Tim_R

Thank you for the input bjp999. I have taken sound already into consideration for my rack, but yes power is something to look into a little closer, but i think i have a plan for that too if i go with a machine like this. I am also kind of looking for some overkill right now, so i dont have to worry about it as a expand or try some potential ideas in the future. And for the price, a machine like this seems like a better deal than a single or even a couple smaller machines. but im still searching to the different solutions too. Thank you for your opinion, its always good to hear from a different perspective.

that is actually a good idea too, to do both. probably gonna take forever doing both from what i am hearing. but seems like a good plan right now.

Thank you for the quick response. Now that you say "Preclear" i am finding a lot more useful information.

Hello everyone, I am a little new to nas's but am learning a lot and planning my first project/build. I know its a good idea to check the new hard drives before using them, but how do i go about properly doing it? I plan on ordering a couple of WD Red's (undecided on size, either 3TB, 4TB, or 6TB) and do not want to have bad drives before i start dumping data. Is there a specific tool either in Unraid, or outside of unraid to run the initial test(s)? I see there is a WD data lifeguard diagnostic tool, but is this a good tool, or would a 3rd party tool be better? I also heard somewhere you should write all zero's to the drive, then check it? im not sure how true that really is, or how to go about doing so if i should. And what specifically would i be looking out for to determine if it is a bad drive and should be exchanged? And how paranoid should i be about ordering 4-6 drives from the same site at the same time? i keep hearing about getting multiple drives from a bad batch. should i order from 2 different places? or is this something i really shouldnt be concerned about? I would really appreciate any help. Thank you.

Thank you both for the responses. I dont have a R710 yet, but im really considering it now. And thanks for the heads up on the bracket for the LSI card.

Hello everyone, I am kind of new to the realm of nas’s and legit servers, but am looking to start using them and learning a lot more, plus I need a lot more storage space since I’m running out. I have taken a great interest in unraid recently and I really want to go with it for my first major project. I am now in the process of trying to finding the right hardware. If I could get some advice on if what im currently thinking is a good idea or bad idea, I would really appreciate any input. Here is my current vision/goals: -Around 12TB of usable storage -3 linux VM’s always running – a “downloader” VM, a security camera/dvr (4 cameras) VM, and a less intensive VM for a couple miscellaneous services I need -Plex – mostly a single stream, but potentially up to 3 -A linux VM that I can bring up as needed – GNS3 for networking studies -Some kind of backup/imaging software for a couple of computers I also would like to have the room/possibility of bringing up another 2-4 VM’s as needed, but probably nothing super intensive. What is your budget? Total maximum would be $1300. Hardware maximum would be around $500-600, since I plan $600-$700 on new drives. And if I can generally spend less than that, that would be great too. -How many drives do you want your server to be able to support and how much capacity do you need? I think being able to support 8 drives would be nice for the future. Right now, I plan on having 4-5 drives though. -Is expandability important to you? If so, what's your long term goal? I would love to have room for expandability. Like I said above, being able to add a couple more drives when that time comes (hopefully not soon) would be nice. I also would like to have a powerful enough machine to be able to play around with a few additional VM’s or add ons in the future. -Are you interested in running any unRAID Add Ons (see here)? If so, which ones? Be specific. VM’s, Plex, UPS power down, and probably a few others, im not entirely sure yet. -Do you want to run green/low power drives or faster 7200 rpm drives? If you don't have a specific need for 7200 rpm drives, then choose green drives. I was planning on going with WD Red’s. I am undecided right now either 3TB, 4TB, or 6TB drives, but that will probably depends on remaining budget and deals, but it probably doesn’t matter too much. -Do you have any spare parts laying around that you would like to apply towards your build? No spare parts… -If you already have parts in mind, please oh pretty please post links to them so that we don't have to look them up. Dell R710 – x2 E5620 quad core CPUs, 64GB+ ram (Not necessarily from Newegg, possibly Ebay will have a better deal) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=9SIA68F34B4106 LSI 9211-8i Controller (IT Mode) (Use this card instead since the dell raid card included won’t support JBOD) http://www.ebay.com/itm/291641245650 WD Red Drives (5400rpm) The Dell r710 looks to be a pretty decent choice from what I have been seeing, but would this be good or even enough for what I am hoping? And would 64GB or 72GB of ram be enough too? Is there be a better solution for the $300-$600 price range? A different server? Get a collection of used server parts and build my own (which to me seems more expensive)? Or is the r710 fine? Thank you for any advice and input.