use. Not worrying about which drive to drag and drop things etc.

  • The ability to add more drives on the fly.

  • Bloat while using unRAID is zero. You really do get to maximise your hardware and use all of it, all of the time. For instance, I have qbittorent, sonarr, radarr, prowlarr, plex, and tautilli all start at system boot on unRAID. I would idle on windows using double the amount of RAM I use running all the docker containers I have running at once on unraid, while also watching a movie. This goes for disk space too, windows makes all of these funky partitions. On unRAID, all but the tiniest amount of a hard drive can be used.

  • While the initial learning curve is quite steep, once you get the hang of it - unRAID is a really intuitive and impressive piece of software. The biggest learning curve for me was the fact that each container has its corresponding paths. Once it clicks for you though, you’re set. Very foolproof.

  • Docker containers being *pun intended* contained from one another is great. If something absolutely fucks up - just delete the container. Start over. No other containers will be affected.

  • Cache performance is incredible - using plex on my devices and seeing all the metadata come up for movies is so much more responsive then on windows 11 - my god.

Things I don’t like after 1 week:

  • The initial learning curve (not sure how you would change this - but I didn’t like it!).

  • Split level not being explained very well either within the software, or online. I figured it out before the install based on some videos and forum posts of course. But it was still a headache at the time.

  • For whatever reason, if I have my empty hard drive dock plugged in at boot, the server does not boot and hangs. Unplugging the dock eliminates this issue.

Questions I have

  • I am currently transcoding in RAM (/tmp). Would it be better to transcode in cache (appdata)?

  • I have installed the Tips and Tweaks utility, which by default had my turboboost set to on, however - on the dashboard - the base clock still appears. How do I confirm the CPU is being boosted when it needs to be?

  • If my fiancé would like to access her share remotely (via windows network SMB) - is it simply a matter of installing tailscale on unraid - and her computer (both registered on the website of course).

  • Can I make a share have a limit? My son will be making some videos and art. I would like to make him a share capped out at 500GB. Is this do-able?

  • I have a share for family pictures and videos. This is the only share I would like to have a cloud backup of. I’m sure there is a simple answer. But how would I go about having unRAID automatically upload to cloud storage (such as google drive - but I’m open to any provider).

Thanks guys! Glad to be a part of this community.