This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/unraid by /u/fastcar123 on 2023-09-02 17:41:58.

Don’t click away! I know this question has been asked over and over. I’m still racking my brain with the 2 options.

Most of the questions I have found were asked before unRAID implemented ZFS, which does dramaticly impact my decision.

To preface, I am willing to buy the license for unRAID if that’s the route that works best for me.

So here’s what I have A older used server containing the following hardware

  • 2x xeon E5-2660 14 core 28 thread cpus
  • up to 256gb of registered ecc memory
  • 3x 4tb hdds for storage pool
  • 2x 500gb pcie 3.0 nvme ssds

I intend to upgrade to 10gb Lan and also add a Nvidia quadro/tesla/gtx for video rendering later on.

I know all of that sounds like overkill, but it should be known that I intend to run a windows 10 VM and it will receive the majority of the cpu horsepower. The plan there is to use remote desktop to have a power house processing computer that I can then store files to the raid array very quickly.

My use case

I run a small YouTube/twitch channel as well as frequently stack photos for astrophotography. Both of the tasks require some computing power. This use case is the reason the server is so overbuilt, as most of the system resources will go here (unless the Nas OS can benefit from lots of ram).

I want to make sure these files are stored away for safe keeping. So data security is paramount. (I realize that storing my data on a server is not the same as backups. For that, all I can say is I’m working on it. I’ll probably do offline backups for this).

I will have 2 consecutive users of this server for all of the above mentioned tasks. I want to be able to work with the files directly off of the server, so we’re not both constantly transferring files back and forth. Speed is a second priority after security.

Once a project is finished, it will likely not be touched again for many months, if ever again.

I initially bought the 2 ssds for running the boot OS and vms, but I will happily use them as a secondary pool or cache, so long as I have room to store the vms and their related softwares somewhere.

Lastly about me and my capabilities.

I studied computers in college and I easily picked up on the hardware aspect, but software and networkings have always been problematic for me. I’m not completely incompetent in these areas, but certainly more user friendly setup and usage is preferred.

So tldr: I need a Nas OS that can -utilize lots of powerful hardware with upgrades down the road -protect my files from catastrophic failures -can be used by multiple people at once -is fast enough to operate as if the storage was on the computer I’m using -be easily set up, maintained, and used

Let me know what you guys think. Really torn between the two OS choices. Thanks!