Hi all,

I wonder if Tom is hiding from an irate UnRaid customer who is not a member of this forum?

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

Call me crazy but I ordered the UnRaid USB Software online today. Its charged to my Amex so I have nothing to lose. I have had my eye on this for awhile and it will serve my needs. I have way too many Hard Drives purchased for this purpose. People sound please with the performance and thats all I really need.

Call me crazy but I ordered the UnRaid USB Software online today. We will all be curious to see how your order is handled. Please let us know how it goes.

At least you are making an informed decision.

Joe L.

We will all be curious to see how your order is handled. Please let us know how it goes.

At least you are making an informed decision.

Joe L.

I just bought another USB key last week for my 2nd UnRAID server that I'm building, and received it on Monday (sent via FedEx). Honestly, I don't know why everyone's griping so much. So Tom has decided he can live without responding to the high-maintenance people found on this forum. Personally, I would probably avoid most of you guys as well, considering how demanding and hystrionic some of you have become...

I hope his business is doing well and continues to do so.

He doesn't resond to ANYONE. He takes your money and sends you the key. Great. And what happens when it breaks?

jcruse,

Then I guess that you will not be bothering us on this thread when you have a problem with your UnRaid servers?

What a relief.

Regards,
TCIII

I just bought another USB key last week for my 2nd UnRAID server that I'm building, and received it on Monday (sent via FedEx). Honestly, I don't know why everyone's griping so much. So Tom has decided he can live without responding to the high-maintenance people found on this forum. Personally, I would probably avoid most of you guys as well, considering how demanding and hystrionic some of you have become...

I hope his business is doing well and continues to do so.

I don't think anyone in this forum is histrionic. Unfortunately, Tom set up expectations early by being very responsive. In fact, he is the one that started this thread!

It is not unreasonable to be worried about Tom's absence. In previous posts, Tom made it clear that this was a developing product and that we should post questions and comments here.

We all hope that Tom is doing well personally and with his business.

With my own un-raid server, I am not experiencing any major problems. I am awaiting an update to include security (ADS or Windows ACL) features and a fix for slow reads during writes. Back in December, I got an e-mail from Tom saying that the update would be available before the end of the year. It is now Feb. and still no update. Does this concern make me dramatic? Does voicing this concern sound exaggerated to you?

Please don't attack those in this forum who voice concerns. It is important to share knowledge so that we can all make better decisions on how to store our terrabytes of media.

He doesn't resond to ANYONE. He takes your money and sends you the key. Great.The alternative of taking someone's money and NOT delivering the product would be a lot worse in my opinion
(not to mention dishonest)...

That he is shipping product is a sign Tom is still out there somewhere...
(unresponsive, probably overworked, and probably NOT dishonest)

Joe L.

The alternative of taking someone's money and NOT delivering the product would be a lot worse in my opinion
(not to mention dishonest)...

That he is shipping product is a sign Tom is still out there somewhere...
(unresponsive, probably overworked, and probably NOT dishonest)

Joe L.

Agreed, if that were the case then I'd expect us to all pool together to hunt him down :eek: As it stands now he's given me no reason to be angry but yes I'm a touch concerned - for his well being if nothing else. I actually really enjoyed talking about his system and his\our ideas for improvement, his going missing is a shame!

I've looked at other solutions, really I have. Sorry, but the unique attributes of the unRAID, not to mention it's capacity, aren't matched by the other solutions I see proposed within a reasonable price range. For reasons I explained before striping doesn't appeal to me and unless it's going to SERIOUSLY increase throughput I'm not interested in that. Stability and ability to recover are high on my list of desires - rip your CD or DVD collection multiple times and you will come to understand the importance of this.

To all,

I second leonowski's response to jcruse.

I was an early adopter of the unRaid system and have two of them (3 Terabytes each) that I rolled myself.

Early on Tom was very responsive and helped us early adopters over the startup rough spots which was very encouraging and reassuring to say the least.

Hopefully Tom will come through again with new updates to the OS that will let us all breathe a little easier.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

High maintenance? No just led to have high expectations...

" One thing we strive for in our business is to always be open and honest with our customers. With this in mind, here's the status of the SATA version of UnRAID:

1. The SATA code has been running several weeks now & there haven't been any issues regarding data integrity.
2. There are still some limitations which I've posted previously: no spin down and no temperatures (though of course the drives support both).
3. Hot swap is problematic.
4. Mixing PATA and SATA is ok.
5. We're using the Intel D915GAGLK m/b, and Promise SATAII TX4 controllers BUT don't consider this an official endorsement yet.
6. The reason we haven't released the code is that we also wish to be an upstanding member of the open software/linux community, without which our product would not be possible. Hence we need to be a little more "official" and this is taking longer than we anticipated.
7. SATA product photos and website updates will be taking place next week, as well as, hopefully, an AddToCart button

__________________
Tom
LIMEtechnology " 10-30-2005

"We'll soon have a download area on our website.

__________________
Tom
LIMEtechnology " 11-01-2005

I think the posts here are quite restrained after more than three months since the above statements were posted.

When i checked my Unraid Server one of my 300 gig Hardrive's now showing 49 errors! I guess this drive bad?

When i checked my Unraid Server one of my 300 gig Hardrive's now showing 49 errors! I guess this drive bad?

The stats only show Write errors as I recall and to have those show up at the interface they have to be errors the drive couldn't correct. Did the drive get shut down? With that many errors I'd be surprised if it wasn't unless they were errors it was able to correct after a few tries but have been occuring regularly. I'd watch that drive closely as it likely has an unmarked bad spot and could be ion the way out. :( Don't feel bad, I have a Maxtor 300 that lasted less than a month before unRAID found it to be bad - still haven't had time to run the silly Maxtor tests though but ALL of my new drives are Seagate and WD. After seeing TWO Maxtors die in my array I'm staying away....

Well that drive was bad! It failed last night. Dang Maxtor!

kinna of surprising... limetech id was active today again!!!

I just received an email stating my USB key was shipped. It was shipped by Tom so I am sure he is around. Maybe he is just really busy with other things.

Tom... you're not responding to support questions. You're not responding to posts here. You aren't returning phone calls. And now you're trying to lurk here. Seriously man, just say hello. We all liked you and your product. We are more than happy to work with you to iron out issues. Honestly, just talk to us. That's all we want.

-MP

At least he is alive and lurking... I am sure he just doesn't have the time. I will keep my hopes up, but I won't pull the trigger until I hear from him either via e-mail or from this board.

I just found this thread a couple of days ago and finally read through all of it. Even though Tom is currently MIA, the sata version of unraid seems to be what I have been looking for to use on a video server. I hope everything is ok for Tom and his family and I hope for his return to this forum. It seems to me he has a great product here. I am currently in no hurry to start this project (still have many others I am finishing) so I can wait to see if the sata supported version comes out. Unless there is something else that supports sata, non-striping, and different sized hard drives that can be installed whenever more storage is needed.

Around the first of January, I purchased all the parts to put together an unraid server (even bought the MB from Limetech). I just haven’t had time to build it yet. One of my external HD’s was acting up today so I concluded I couldn’t wait any longer. I logged on to this thread to review some of the installation tips and was disappointed to read the latest comments. So my question…what should I do now? It’s too late to send the HW back so I have 2 obvious choices….go ahead and build out the unraid server since I have the OS and parts or, build out the server using another OS/solution. Here are my key requirements in no particular order:

- “reasonable” protection against data loss due to HD failure without having to mirror each disk RAID 1 style
- ability to use different size HD’s in the array
- ability to access the data, in a worse case scenario, by installing each HD in a Windows PC

With some work, I understood all the above to be possible with the unraid solution. Are there other solutions I should consider, that don’t require the purchase of a lot more HW? My spare time is very limited so I’ll need to “live with” the solution I choose for some time.

marrt, I'd go ahead and build out the Unraid. The existing software works fine, and there's no official word yet that support has been discontinued. In the worst case, you've got some data to transfer to a new system someday when Unraid becomes unacceptable.

marrt, I'd go ahead and build out the Unraid. The existing software works fine, and there's no official word yet that support has been discontinued. In the worst case, you've got some data to transfer to a new system someday when Unraid becomes unacceptable.

Agreed! The system works as is for many of us including myself and it will provide protection for the data you have now. So far as I know no one has lost data using this system and much of what we want is additional functionality.

If we could figure out the magic and could find someone that knows how to make a flash drive bootable we could at least get a backup flash in our desk for when it goes belly up, and from my experiences and others, it will. Without this backup and Tom at the very point your flash dies so does the entire Un-Raid......! OuchI can't help you with the security built into unRaid as I'm not interested in undermining Tom's business, but I can at least advise you how to make an image of your flash drive to a file that can then be used in the event your current contents get corrupted.

To make a image copy of the unRaid flash drive so you could reload it if it got corrupted, log into Linux as root, then type:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/mnt/disk1/unraid.img

It will take a minute or so but eventually you will get the prompt back and the "dd" command will print something like this:

256000+0 records in
256000+0 records out

On disk1 you will now have a file that is 128 meg in size and named unraid.img.
(sort of ironic, the unraid.img file is now protected from loss by your unRaid OS since it is sitting on /mnt/disk1 :cool: )

Now, if you ever need to restore your unRaid flash drive you can load up a "live image CD" of Linux and then use its "dd" command to copy the unraid.img file back onto the flash drive. Of course, you will need to know how to find the unraid.img file on the live-Linux you use, but many will automount file systems they recognize and most should have the "dd" command as it is about as old as Unix itself.

You can also burn the unraid.img file to a CD, or copy it to one of your windows drives if you are worried about getting the unRaid server booted at all some time in the future. That way, you can always get to the saved image to reload the contents of the flash drive.

Now... you CANNOT use the saved image to load a different flash drive and run the unRaid software since Tom's security check will spot that the serial numbers are different, but this tip of saving an image of the unRaid flash just might reduce the down-time if your drive is fine electrically, but corrupted in its data. In that case you can reload your current drive (where the drive serial number will match the one in your unraid image) and be set to go. In any case, consult your local unix guru if you need to restore your flash if it gets corrupted and you have previously saved an image file of its original contents on a windows accessible disk.

Oh yes, There is a windows version of "dd" available, but I've never downloaded or used it. As usual, you are on your own with these tips. Typing the wrong "dd" command could easily overwrite your flash drive with garbage. That would not be good. You have been warned.

Edit:
Someone PM'd me and said they did a backup using /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sda. I wrote back stating that WAS NOT a backup of the entire USB drive but of the first partition on it and it did not include the boot record or partition table on the drive. (in other words, it might not be as helpful as a backup of the full USB drive) In researching this I then learned that there is a second very small native-Linux partition on the USB drive, hidden from view. It is used to hold the serial numbers of the disks in your unRaid configuration.

With this in mind, the "dd" command I described earlier using /dev/sda as its input also will have an image of your current disk configuration. (a "dd" of /dev/sda backs up everything, the boot sector, partition table, all partitions and even unallocated space on the drive) If you add disks and then use a "dd" image taken before you added those disks to restore your USB drive, the unRaid OS will think the disks are new and probably ask you to format them. (erasing your files) Now, this is no different than if Tom sent you a new USB drive to replace one failing, so I think there is a way to reset the disk configuration without reformatting all the drives. In any case, you have been warned.

So... if you add disks or move them around, make a new USB drive image using "dd" in case you ever need to restore a corrupted USB flash drive. That way, when used to restore a corrupted USB drive it will have the correct and up-to-date disk configuration information.

Joe L.

BTW I received the USB key. :)

Joe, thanks for the detailed instructions for making the backup image. Much appreciated!

Lost a 300 GB hard drive today. I think I might pull the trigger on an un-raid. All I need is a server so I can dump lots and lots of data onto. I have a lot of different size hard drives and this seems to be the best bet. I really wish we would hear something from Tom. I sent an email to Tom about 3 weeks ago that had some basic presale information. I have still not heard back yet. I don't know what to do, the ReadNAS and other solutions are not what I am looking for. Tom, please come back and at least drop us a line, tell us you are alive and supporting your product.

With someone's help I was able to create a bootable backup flash that works, now this is a monster step right into the heart of Tom's business so I share this only to let the user community know that the ability is here to get the system back should you have a flash failure like several of us have had. An un-named person was able to figure out the serial number protection that Tom built into the system and I have living proof that the results work. Tom if you read this, it was ONLY done because we fear you are not going to return and support this product.

If Tom returns we need to drop all these efforts off the map and let him continue his business as he planned. If the worse is true and Tom is not going to come back and this product is left to us early adopters to support we may be able too at least keep it alive in it's current state (no improvements) which for many of us is a very good thing.

With someone's help I was able to create a bootable backup flash that works, now this is a monster step right into the heart of Tom's business so I share this only to let the user community know that the ability is here to get the system back should you have a flash failure like several of us have had. An un-named person was able to figure out the serial number protection that Tom built into the system and I have living proof that the results work. Tom if you read this, it was ONLY done because we fear you are not going to return and support this product.

If Tom returns we need to drop all these efforts off the map and let him continue his business as he planned. If the worse is true and Tom is not going to come back and this product is left to us early adopters to support we may be able too at least keep it alive in it's current state (no improvements) which for many of us is a very good thing.

That's good news - now don't you go disappearing too! ;) Tom hasn't not shipped anything so for now I see no need to do anything with it. You've certainly piqued my curiousity though - might have to look at my stuff more closely too :D

I would also point out that backing up the Flash via DD is all well and good except that the failures appear to be electronic in nature - at least mine was. I HAVE a backup of my FOB however when it was no longer recognized by my server or by any Windows machine reliably that backup did me no good. I believe that Tom felt a backup of that code was prudent and his choosing to make it FAT and easily accessible is evidence of this. I would point out too that when I had my failure Tom was talking to me within hours of it occuring and that he sent me a new USB FOB quickly via FedEx. I in turn sent him mine back, albeit much more slowly, so that he could hopefully figure out what happened or perhaps a recovery process <shrug>

Hopefully Tom is still improving things, an appearance here might be nice though. I think probably the next thing I'll do with my array is setup the folder structure discused here previously and hope for Tom to come back with some more functionality. I am starting to see SOME of the performance issues that have been mentioned by others. However in at least one case it appared to be transient - sluggish one minute, much better the next. This while both writing and reading in two processes - it's strange. I have MCE on the way and will be moving towards builoding something suited for DVD playback so I guess I'll know soon enough how serious this is for video...

I have MCE on the way and will be moving towards builoding something suited for DVD playback so I guess I'll know soon enough how serious this is for video...

I've finally have my system back at home running smoothly. I'm using MCE and it works great with MyMovies. I just mapped each drive and had it reconnect at logon. I also had 2 streams playing on different machines with no problems so far.

I would also point out that backing up the Flash via DD is all well and good except that the failures appear to be electronic in nature - at least mine was. I HAVE a backup of my FOB however when it was no longer recognized by my server or by any Windows machine reliably that backup did me no good. You are correct, if your flash drive dies electrically, no image or copy of files in it you saved previously will help you restore it. Regardless of how you backed it up. The "dd" command I previously described is of use if your flash drive contents get corrupted, but not if the drive does not work electrically.
I believe that Tom felt a backup of that code was prudent and his choosing to make it FAT and easily accessible is evidence of this. Tom did take advantage of the FAT filesystem to make it easy for us to edit the files on it and to "upgrade" it. (someday... hopefully) by plugging it into a windows machine, but we are still at the mercy of Tom to set up a flash drive initially to partition it, make it bootable, and set its encrypted serial number to match the USB drive serial number.

From what I have seen looking on my flash drive there are two partitions, one of them FAT and uses most of the space on the drive, and the other a much smaller native linux partition. The second small partition seems to be used to track the serial numbers of the various disks in my unRaid array. I would guess this allows Tom to detect when the configuration has changed and disks swapped around. He could have tracked this disk configuration info in a file in the FAT partition but did not. Perhaps he did not want it overwritten accidentally when an "upgrade" was performed by us users. (Hint... Tom... an "upgrade" would be really nice)

There is no way for us to partition a USB drive the way Tom did from windows. It has to be done on a Linux OS. So... the FAT filesystem was to make it easier for us to upgrade, the smaller Linux partition is so we don't shoot ourselves in the foot when changing disks in the configuration. (as far as I know, this partition is not even mounted in the unRaid OS so we never see the disk configuration file in it... hidden... and safe from us users)
I would point out too that when I had my failure Tom was talking to me within hours of it occuring and that he sent me a new USB FOB quickly via FedEx. I in turn sent him mine back, albeit much more slowly, so that he could hopefully figure out what happened or perhaps a recovery process <shrug>
That was the Tom that we used to know, before he became a recluse. If Richard had that same level of support he would not have resorted to having a friend get a spare USB drive set up to replace the one failing intermittantly in his unRaid server. He would have gotten it directly from Tom.

Hopefully Tom is still improving things, an appearance here might be nice though.Me too... I miss his input and would love to see some of the issues and feature requests we all discussed last year implemented in an upgrade release. I hope he is well and that it is not an illness or family emergency keeping him from resuming e-mail and phone contact with us initial purchasers of unRaid.

Joe L.

Someone PM'd me and said they did a backup using /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sda. I wrote back stating that WAS NOT a backup of the entire USB drive but of the first partition on it and it did not include the boot record or partition table on the drive. (in other words, it might not be as helpful as a backup of the full USB drive) In researching this for him I then learned that there is a second very small native-Linux partition on the USB drive, hidden from view. It is apparently used to hold the serial numbers of the disks in your unRaid configuration.

With this in mind, the "dd" command I described earlier using /dev/sda as its input also will have an image of the disk configuration at the time you make it. (a "dd" of /dev/sda backs up everything, the boot sector, partition table, all partitions and even unallocated space on the drive)

If you subsequently change or add disks to your unRaid array and then attempt to fix your flash drive by restoring it from a "dd" image taken before you added those disks, the unRaid OS will think the disks are new and probably ask you to format them. (erasing your files)

Now, this is slightly different than if Tom sent you a new USB drive to replace one failing, in that situation the unRaid software would see all the drives as new and I think I remember reading that it would then just rebuild the array. Using an older image to restore your flash drive would probably confuse unRaid, it would not recognize the config and may not start or might ask you to erase the new drives. Obviously, don't do that... I think there is a way to reset the disk configuration without reformatting all the drives and the unRaid server will just build parity from what disks it finds. In any case, you have been warned.

There is an easier solution though to an out-of-date backup... (drumroll please..). A current image backup :D

If you add disks to your unRaid array, or move them around, be sure to make a newer, up-to-date USB drive image using "dd" in case you ever need to restore a corrupted USB flash drive. That way, when used to restore a corrupted USB drive it will have the correct and up-to-date disk configuration information.

Oh yes, my guess is that a cheap UPS would prevent your motherboard from doing weird things to your flash drive in the event of a power hit or glitch. I would also guess that power hits are likely the biggest cause of data corruption.

Again, you are on your own. If you mess up it would not be fun, especially with Tom's current level of (non)support. Not sure if Tom would agree that a backup image of the USB flash drive is needed, but since several here have posted about their flash drives that have had to be replaced, I figured it can't hurt. Tom, care to comment? :)

Joe L.

Using an older image to restore your flash drive would probably confuse unRaid, it would not recognize the config and may not start or might ask you to erase the new drives. Obviously, don't do that... I think there is a way to reset the disk configuration without reformatting all the drives and the unRaid server will just build parity from what disks it finds.
Seems odd to quote my own post, but the following text is from Tom's web-site describing the unRaid configuration and use:
>What if there's something really wrong, for example, maybe multiple drives are missing?
If the system detects a configuration where it can not start at all, then you will not be able to start the array. You must either correct the situation or initialize the array configuration data.

>Initialize, what's that?
This is an option on the Tools page to let you zero-out the array configuration data. The system will think it's brand new with all new hard drives. When you start the array, the system will start a background process to generate the parity information. Note: in the special case where (it thinks) all the hard drives are new, the format operation will not clear the data areas; it simply generates parity.So... Tom's software can handle an out of date disk configuration list on the unRaid flash drive. Nice...

You will have to "reset the array configuration" on the "Tools" menu page to have it rebuild parity to get everything going again (if you restored your flash drive with an out-of-date disk configuration image) but at least you will again be up and running.

All this said, the only problems I ever had with my unRaid array is when I had a momentary power blip. It crashed the server and it needed to be power cycled to boot properly. That was before I put it on a UPS. I have not had any problems since, but then I'm not moving disks around either. My unRaid is just bulk storage for my lan.

Joe L.

That was before I put it on a UPS. I have not had any problems since, but then I'm not moving disks around either. My unRaid is just bulk storage for my lan.

Joe L.

So has anyone been able to add a UPS and monitor to shut down the server if a power outage happens?

Also is anyone use xbmc on there xbox get movies from the server?

What other options are there to stream movies to a tv not hooked upto an htpc?

There are instructions earlier in the thread for using wizd and a Linkplayer2.

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I've been on this forum. Is the NASlite product the same as lime? As good?

Thanks..

It sounds like NASlite is just a lightweight network server. lime adds the parity drive to protect yourself against data loss in the case where a drive fails.

Kirby,

Even though it has been briefly discussed here, you might want to ask about the NASlite product on the "Digital Media Servers & Content Streamers" forum.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

OK, thanks for those suggestions...

Kirby

Hi Guys,

Are any of you using unRaid with SageTV? The unRaid certainly seems to be an ideal product for my uses - even without the support - but the Sage forum recommends that the storage drives be formatted "64K-NTFS" and I think unRaid uses Reisler (sp?) as the file system. Will these to products work together?

Thanks in advance for any help!

-PGPfan

P. S. Tom, we hope you are doing OK. Please just post a quick 'I'm alive, more later' and let us know. We understand how things can get.

P. S. Tom, we hope you are doing OK. Please just post a quick 'I'm alive, more later' and let us know. We understand how things can get.


DITTO.

PGPFan,
I am trying to use it with SageTV now. SageTV does not know the difference between a UNC drive from UnRaid or XP, or a local disk. It is a directory that it can access.

I too have wondered if I could increase the cluster size for the UnRaid system as almost all the files stored on the UnRaid are very large. I did see a big improvement under XP when using 64kB clusters. I'm not sure how cluster size relates to the UnRaid filesystem. Any Linux guys out there?

Ok, did a little googling and found this:

"ReiserFS is bulit on new method of keeping files. It does a tremendous job in handing small small files. Servers that serve webpages to the net sometime use ReiserFS to improve performace of their websites. RiserFS does a good job in terms of performace. It also does a good job in handling wasted space. Some file systems use fix units of space to hold pieces of files. The advantages of this would probably be for finding the location of the file and to move files accoss the disk without the complexities. Using FAT32 or NTFS we would call this a cluster. Well ReiserFS doesn't use fixed cluster sizes but the analogy goes like this; the file size is the cluster size. If you think about it in this terms, the you sort of get what they devoplers have achieved. ReiserFS is extremely effcient in storing files compared to other the file systems. ReiserFS does have good performance in a lot of areas."

Sounds like fixed sized clusters are not an issue with ReiserFS.

The more I learn about the unRaid, the more I like the idea. Man, I wish Tom would make a quick appearance to asuade fears that this product is dead/dying. I still plan on pulling the trigger and getting it as soon as I finish aquiring the remaining parts (MB is all that's left).

-PGPfan

The more I learn about the unRaid, the more I like the idea. Man, I wish Tom would make a quick appearance to asuade fears that this product is dead/dying. I still plan on pulling the trigger and getting it as soon as I finish aquiring the remaining parts (MB is all that's left).

-PGPfan

To quote a much quoted quote, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Anyway, we're alive and well, shipping product, writing code. We also have a brand spanking new Community Forum (http://support.lime-technology.com/forum).

It's going to take me a while to catch up...

holy crap.

To quote a much quoted quote, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Anyway, we're alive and well, shipping product, writing code. We also have a brand spanking new Community Forum (http://support.lime-technology.com/forum).

It's going to take me a while to catch up...

W00T! What happened?

Umm, and the forum is down :p

Glad to have you back - whew!

Hallelujah!!!

:D

Nice....

Wow... I admit Tom, I never thought we'd see you again. Thanks for proving me wrong :)

Umm, and the forum is down :p
Tom's new forum is probably overloaded from all of us curious to learn what has been going on.

Tom's post was only a few hours ago... odds are he is still sleeping and the forum will be functional once he wakes and figures out what is going on.

There is also a link to the support forum on Tom's web-site support page (http://www.lime-technology.com/support.htm), although you might need to clear your browser's cache for it to load the updated "support" page.

Welcome back Tom! Glad to hear you are alive, well, and still coding.

Joe L.

Wow.. I just stood up at work and cheered. Now I have people looking at me like I am crazy. This is great news!!!! THANKS TOM!!!

Hi all,

Lime Technology's Forum is up and running this morning!

I just finished registering.

Really like the look of the new Forum.

Don't forget to register and support the new Forum!

Nice work Tom!!!

Regards,
TCIII

WooHoo,

I don't know what to say except THANKS for coming back! You have been missed.

I hope we weren't too harsh on you! Lime-Technology is going to succeed!!!!

-PGPfan

Awesome.

Great to hear from you, Tom.

Had me worried too... I don't have one but was looking into getting one. I followed this thread for a very long time.....and without tom's participation was getting a little worried...

Registered at the limetech forums....

R~

Tom shipped me the USB Key last week.. and I just ordered the HW today. Ive been looking at UnRaid for some time and I finally pulled the trigger on this. Its great to see that Tom is back and for future enhancements to the software.

Just ordered and recieved 4 - 500 gig Hardrives from Tom THis week. Fast service.
Thanks Tom!

Tom,

You had me at "I'm back". *sniff* :)

Welcome back! Headed over to register now

Regards.. Ed

Ok, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon. :) I've been struggling with a solution to house all of my archived DVD movies/music/etc. for my HTPC that I'm currently building. I've been going back/forth trying to decide on either a raid 5 type setup or just using my DVD's as the back up and re-copying to a new harddrive if one failed. I've also considered ReadyNas and FreeNas as solutions.

I stayed up late last night and caught up on this thread as well as reading Lime Techs documents on the website. I am very interested in the product, just need to convince the wife. :)

I'm curious if there is any thought to building a similar design, only with less drive bays, maybe a 6 bay unit that would be more affordable to start. I know a person does not have to make use of all 12 bays right away, but I'm trying to justify the cost with no hard drives.

I know these are not apples to apples, but a person can get a 4 bay setup from ReadyNas or Buffalo already with a terrabyte included for under a grand. Granted your limited to 4 bays, but the hard drives come with the unit.

Again, I think this product looks awesome, I just need to give it some thought...

Sirquack,

Don't forget that Tom has the system available as a 'build your own', which allows you to start with as big or little of a system as you wish.

-PGPfan

Happy to see Tom is still ticking :)

WooHoo,

I don't know what to say except THANKS for coming back! You have been missed.

I hope we weren't too harsh on you! Lime-Technology is going to succeed!!!!

-PGPfan
I still don't see much evidence of continued support or participation in this or his own forum. Where has Limetech been for the last month? I'd like to see some evidence that Tom is really back before I buy into this product. Unraid has great potential but it needs support as this thread has proven.

Jermmd, nobody is demanding that you by into this product. If you don't trust it or Tom, DON'T GET IT! As for the rest of your comment, please re-read what Tom posted which I've pasted below (with emphasis added by me):
--------
To quote a much quoted quote, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Anyway, we're alive and well, shipping product, writing code. We also have a brand spanking new Community Forum.

It's going to take me a while to catch up...
---------

Frankly I fail to see where post like the one you posted today have done anything other than perhaps to drive Tom away. Don't take this the wrong way, but give the guy some slack - he hasn't failed to ship his product to ANYBODY that we've heard of, he HAS come back and posted that he is alive (which shows me he hasn't forgotten us), set up a forum to support his own product (which may cut his already pressured developement time even more).

Sorry, I just don't see what he owes you.

-PGPfan

I agree, starting up a new product like this takes time, resources, development, etc... I have no doubt this will be a successful venture for Tom and the other Lime employees. I most likely will take the plunge myself after I finish my HTPC I am building currently.

I'm sure Tom is very busy and never purposely avoided anyone. Sometimes these things snowball when one person makes a comment, then others chime in and it gets real ugly. ;)

I hope some of the current owners of this product continue to provide positive feedback and experiences.

Keep up the good work Tom.

Sirquack,

The beauty of the UnRaid is that since Tom is selling the SW separately as well as a starter kit, your up front investment can be low. I had a bunch of PATA drives and other HW, so I bought just the SW on the USB key from Tom. I purchased the intel MB from ZipZoomFly since I had the memory and a used Celeron and the UltraATA TX2 cards lying around. Started with three drives and as I (slowly) move data to the server, I free up drives to put in the Unraid. Real RAID5 requires identical drives (sizewise - my maxtor and WD 200G drives are slightly different in formatted capacity). Also, adding drives to a RAID5 is only possible if the HW and/or SW support online capacity expansion.

Right now my server is housed in a case I had lying around, so my start up costs were around $300. The CoolerMaster case with those removeable trays look cool, but if you price it out alot of the cost of the turnkey box from limetech is in the case and trays. Eventually, I will hide the server out of site so I'm not too concerned with the looks.

If you don't want to build your own, then yes, the pre-assembled box from limetech is pretty expensive.

Regards..Ed

Jermmd, nobody is demanding that you by into this product. If you don't trust it or Tom, DON'T GET IT!

This is nonsense.


--------
To quote a much quoted quote, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Anyway, we're alive and well, shipping product, writing code. We also have a brand spanking new Community Forum.

It's going to take me a while to catch up...

He wrote it will take him a while to catch up, not to get started !


---------

Frankly I fail to see where post like the one you posted today have done anything other than perhaps to drive Tom away. Don't take this the wrong way, but give the guy some slack - he hasn't failed to ship his product to ANYBODY that we've heard of, he HAS come back and posted that he is alive (which shows me he hasn't forgotten us), set up a forum to support his own product (which may cut his already pressured developement time even more).

Sorry, I just don't see what he owes you.

-PGPfan

I think he owes me an explanation of where he was for 2 months while so many people were having problems with Unraid. Don't you? Presumably he wants my (and everyone elses) business. As I said, Unraid has great potential. I'd love to see that support is included because I want to use it. I'm just not convinced the support is there yet. Don't you think this is at least a reasonable concern?

I think I agree with Jermmd at some points...

Before it starts another flame war, I would like to make it clear, I'm not on the Unraid Bandwagon. I was looking into it around last sept/oct timeframe but the developer's vacuous and spurious promises, unimaginable delays with no explanations (yes clients always need and have the right to have one and a good business should always have one) and lateron, re-architecting my home network distributedly using ReadyNAS instead of centralized using Stacker, made me no longer dependent on limetech... but still, out of interest (in terms of technology) I was following this thread...

Yeah, I agree with Jermmd and yet still don't blame people who with just one word from Tom had forgotten everything, the real concerns, the disappearance for more than 2 months, the slyness of logging in with the id regularly over the period of time and still not responding... people always have the habit of making heroes and letting them get away with whatever they want...

nobody, can be that busy not to drop a line and yet free to login and read!!! HAHA... you guys must be kiddin' yourself...

Also, still nothing makes sure that this won't happen again... All this was just a nuetral observation and comment...

To Bob Sorel,

Since Tom has his own Forum now, maybe it is time to close-out this thread and start another one where members can bitch about Tom's performance as much as they want.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

This is nonsense.

Nonsense? Perhaps you shouldn't have said "I'd like to see some evidence that Tom is really back before I buy into this product.".

He wrote it will take him a while to catch up, not to get started ![QUOTE]

You don't make much sense here, or to quote you "This is nonsense". The mere fact that he's posted at all is a 'start'. If he posts again in 3 or 5 days, then he has been IN FACT taking a while to catch up. :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Jermmd]I think he owes me an explanation of where he was for 2 months while so many people were having problems with Unraid. Don't you? Presumably he wants my (and everyone elses) business. As I said, Unraid has great potential. I'd love to see that support is included because I want to use it. I'm just not convinced the support is there yet. Don't you think this is at least a reasonable concern?

Again, he OWES you nothing. You aren't a customer. If you have no faith that with time he will support his true customers (those that HAVE paid for product, and HAVE received it) then that is YOUR DECISION as I tried to point out. So, to answer your question, no I don't think he owes an explaination to make me feel better.

As for support not being there, yes that is a reasonable concern - but not large enough to sway my decision making. We buy software from companies like MS all the time without the slightest thought of support (which is now exclusively outsourced), I'd venture to say based on what I've read so far, that most if not all of the users of unRaid are still satisfied customers and are glad they bought it. Real support (not outsourced, which is as good as no support in most cases) will make it all the better.

We buy SageTV, bugs and all (another product I totally satisfied with) and there have been MANY occaisions were the 'official support' has dropped off the planet for 4+ months at a time only to return with some sweet upgrade/new release. Why is it we will give them the benefit of dought but not Tom?

-PGPfan
-PGPfan

Anyone know a good way to verify old hard drives before I pop them into the unRaid? I have a few that I can't remember why I took out.

Anyone know a good way to verify old hard drives before I pop them into the unRaid? I have a few that I can't remember why I took out.

If you're talking about a desk-checking program there is one called Drive Fitness Test. That will scan the drive for errors. Burn it to a bootable CD and scan away.

Nelson

I made my point and don't want to dwell on it.

I have a bunch of hard drives of different sizes that I've been buying for the past month at great discounts using rebates. Unfortunately, the discounts are usually only good for a single purchase. Thus the variety of drives. Unraid would be perfect for me. I also have an extra computer that I could cannibalize for a server. It's a Dell PowerEdge 400SC (http://www.wikifaq.com/Dell_PowerEdge_400SC_FAQs). Will this motherboard work with the Unraid software? The case only hold 4 hard drives. Is there any way to add an external device to hold more hard drives and still use Unraid?

Jermmd,

Tom selected the particular motherboard that he recommends because the NIC, besides being a Gigabit, is on a separate bus from the PCI bus thus making it faster than NICs that are attached to the PCI bus.

If you want your server to be reliable and not give you problems, I suggest that you use the recommended motherboard, processor and memory. You do not have to start out with a CM Stacker case, but in the long run it is worth the money to use it from the beginning and populate it as you need to.

I have two 3GB unRaid servers that I built myself using the recommended motherboard, processor and memory. They work fine and run 24/7. I just finished a parity check on the number one server and it passed without any problems.

Following a tried and true design sure beats trying something that is untested and may not work without a lot of agonizing experimentation!

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

I have two 3GB unRaid servers


Starting Slow Tom? :D

Jermmd,

Following a tried and true design sure beats trying something that is untested and may not work without a lot of agonizing experimentation!

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

Tom,

That's what I figured. :( I would just like to save some money and use what the stuff I already have. I'm sure its not worth the hassle of having problems.

Thanks,

Anyone know a good way to verify old hard drives before I pop them into the unRaid? I have a few that I can't remember why I took out.

This is one of my major issues with the current code, I had 2 drives that Windows was totally happy with but both caused me DMA errors and lockups in the UnRaid box. As Tom put it Windows seems to be far more tolerent of drive issues. So I think the overall answer to your question is no.

Pity. That's why I was trying to avoid the problem. I'll try a few of the sector scan tools. They take FOREVER though.

Origially Posted by MadPoet
Anyone know a good way to verify old hard drives before I pop them into the unRaid? I have a few that I can't remember why I took out.

MadPoet, Richard_P_Harvey or Joe L.:

Same question re: Hard Drive Selection, is there a Linux Version of DriveFitness that would perhaps allow us to test old drives prior to inserting them in the UnRaid Server?

Just a thought for the Linux Gurus :o

Dave

Origially Posted by MadPoet
Anyone know a good way to verify old hard drives before I pop them into the unRaid? I have a few that I can't remember why I took out.

MadPoet, Richard_P_Harvey or Joe L.:

Same question re: Hard Drive Selection, is there a Linux Version of DriveFitness that would perhaps allow us to test old drives prior to inserting them in the UnRaid Server?

Just a thought for the Linux Gurus :o

DaveI am not aware of a Linux utility that would test drives the same way a dedicated program would.

Several utilities are available that "boot" from either floppy or a CD and then test the hard drives on the PC. Some are non-destructive, some are not, and they could erase data in some cases or when asked. (fine if the drive is currently empty and unformatted, but BAD if it has files you want to keep)

Obviously, these will not work directly on my unRaid server since it has neither a CD or a floppy to boot from. To test a disk it would have to be temporally installed in a PC that does have a floppy or CD drive it could boot from.

One utility I've often read of often in various forums is "spinrite" from www.grc.com It is not free, (about $90) but will exercise a disk and recover data and even "repair" a disk by using its ability to remap sectors using the functionality built into many of todays drives and a statistical analysis of repeated reads from supposed "bad" sectors on the disk.

Another utility I have seen mentioned is "Drive fitness Test" available from this link http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

It is able to work on drives other than Hitachi/IBM and is also run from a bootable floppy or CD and is free. (price is right) It can erase and low-level format IBM and Hitachi drives (if commanded to do so), so be careful. It will not recover bad data, but instead re-map bad sectors to good ones, effectively erasing the contents in the process. (bad sector had your old data, new is blank)

I've never used either of these programs... so do your own investigation. I don't know how non-destructive they really are. (I had a bad experience with Maxtor's "maxblast" utility when it re-partitioned the existing "maxtor" drive in one of my systems instead of the second "maxtor" drive I was adding, wiping out my data, so I am very cautious these days.)

From what it seems, to do a good job, these drive analysis programs must access a drive at a very low level, and it is not possible through the normal Windows or Linux drivers, so they drop down to DOS and use their own drivers on their own bootable disks.

Expect both programs to take a very long time to exercise and analyze big drives.

Joe L.

This is nonsense.

He wrote it will take him a while to catch up, not to get started !

I think he owes me an explanation of where he was for 2 months while so many people were having problems with Unraid. Don't you? Presumably he wants my (and everyone elses) business. As I said, Unraid has great potential. I'd love to see that support is included because I want to use it. I'm just not convinced the support is there yet. Don't you think this is at least a reasonable concern?

Yes, I do apologize to everyone for my "hiatius". I was using the time to extricate myself from (as it turned out) a very bad business decision. But I am (and always have been) 100% committed to growing our company and supporting our products.

As far as the "risk" to try UnRaid - well if you just purchase a Flash, there's really not much risk - it comes with a money-back guarentee, the most you'd be out is a couple 39 cent stamps to send it back via 1st class.

I also have an extra computer that I could cannibalize for a server. It's a Dell PowerEdge 400SC. Will this motherboard work with the Unraid software? The case only hold 4 hard drives. Is there any way to add an external device to hold more hard drives and still use Unraid?

One thing about that PowerEdge is that it appears to have only a 10/100Mbit ethernet connection. Actually, this is fine for many purposes - so if you want to try it, tell me what motherboard model is in there & I'll make a system build with support for that chip.

The main reason we didn't put support for 10/100 ethernet is that there are a gazillion different drivers out there & we're trying to conserve space on the Flash. But we'll start including some per customer requests.

I'm not sure how to add extra drives in there & there's no way really to easily add external drives like firewire or usb drives. But you can start out with 4 drives and if that works ok, move everything to a different case - or you could even attach everything to a piece of plywood :)

One thing about that PowerEdge is that it appears to have only a 10/100Mbit ethernet connection. Actually, this is fine for many purposes - so if you want to try it, tell me what motherboard model is in there & I'll make a system build with support for that chip.
The Poweredge does support 1000Mbit ethernet so that is not a problem. As for the motherboard, It closely resembles the Intel D875PBZ. Unfortunately, it's not your standard ATX board and the screws are in the wrong place to attach properly to a stacker case. Maybe I could jury rig something-maybe even glue it into the case rather than screw it down? I'll post this in the Unraid forum and PM you as well. What does everyone else think?

I'm not sure how to add extra drives in there & there's no way really to easily add external drives like firewire or usb drives. But you can start out with 4 drives and if that works ok, move everything to a different case - or you could even attach everything to a piece of plywood :)

Jermmd, you seem to be quite worried about support some posts back. You're much more likely to avoid having to call on the support if you go with the standard motherboard.

Jermmd, you seem to be quite worried about support some posts back. You're much more likely to avoid having to call on the support if you go with the standard motherboard.
I now your right but I can't help myself. I'm a cheap B*st*rd!

It does add up. One point I will make that I said earlier in the thread... if you build your own, it is a LOT of work. So you have to consider how valuable your time is and whether the couple hundred bucks you save is worth it ;)

The Poweredge does support 1000Mbit ethernet so that is not a problem. As for the motherboard, It closely resembles the Intel D875PBZ. Unfortunately, it's not your standard ATX board and the screws are in the wrong place to attach properly to a stacker case. Maybe I could jury rig something-maybe even glue it into the case rather than screw it down? I'll post this in the Unraid forum and PM you as well. What does everyone else think?

I can tell you from personal experience that trying to combine Dell parts with standard parts is a recipe for heartbreak. It's not just the motherboard that's proprietary - you'll find that the power supply is, the fan connectors are, etc.

It's basically not worth it. Sell your 400SC, they're still worth a reasonable amount since they're so quiet, and then take the proceeds and buy standard parts. Or repurpose the 400SC to do something other than Unraid - it would make a decent living room computer, for example, if you don't mind the looks.

I can tell you from personal experience that trying to combine Dell parts with standard parts is a recipe for heartbreak. It's not just the motherboard that's proprietary - you'll find that the power supply is, the fan connectors are, etc.

It's basically not worth it. Sell your 400SC, they're still worth a reasonable amount since they're so quiet, and then take the proceeds and buy standard parts. Or repurpose the 400SC to do something other than Unraid - it would make a decent living room computer, for example, if you don't mind the looks.



AMEN AMEN AMEN :rolleyes:

What kind of impact does memory have on the unRAID? I know that Tom ships systems with 2x256MB sticks, but is that the minimum? Will 2 sticks of 128 work ok?

Thoughts?

-PGPfan

PGPFan,

At one time I believe that Tom indicated that 512 MB was the minimum.

Regards,
TCIII

So the 512 is minimum? I wonder why? Seems like when using such a small build of Linux it 'should' be just fine on less. Does everyone currently using unRAID have 512? Always in 2 sticks?

I'm just hoping to re-use some existing memory I have. I just got the D865 motherboard that is recommended (off ebay for $39 :D ) and have the Promise cards on their way. I hope to buy the USB stick from Tom very soon. Can't wait....!

-PGPfan

Curious when the Sata storage is realeased, if there will be a huge difference in price? I can't see there should be a huge difference. Any thoughts?

So the 512 is minimum? I wonder why? Seems like when using such a small build of Linux it 'should' be just fine on less. -PGPfanThe entire OS is uncompressed from the flash drive into a "ram" drive and runs from there. So all of Linux is in ram, the OS Kernel, all the utilities, everything. This takes quite a chunk of ram even before the programs themselves allocate ram for their own needs for disk buffering, variables, etc as they are invoked and run.

Additionally, there is no "swap" space allocated on any disk, therefore everything must fit in the ram you have. Can't swap programs that are idle off to disk to make room.

The tradeoff to having enough ram to never need a swap device is speed in invoking a command. Native unix commands are really fast since when invoked they do not have to be read off a hard-disk, but instead read from the "ram drive" that is simulating a hard-disk.

Joe L.

Thanks Joe.

512 it is, then.

-PGPfan

J.L.,

Nice explanation of the motherboard RAM requirements. I was going to say something along those lines, but being more of a hardware type, I figured one of you software guys would know more about it than my meager knowledge.

Thanks!


Sirquack,

Why not post your SATA storage release target date on the Lime Tech Forum? You might get it answered faster as that is where Tom has been posting most of his hardware and software updates.

If you have not already joined, you might want to do so now. The number of members, the last time I looked, is 50 and steadily increasing.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

Aiiee... so I finally hooked everything up. Thought I had all the cables right. Plugged in the 2 power supplies, flipped the switches, and... hrm. If I turn both on, neither starts. If I turn one on then the peripherals like the fans that are on that one start but nothing else. The minute I flick the other one on they both stop. Doesn't matter which one is on first. I have the top supply plugged into the square connector on the MB, the adapter for the big power, the top fan, and 6 of the drives. The bottom is plugged into the back fan, 6 of the drives, and the piece of the adapter with just the 2 wires. Soooo.... where did I go wrong.

Thanks Joe.

512 it is, then.

-PGPfan

FWIW, I sprung for a Gig. I figure that this way I can run additional programs so long as they aren't bloated and not have to sweat running out of room. Not required but if you want to try and perhaps run something like a media streamer you'll want to consider additional RAM.

madpoet,

Did you remember to also connect the four conductor +12 volt cable from the first power supply to the four position connector on the motherboard?

If you are using the recommended Intel motherboard, you need to hook up the four pin +12 volt power connector as well as the normal 20 pin power connector.

You should have the second power supply "turn-on adapter" inserted between the end of the first power supply motherboard power connector (20 pin) and the 20 pin connector on the motherboard. The 20 pin connector on the other end of the two wire "turn-on adapter"cable should be plugged into the the 20 pin power supply cable on the second power supply and go nowhere else!!!

Hope this helps.

Regards,
TCIII

Yeah, that was the square one I referenced. I think that's exactly how I have it :(. The 12v rail from the second supply doesn't go anywhere, right?

Not required but if you want to try and perhaps run something like a media streamer you'll want to consider additional RAM.

BLKMGK, what exactly do you mean a 'media streamer'? Isn't that by default what the unRAID is doing naturally or am I missing something? As for intended usage for me, it'll be storage for DVD rips and MP3's and the data store for Sage TV. Would you still recommend uping the ram? (keep in mind, cheap is good ;) )

-PGPfan

madpoet,

You got it right.

The next thing that you should do is try and run the motherboard by itself on only the first power supply if you have not successfully done so already. Detach any drives that you have hooked up the the Flash Drive if you have it in a USB slot.

See if you can get the BIOS boot up splash screen and try and use the Del key to get into the BIOS pages at start up. The most important thing at this point is to just get the motherboard to talk to a keyboard and monitor. The rest of the hardware can be attached later after you have the motherboard working correctly by itself.

I presently use a cheap PC case and a relatively good power supply to try out the recommended motherboards with just the CPU and memory using just a keyboard and monitor attached to the motherboard.

Remember, if you are using the recommended Intel motherboard you must have v24 of the BIOS. If not, you must upgrade it with the correct BIOS version from the Intel website.

If you can get the motherboard to work, setup the BIOS like Lime Tech says to on their website and then start adding drives a little at a time. I started with just the drives on the motherboard and then added the Promise controllers and additional drives. Going one step at a time may help to resolve your start up issues.

Regars,
TCIII

BLKMGK, what exactly do you mean a 'media streamer'? Isn't that by default what the unRAID is doing naturally or am I missing something? As for intended usage for me, it'll be storage for DVD rips and MP3's and the data store for Sage TV. Would you still recommend uping the ram? (keep in mind, cheap is good ;) )

-PGPfan

No, right now what you have is a storage array that front-ends can access to playback content. If you run software to stream then any say uPNP device could receive and play it back. A few pages back this was talked about - I was using a package to stream to my Buffalo LinkTheater. Honestly though I've not found any decent uPNP packages that I really like. My plan is to build an XBOX into a media front end and I m also going to try out MCE when time allows.

BLKMGK,

I once considered using a modified XBOX as a streaming media client, but after reading about some of the problems with the modified XBOXes over on the Digital Media Servers and Content Streamers Forum, I decided to stick with my Mediagate MG-35 which cost me less than $200 which is less than a new XBOX.

Regards,
TCIII

I decided to build my own UnRaid server because I didnt need the dual power supplies, and removable trays at this time. I ordered the USB Key and suggested hardware. I assembled everything last night and it was very simple. I booted the server and formatted the drives and built the parity. No issues at all. :) Right now I am just copying all of movies (VOB format) to the UnRaid from a few Hard Drives. I am starting off with:

300 GBParity
250 GB
250 GB
200 GB
160 GB
40 GB

I will be moving in 2 months so at this point I am just using a Zyxel 10/100 router but plan on moving to a Zyxel Gigabit switch. I am using an MG-35 in my home theater and havent decided the interface for the bedroom yet.

BLKMGK,

I once considered using a modified XBOX as a streaming media client, but after reading about some of the problems with the modified XBOXes over on the Digital Media Servers and Content Streamers Forum, I decided to stick with my Mediagate MG-35 which cost me less than $200 which is less than a new XBOX.

Regards,
TCIII


I also use an MG-35 and have no issues. The GUI could be better but the functionality is there. I also was thinking of going the modded Xbox route, but I am not sure its worth it. I do like the DVD covers with info options of Xlobby.

For people using a single power supply, what are you using?

I do like the DVD covers with info options of Xlobby.

MediaPortal also pulls covers/movie/actor information from the IMDB database, and is free like Xlobby. :)

For people using a single power supply, what are you using?

I'm using an Antec NeoHE 500 in a cheap case holding 10 hard disks (and 1 CD-ROM drive), but no drive trays with fans although there are other fans of course.

Still having nothing but trouble. I unplugged all the drives and tried it several different ways:

1) large connector and 12v square connector straight from power supply 1 into the motherboard. The green light on the board indicated it was getting power, but nothing else happened. No fans, nothing.

2) adapter plugged into the large connector, 12v straight into the motherboard. Same as above.

3) same as above but with power supply 2 attached although not plugged in. When I switched it on the CPU fan and PS fan came on, but nothing else happened.

4) As above but I plugged in and turned on power supply 2. It caused the fans from PS1 to shut off, and nothing else happened.

I reversed the entire process with PS2, and had the exact same results. I am so very, very confused. If the CPU fan is spinning then it's GOT to be turned on.

Is your motherboard shorted to the case?

Hrm. I have no idea. Any easy way to check?

Take it out, make sure all the standoffs are in the correct place, then put it back in again.

I'd also try reseating the memory, and reseating the processor, just in case.

Bah, I was afraid you'd say that. Ah well, that's a project for the weekend then.

BLKMGK,

I once considered using a modified XBOX as a streaming media client, but after reading about some of the problems with the modified XBOXes over on the Digital Media Servers and Content Streamers Forum, I decided to stick with my Mediagate MG-35 which cost me less than $200 which is less than a new XBOX.

Regards,
TCIII

I'll likely be snagging a used XBOX off of EBAY or one from a friend who no longer wants their's - cheap cheap :D I have a LinkTheater and it works well with a LinkStation but no covers blah blah and no menus either. Both covers and menus are important to me - covers moreso. I'm not familiar with the Mediagate but will look into it - I honestly think that an MCE box will be my ultimate endpoint though - it's simply WAY more flexible. For the moment the Linktheater works but could be better <shrug>

I'll look into Mediaportal and Xlobby too. I've tried Myth but I'm nowhere near the Linux guy I'd need to be to get far with that (I used Knoppmyth). I think I've looked at XLobby before too but didn't like it so much. Still searching for the perfect solution now that I have a TON of storage space and more being added :p Mediaportal looks interesting so far!

I have mce and like it. I use mymovies and it works well...sooner or later I'll add an xbox with xbmc to the bedroom to stream both tv from the mce machine and movies from the unraid server. What I'm waiting for is an extender that can do both vob and hdtv files.

MP -

Sorry if you already posted this - but what type(s) of power supplies are you using? How much power to the 12V rail? I had similar symptoms on a recent build. I just built an ultra cheapo PVR with an Abit KV-85 and a AMD Sempron 2600+ and could not get it to boot with a 400W PS I had lying around. After visiting the Abit forums, I learned that 20 Amps on the 12V rail is a minimum. Sure enough, after getting a new Antec PS, the system booted right away.

just a thought-

Darryl

I'm using the recommended supplies, which are the 2 300w sparkles.

madpoet:
The m/b bios might be in the power state that says "leave off" when power is applied. (Later once you get into the m/b bios you can change this).

If this is the case, then you can either hook up a power on/off momentary switch to the m/b front panel connector between pins 6-8, or, use a small screwdriver and momentarily short those two pins together. The latter method is more fun: feals like you're "hotwiring" the computer :)

To all,

For those of you who are not using mobile racks, but would like to be able to determine the status of the drives that are attached to the Promise controllers, you will notice that there is a four pin right angle Berg pin connector at the drive end of the board.

According to the Promise user manual, this connector can drive standard drive activity lights to indicate if a drive is being written to or read from. Since I have four drives in the CM Stacker 4 in 3 sub-chassis there is no indication of whether the drives are being accessed as there is with the mobile racks. By using the led drive signal on the Promise controller, drive access status can be made visible using low current leds.

I plan to whip up a little circuit using a Berg pin connector and a couple of leds and test it out. As soon as I can verify proper circuit operation, I will publish the circuit and a parts list.

Regards,
TCIII

Hi TCIII,

Just curious if you ever got around to finishing up this circuit design. Status? I'm in the same boat as you, and would sure like to make use of all the led's on the front of my case.

-PGPfan

PGPFan,

I got all of the parts together, but have not had enough free time to test things out.

I work in aerospace testing strategic satellites on a budget and there never seems to be enough time here lately for personal pursuits.

However, it is near the top of the to-do-list as soon as I have time.

Regards,
TCIII

Thanks Tom, it's a good thought (though honestly if the CPU fan is spinning up then it seems like I have to be "powering on"). I'll hook up the on button and see what happens.

I have mce and like it. I use mymovies and it works well...sooner or later I'll add an xbox with xbmc to the bedroom to stream both tv from the mce machine and movies from the unraid server. What I'm waiting for is an extender that can do both vob and hdtv files.

You might want to check out the Kiss Tech DP600 (a new release)
http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=600en&v=users

You might want to check out the Kiss Tech DP600 (a new release)
http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=600en&v=users

Looks very promising...

I wonder if DVD means vob files in a folder?

Video Playback Formats DVD, Windows Media 9, Windows Media 9 HD, MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX 3.11, DivX 4, DivX 5, DivX HD, Nero Digital, XviD

I've emailed them and we shall see.


Thank for the link.

Man this thing is making me feel like an idiot. I just can't figure out what's going on. I disassembled EVERYTHING, tightened the screws, made sure my standoffs were good, etc; Remounted the motherboard and PSUs, same thing. To recap:

1) With ONE powersupply only plugged in straight to the motherboard and the 12v connector as well as the fans, I get nothing. Little green light on the MB is on but that's it.

2) With both powersupplies plugged in to the adapter and either one controlling the 12v and the fans, if BOTH are turned on nothing happens. If only one of the two are turned on then whatever that one controls seems to get power. For instance, if PSU1 is controlling the fans and supplying power to the MB then when I have just PSU1 on the case fans and the CPU fan spin. But nothing else happens. Ditto if I use PSU2. And if I turn the other one on while the first one is on, they both turn off.

I consider myself a fairly confident builder, and I've used all the recommended parts (MB, PSU, cases, trays, etc;). But I admit I'm lost here.

Madpoet,

I'm just shooting in the dark here, but you might want to try the 'bios recovery' process described in the Intel support documents for this motherboard. There is a specific jumper you need to short in order to do it. It may not solve it, but it's worth a try.

Do you have any other memory that you could try with it? I used to have a D845GLC board that had a similar boot problem. It turned out to be VERY picky about memory before it would even POST.

-PGPfan

The first thing I would do is stop fiddling around with two power supplies. Get it to boot on one and then work the other one out later.

I had a similar problem to yours on my last build, and it was because the memory wasn't seated properly. I took the modules out, blew on them, put them back in, and all was good in the world.

You really only have three components that could be bad here: The memory, the processor, and the motherboard itself. So try swapping things out one at a time and see if anything happens.

Alright, I'll yank the RAM completely and use some different stuff. I agree I want to get it working with just 1 PSU to start but that wasn't getting me anywhere either. Does anyone have a direct link to the manual? I found the tech notes for the non-K version which I guess is the same, but no manual.

Madpoet,

I assume that you want the manual for the recommended Intel mATX motherboard:

http://support.intel.com/design/motherbd/lc/lc_documentation.htm

Regards,
TCIII

Thanks TC.

madpoet,

Glad to be of help.

If there is anything that I can do to help identify and correct the problems that you are having, please do not hesitate to post or send a private message!

Good luck!

Regards,
TCIII

Ok. I'll be the first to ask again. On 3/7/06, Limetech in the lime forums stated that "We're committed to providing a s/w update this week.". Being that there is 1 hour left in the week, is this software update coming anytime soon? I have anxiously been waiting for months.

Madpoet

What type or memory are you using? I've had both pc400 dual channel and single channel memory and both worked fine. See page 24 - 1.7.1 Memory Configurations. If your not sure about your memory I would try a single stick and then move to both using the configurations Intel recommends.

Erikatcuse aka gotta5000

Ok... I swear to god I am cursed by the Limetech demons. Seriously. I am not joking. This was my evening:

1) I got the freaking thing powered on! I hooked up the power switch from the front panel and when I push it, voila! I was doing cheers! And then I got to step 2....

2) I see bios! No wait... I don't see bios. What the crap? Did my video die? Nope... My monitor just died! Yep, my LCD monitor went belly up. *sigh* Ok, a problem but not insurmountable. So on to step #3...

3) I hooked up the CRT monitor from upstairs. I got booted up. I set up my bios configuration, and then... hey, where the hell is my USB drive? I set the damn thing down right on the table. Hey kids, did you take something from the table? Well ok, where did you put it? What the hell do you mean you don't know????

So that's where I am left. Hunting for a little rectangle of plastic in my 2200 square foot house and trying not to choke my children... *sigh* make it stop.

Hey kids, did you take something from the table? Well ok, where did you put it? What the hell do you mean you don't know????

So that's where I am left. Hunting for a little rectangle of plastic in my 2200 square foot house and trying not to choke my children... *sigh* make it stop.


Now thats almost as funny as....


restored if "disaster" strikes (like, say, the Cat takes the dongle outside and looses it) ?

"Now thats almost as funny as....


Quote:
Originally Posted by jimewhite
restored if "disaster" strikes (like, say, the Cat takes the dongle outside and looses it) ?

"

hey man, you would not BELIEVE the things my cat, Carly, has "acquired" !!!!! My daughter spent a week trying to find her graduation ring..... my wife has never found her gold plated diamond adorned lipstick cover and never fails to give the poor cat the evil eye... she even stole the battery cover from my wireless mouse which fell off when she knocked it off the coffee table...

:D

madpoet,

I only have eight of my drives in mobile racks so I could keep the CM Stacker front panel with its power and reset switches and HD and power on LEDs. The other four drives are in a CM 4 into 3 sub chassis.

Now you know the reason why I kept the front panel on the CM Stacker. The motherboard will work without being attached to the CM Stacker front panel, but I have built two of the unRaid servers with the CM Stacker cases and have not had any problems with the initial startup.

However, I always validated and burned in the recommended Intel motherboards in a PC test chassis before I ever put them in a Stacker case.

Regards,
TCIII

I can't find it. 2 hours searching last night. I really am not meant to get this thing running.

I can't find it. 2 hours searching last night. I really am not meant to get this thing running.

So that's where I am left. Hunting for a little rectangle of plastic in my 2200 square foot house and trying not to choke my children... *sigh* make it stop.Are your kids still OK?

Check the trash bins... check your pockets (it's small, might just be hiding within reach)... XRay the family cat... offer the kids a reward for its return :confused:

So sorry to learn of your loss... :eek:

Joe L.

I can't blame them too much. They are 5 and 3. I left the thing where they could reach it. That said, I am sure about 10 minutes after I purchase a new one they will find it in the giant bin of tinker toys or something.

The other night I noticed one of my Star Wars Trilogy DVD's was missing. I looked at my 1.5yr old and said "Where is Daddy's disk?" and I showed him the empty Star Wars case. He walked over and pushed up the little door on our VCR and showed me that he had put it in the VCR, I guess he was trying to copy his older brother and put it in the DVD player.

Madpoet, have you asked your kids in a fun/nice voice? :)

Yep ;). I'll try again tonight. Problem is my son likes to just randomly chuck things, and for a three year old he can toss it pretty good.

My son (now five) never got into ANYTHING. Now my 15 month old daughter, that's a totally different story. We can't put anything within reach, or near something she can climb (tables, storage bins, etc.).

Well I went over the house with a fine tooth comb. No sign of it. So I emailed Tom and got a very fast reply. He's sending me another one. Amazing service, and completely unexpected. I even offered to pay for it ;).

Have you checked all the unused drive bays in the Cooler Master? I wonder if one of your lovely children stuck it in an unused tray. :)

Ok... first let me say Tom overnighted me a new one no questions asked. That is great service and I truly appreciate it. If I ever find the old one I'll send it back.

Now for my NEW issue. I can't see any hard drives. Nada. I unplugged my promise controllers and removed a couple drives from the Icy Dock trays just to eliminate those. I swapped the cables several times, swapped the power, etc; The motherboard does not see any hard disks attached. Help!

Madpoet,

First make sure that the drives are jumpered for Cable Select, use a known good IDE cable, and plug the parity and 1 data drive into the first IDE port on the MB. Then boot the machine using a monitor connected and go into setup and make sure that all the BIOS settings match those that are on the Limetech web site, especially the hard drive configuration

Drive Configuration

ATA/IDE Configuration [Legacy]
Legacy IDE Channels [PATA Pri and Sec]
PCI IDE Bus Master [Enabled]
Hard Disk Pre-Delay [Disabled]

What might be happenening is the IDE controllers might be disabled and the MB is looking for SATA drives.

EDIT: I should say that the IDE controller might be set to look for SATA drives on the primary/secondary IDE ports rather than PATA drives.

HTH,
Ed

Madpoet,

I just added a drive tonight, actually 3 of them and didn't notice one of them was missing on the main page until after rebuilding the array. Turned out to be a bad ide cable.

I had missed a setting on the IDE drives, and changed that. Results are slightly different but still troubling. If I use the base drive hooked up then the BIOS sees it just fine. If I put it in any of my Icy Docks, nada. I tried swapping the hard drive from CS to Master just to check, didn't matter. I put it in five different trays and a few different slots, still couldn't see it. The LEDs are both on for the tray so I know it's at least getting power. I'm using the same IDE cable, whether it is in the dock or out. Anyone using these docks? Are there any tricks to them? Is it possible I have a bunch of dead Icy Docks? That would be... sucky. Surely ONE of them would work.

Madpoet

I don't have those docks but I know with my kingwin docks if they are not locked then the bios won't see them.

madpoet,

Have you double checked the IDE cable orientation between the drive and the tray?

Also, between the dock and the motherboard/Promise Controller IDE connectors?

I assume that you are using the 80 pin IDE ATA cables with the additional shielding?

You wouldn't get the dock power and access lights to turn on if the dock lock was not in the locked position.

Are you sure that the trays are firmly seated in their docks before turning the key lock?

I use the Kingwin KF-101 docks and have not had any significant problems like you have had.

Regards,
TCIII

Wait, I have to lock the darn things with the key? I'm just popping them in and shutting the little lever. Cable orientation is fine, it's got the groove so it can only go in one way. I've tried a plethora of known good IDE cables at this point.

Yup. Those trays do not power up if they're not locked.

The new update for the UnRAID software is almost here...

http://support.lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31.0

I can finally use my SATA drives, yeah!

That looks like a nice release. I don't see mention of any changes to the issue with simultaneous reads and writes, though. Has anybody heard otherwise?

The new update for the UnRAID software is almost here...

http://support.lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31.0

I can finally use my SATA drives, yeah!

W00T! Sounds like the NIC drivers are getting an upgrade too! Fingers crossed this helps out performance! Bummer the SATA cannot be spun down but I've just about got myself a pile of EIDE ready to roll when I have time to power mine down (lol).

That looks like a nice release. I don't see mention of any changes to the issue with simultaneous reads and writes, though. Has anybody heard otherwise?

That depends on where the issue is. If the issue is with driver performance talking to the drives then yeah this might not help. However if the issue is with the NIC driver than that may indeed be helped out. In my case the performance issues seem to start showing up with network traffic stopping and starting. I've volunteered to help beta test this release so I may have some input if Tom chooses to test with me. Fingers crosses that this helps things - if it does I'm going to be VERY happy! This is like the ONE thing that manages to irritate me right now. I do also see issues with file attributes and notice that he's got that tagged as a fix - sweet!

Tom did say that SATA spindown was slated for a later build. This was just to add basic support for it...

Okay, I've got the new code and will install it tomorrow evening for testing. The process to upgrade appears to be pretty straightforward and I foresee no issues. As it is I need to install some additional drives anyway and upgrade some of the existing ones so maybe we'll make this a maintenance event and get it all setup correctly with drive cages etc. :eek:

Anyway, stay tuned. If someone else doesn't get there first I'll post impressions sometime tomorrow evening EST assuming all goes well!

P.S. Tom was QUITE responsive in replying to my volunteering for testing. :cool:

Cool. I'll look forward to hearing what you find! I'm not yet an unRAID customer, but it looks like just what I'm looking for.

FWIW, Tom posted on his own forums that the performance issues are being worked on, but that this release doesn't specifically address them.

I volunteered to test the new update yesterday and received the link this morning. It was extremely easy to update and the new version works as well as far as I can tell. I did a parity check this morning and it seemed to be faster than in the past.

I volunteered to test the new update yesterday and received the link this morning. It was extremely easy to update and the new version works as well as far as I can tell. I did a parity check this morning and it seemed to be faster than in the past.

Here's where I'm at - system was brought up fine on new software, EASY upgrade. Took system down to move drives into 4into3 adapter and upgrade a drive. Booted up badly, BIOS had gotten borked again - darned Intel! Found a loose cable on a drive too. System came up, new drive barfed, system going down to fixie (I hope!), and then back up. Management interface feels pretty snappy and there's a Time Zone setting in GMT - w00t!

So, for now a drive is borked but it's not the software's fault. When I setup the system I moved from Legacy to Enhanced on my onboard IDE too <shrug> Still workin' on it :)

P.s. Okay, looks to be coming upnow with no errors, likely a cabling issue. I can tell that at least one power wire in there needs work <sigh> One new change, when the system used to not respond you can now refresh the screen and get a status - like "mounting" -to let you know that the system isn't dead just doing work. As each drive succesfully mounts that drive's status changes. Me Likey!

My struggles continue. Since I now know the locking trick all of the drive trays power up, but the fact is that the motherboard AND the promise cards do not see any of the hared drives. None. And when I pull them out of these dmn trays, voila. I've spent a couple hundred bucks on these trays so I'm dreading what's going on, but the simple fact is that if it's in the dock nothing seems to see it :(.

And to REALLY top my evening off, my RAID5 array went offline with what it says is FOUR failed drives.

The update was simple to install and I had no issues. I am still testing everything out, but so far everything looks good. :)

The update was simple to install and I had no issues. I am still testing everything out, but so far everything looks good. :)

So far so good here. I did have the entire box go offline at one point but it powered back up fine and I wasn't tailing the log so I dunno'. Honestly I can dissmiss this, if it's something I see regularly then I'll worry ;) I'm tailing the log now and seeing more "stuff" but nothing I'm too freaked out on. WEB interface has some nice improvements and is faster for sure! It no longer goes off for awhile leaving me wondering, a refresh brings me at least some response so I know it's not toast. I've found nothing I don't like from a UI standpoint, even the columns align better so I can more easily see free space etc.

Hooked - did you set the IDE for enhanced or leave it alone? I don't know if it makes any difference but since I had to go into the BIOS anyway (grr) I figured I'd flip that switch. no big data moves tonight but I've got a few hundred gig of MP3 I can shuffle tomorrow and I think I'm finally setup to do some DVD ripping for MCE so maybe a little streaming too :D We'll see if we still have occasional data pauses, even if that still occurs this is a worthwhile upgrade IMO.

Madpoet,

You're debugging this with just the BIOS boot screen right? Better to get the mechanics working before you introduce the O/S. You say that the MB sees the drives when they are directly hooked up using an IDE cable (ie without any part of the tray), right? The trays I've seen have a short IDE cable (~2" long). Make sure that the orientation is correct, pin1 or the stripe is installed in the tray correctly -- sometimes the small pc board in the tray is just a open set of header pins, so the cable can be installed backwards. Also try a know good IDE cable to replace the short one in the tray, you may have to do this with the docking bay outside of the case.

Ed

Hooked - did you set the IDE for enhanced or leave it alone? I don't know if it makes any difference but since I had to go into the BIOS anyway (grr) I figured I'd flip that switch. no big data moves tonight but I've got a few hundred gig of MP3 I can shuffle tomorrow and I think I'm finally setup to do some DVD ripping for MCE so maybe a little streaming too :D We'll see if we still have occasional data pauses, even if that still occurs this is a worthwhile upgrade IMO.

Since my server was set up previously I didnt make any bios changes. Plus I dont have a monitor on this bad boy.

Madpoet,

You're debugging this with just the BIOS boot screen right? Better to get the mechanics working before you introduce the O/S. You say that the MB sees the drives when they are directly hooked up using an IDE cable (ie without any part of the tray), right? The trays I've seen have a short IDE cable (~2" long). Make sure that the orientation is correct, pin1 or the stripe is installed in the tray correctly -- sometimes the small pc board in the tray is just a open set of header pins, so the cable can be installed backwards. Also try a know good IDE cable to replace the short one in the tray, you may have to do this with the docking bay outside of the case.

Ed

Yep, BIOS boot screen. It's got the notch on the cable, so only 1 way it can go in. I'll try your idea of replacing the cable with another one.

Hi all,

Did the update last night and ran a parity check with no problems.

The refresh response is much faster now and the parity check took about 30 minutes less than before.

Enjoy.

Regards,
TCIII

So no one else using the Cremax MB123AK Icy Dock trays are having this problem? Seriously, they can't ALL be bad.

Okay, back connector on the Promise card to a secondary drive - what length cables are folks using? I thought this had come up before and that I had the right cables but dangit I cannot reach the second drive on that cable. I moved the connector on one spare cable which is always an iffy thing without a cable press - sure enough the cable fails. Looks like I'm going to have to order a pair of extra long cables - grr! This is in the CM case BTW....

BLKMGK,

I have been very successful using 24 inch IDE cables which Tom said was okay even though the spec says 18 inches max.

These cables work well with my Kingwin KF-101 mobile racks which are deeper than just the bare drive.

I have four bare 200GB HDs mounted in the four into three subchassis at the bottom of the CM Stacker and have had no problems using the 24 inch cables.

Regards,
TCIII

Thanks! I really thought these cables were long enough but I guess they are 18inches and not 24 - grr! I guess I won't be adding any more storage till this is done. I've begun ripping DVD with DVD Shrink tonight and I wanted to set aside a drive just for them - doh! Oh well, I can move data around later.

how's the update working for you? Are you tailing the logs? I see a little more in them but no issues so far, knock on wood.

A little off topic.. but do you guys compress the videos using DVD Shrink? I have been doing full size VOB's but they do take a lot of space. Is it worth the full 8 Gig VOB's?

Is the update standard with new purchases or is it still beta?

hooked4life,

I only rip the main feature and one audio track (Dolby AC3) which usually ends up being between 4-5 GB without compression.

I quit using DVDShrink because it is no longer being updated by the author. I prefer CloneDVD2 along with AnyDVD.

AnyDVD is updated quite often to cope with all of the tricks being played by the Studios to try and prevent making a backup copy.

I only rip DVDs that I own.

Regards,
TCIII

So far as I know the current update to the software is still beta.

I began ripping DVDs tonight - DVD Shrink with AnyDVD was my choice. First time doing this, left off all foreign language tracks, kept AC3 and 5.1 tracks. I did NOT compress the main movie but all extras are compressed. Result? SLOOOW! I mean like HOURS worth of slow and still going! :( Not sure what's up, it may be because I'm ripping to the array across the network though. I'm doing two DVD at once on seperate machines and one machine is a FAST FAST FAST AMD Opteron - running slow as molassas!

Slysoft makes some good software, I'll try their product next I think. I will also try ripping to a local drive to see if speeds increase. Right now I'm just shocked at how long this is taking when the movie isn't even being compressed. DVD Decryptor with AnyDVD pulls MUCH faster in my experience, I may have to look into it's ISO capabilities too. I just want to be sure to remove the additional stuff I don't need but would like to retain the menu for the WAF.

At the rate I'm going it will take me forever to do all of my DVD (pushing 500!) so something's got to change. Oh, I'm ripping to an ISO format, My Movies MCE plug-in is my playback target.

I use anyDVD with DVDShrink and it's fast and easy. I suspect your problem is because you're doing it over a network. Burn a bunch of movies onto the same machines HD then transfer the whole collection file to your server via the network while you sleep or by transferring the movies to an external HD and then from the external HD onto the server.

BLKMGK,

I have been very successful using 24 inch IDE cables which Tom said was okay even though the spec says 18 inches max.

These cables work well with my Kingwin KF-101 mobile racks which are deeper than just the bare drive.

I have four bare 200GB HDs mounted in the four into three subchassis at the bottom of the CM Stacker and have had no problems using the 24 inch cables.

Regards,
TCIII


I'm using 2 of the 24 inch flat cables with no problems. I remember an earlier post where round cables are not as good.

hooked4life,

I only rip the main feature and one audio track (Dolby AC3) which usually ends up being between 4-5 GB without compression.

I quit using DVDShrink because it is no longer being updated by the author. I prefer CloneDVD2 along with AnyDVD.

AnyDVD is updated quite often to cope with all of the tricks being played by the Studios to try and prevent making a backup copy.

I only rip DVDs that I own.

Regards,
TCIII

I own about 300 DVD's and my HD's are filling up fast using full size ISO's from DVD Decrypter. Maybe I will give AnyDVD a try. In this app you can just select the Main Movie Audio Track and DVD menu?

hooked4life,

AnyDVD is only used to remove the copy protection and Macrovision and does it on the fly.

I use CloneDVD2 to do the ripping as well as DVDShrink.

BLKMGK,

For me, it seems to take as long to rip to a local drive as it does to send the rip to the unRaid server. Most of my rips take between 10 to 15 minutes depending on the length of the movie.

So far, no problems with the updated OS. I just installed it on my number one unRaid server that has my ripped DVD collection on it.

Regards,
TCIII

Well, sumthin's not right with what I was doing with AnyDVD\DVDShrink! I compressed the extras, left off the foreign sound tracks, and left the main movie uncompressed. Resulting file was to be about 6Gig. Checked it this morning when I got up - the computer, an Opteron 170 clocked at 2.8Gig, took SIX hours to process the ISO! My HTPC was also crunching one and last I'd looked was running even slower - DOH! I'm going to play with this some more as there's got to be something whacked. I'm also going to try playing with DVD Decryptor/AnyDVD to rip to an ISO with perhaps some things left off and then maybe try Shrink on the extras. I will also be trying to do this to a local drive to see if the speed changes. Network utilization was only 2% on a Gig connection so I think that's not the issue.Once I get this down pat I've got about 498 more DVDs to go with the SO buying them about as fast as I'm ripping them right now (lol)

Going to need longer cables pretty quickly - baby needs an upgrade! :-)

BLKMGK,

Are you doing two simultaneous writes to the Unraid server?

BLKMGK

The compressing is going to take a while even if you're just compressing the extras. Try this just try and rip the movie only using Re-author with no compression and see how long it takes.
It also depends on how much you're compressing the extras

BLKMGK,

I never do an ISO! I just rip to a VIDEO_TS file that contains the video VOB files and other supporting files. The audio is in with the VOB files.

Ripping this way just gets me the movie and the chosen sound track. There is no menu or scene selection. I don't care because all I want to do is go to the movies and see just the movie! What a concept!

My Meedio front end and my Mediagate MG-35 can jump from chapter to chapter, both backwards and forwards, when the movie is ripped this way.

Ripping this way only takes 10-15 minutes with a normal two hour movie whether I am ripping locally or to the unRaid server.

Regards,
TCIII

BLKMGK,

Are you doing two simultaneous writes to the Unraid server?

Some answers :)

Yes, I was doing two writes a once. However when I first cranked it up I was only doing it with one machine and it was reporting something like 900K per second, the second faster machine was reporting like 1200K when I went to bed. Both seemed glacially slow. I know that multiple writes needs to be tested and that there may be issues, this was part of the reason why I checked network activity - it was REAL low utilization though, about as low as when burn a DVD at around 2X across the network. I will try moving some files around the network as soon as I get time to see how it reacts to multiple file copies etc. Hopefully this issue isn't a problem with the backend response time and is something I'm doing.

Erikatcuse - I know that compression can take awhile. I use FFMPEG to compress shows for my PSP on a pretty regular basis. I can crunch like you wouldn't believe with my Opteron using a single core and crunching an entire movie never takes this long. I realize the compression may be different in this case but 6 hours seems awful extreme to me. I will indeed try doing this without compression as a test to see how it works. I've not yet figured out the Re-Author portion of the software :o but I'll see what I can do. Honestly I did wonder if maybe my Lite-On DVD wasn't up to snuff but it rips CDs okay <shrug>

Thomas - I'd love it if I could do VOBs! However my target is the My Movies plug-in for MCE and near as I can tell it cannot handle that format. I did try it once though :) I'm still learning this software and these two DVDs are my first test cases so we'll see how it goes. Given a choice I'd love to skip the Daemon tools stuff but tis seems to be th ebest way to get a DVD like experience. I do actually want the movies and extras if I can - the SO has requested it. I sometimes like the director's commentary track and in a couple of cases watching the deleted scenes has helped make sense of something in the movie - Wild Things being a good example of this. Actually the Director's commentary for that movie was really good too. Actually, I may need multiple sound tracks too, my receiver cannot do DTS and when I've done VOBs with DTS I get nothing but silence on playback. Yes, I need a better receiver - it's on the list with an HDTV!

Anyway, this is what I'm working with now - if I'm unhappy I'll switch to another front-end, won't be the first or even the third time I've tried something and not liked it :) I just need to come up with something I like and a process I can do easily so I can begin runnnig through all of these darned DVD....

Thanks all!

My Movies plug-in for MCE and near as I can tell it cannot handle that format.


I use my movies with vob files you just either need to use a unc path or map the drives so my movies can see the folders. I store movies using the the movie title as the folder so \\mediaserver\movie_name

Below are 2 questions from the mymovies faq

5. Where should my movie titles be stored?

Each movie title should be stored in its own folder, and can either be stored locally, on a attached network drive, or on a storage server directly with the UNC path (\\servername\path). There should only be one movie in each folder because of the handling of movie titles with multiple files.

19. Which video formats does "My Movies" support for playback?

In general, "My Movies" support the same movie formats as Media Center does, and as an addition, it also supports mounting ISO image files with "Daemon Tools" for playback. These movie formats include ripped DVD's in VIDEO_TS folder format, Media Center recorded TV titles (.dvr-ms and .dvr files), and all video formats with the required codec’s installed, and a file extension registered in Windows registry as being a video file type. Notice that only some of these video formats are supported by Media Center extenders. Also notice that playing content such as DivX, XVid, QuickTime, RealVideo, ect. requires codecs that needs to be installed on your machine, just as these formats do to be played by Media Center.

erikatcuse - ummm thanks! :o I was under the impression that ISO was it. I did try pointing it at a directory that just had the Video_Ts etc. stuff in it and it failed - I'll have to investigate further for sure!!! Can I retain menus and navigation with just the folders and IFOs etc? I think yes since that's what's on the DVD and if so - BONUS! I need to get a process going where I canrip the video and then also FFMPEG a smaller copy for my PSP. Man the PSP rox for portable video and 2Gig sticks have dropped alot!

Some further testing - Ripping a DVD without compression (Absolute Power, no extras or garbage) on my slower machine across the network - 2hours+ and it's processing just 400K per second worth of data, it actually appears locked up at just 24% right now. Began doing the same on my fast machine with About Schmidt (hated it BTW) except this one I was compressing the extras etc. It locked up 1% into it but was predicting well over an hour of processing at least :( Frustrated I decdied to do Schmidt to my local drive - umm WITH compression of the extras it took 17mins :eek: I'm now copying it to my array over Gig E and it started out telling me 38mins to copy the 6+Gig but it has now jumped into the 60++min range <sigh> Looking at the network traffic I saw it hauling butt, then slowing to a fast trot, to now moving slowly along it looks like. Very weird but it does look to be doing SOMETHING anyway. Oh, just checked the other machine and it's up to 26% - w00t! :rolleyes:

I cannot say if it's the dual writes or just the volume of data etc. but I think ripping across the network is out! :p I did play a video a few mins ago before starting to rip again and it appeared to be pretty smooth. A real relief to find that something not completely hosed here and that I can actually process DVD somewhat quickly even if it does still take awhile to copy them over....

Appreciate all the assistance! Lots to learn and tonight I'll be demoing the new stuff on my PC to the SO, hopefully I get a thumb's up and can swing into full conversion mode!

Update! Cancled the rip across the network after finding that anything on that machine trying to access the array was snail slow. As soon as I did this the copy time on the other machine dropped from 60++mins to SEVEN minutes! It bumped upwards to 9 and is now sticking at 6. Multiple writes appear to still be an issue <ahem> but then I don't think anyone expected this would be solved with this new release. Hopefully that time is accurate - traffic in Task Manager went from under 5% to over 13% so that's a good sign at least.

48DVD later and one drive is stuffed fully, SO is interested! Ripping local and moving over after works very well. Moving two at once causes some decent slowdowns but when doing it in the background I don't care since the foreground just cranks along. Heh, now I need to move "stuff" around and get my MP3s a little better organized cuz' right now I've got no good place left to put DVD! :eek: I'm at 2.1TB too (lol) so time to clean house I guess. Might have to buy a few 400Gig drives too - anyone seen some decent deals? I've stuck to 300s so far but maybe time to step up...

System seems to be working well. Tom has some plans to fix some code for time zone but honestly it seems REAL solid to me right now.

Just a head's up to folks - Maxtor 300Gig drives are a HAIR larger than both Seagate and WD drives. Maxtor are 293,057,320 while Seagate and WD are 293,036,152. The problem arises when you swap in a Maxtor and one of the other two is already your Parity drive <sigh>. Parity MUST be the largest drive in the array!

I have two 400Gig drives on the way. BestBuy has them on sale for $199 with a 5year warranty from Seagate. I purchased two last night for in-store pickup only to be told they were out of stock locally and I'd be given free shipping. As it happens I was in the store today to get longer IDE cables (shoulda' ordered but I ended upgetting them cheap). What do I see on the shelf? EIGHT+ of the drives they e-mailed me to say they were out of after the local store supposedly checked stock. First and last time I do that without a REALLY good reason. Those drives had better show up quickly :( Running out of room for DVD and I've not even made it into the Cs yet :O

Array handled the oddball sized drive without issue and the replacing of the smaller drive that had been in it's place. System is behaving fine and has been for a few days on the newest software.

How did you get $199 for the Seagate 400 gb? It's $260 on the website.

How did you get $199 for the Seagate 400 gb? It's $260 on the website.

Hrm, was doing this late last night. I had looked at the new sales ad and not seen it on sale but it was on-sale on the site as I was checking prices. Was still marked on-sale in the store while I was there (instant savings no damned rebates!) but I'm betting it was on for last week and they screwed up at the store with the tags. :rolleyes: Apparently my store isn't so hot at marking shelves, half the drives in stock were in the wrong slot as it was!

These are the drives I ordered -> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7461329&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat33200050001&id=1125465123094

I came REAL close to going ahead and buying two today while I was there but held off :( I'd almost be out of slots if I did that with all drives being 300Gig or better. I really want the 500s to come down and am wondering when something even bigger will pop up :D

Maxtor has a 500Gig drive on sale at CompUSA that would work great but Maxtor makes me VERY nervous having had several fail on me recently. Hard to pass up though! -> http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=333925&pfp=cat3

Before I spent $249 on a drive I'd go for the bigger one or wait a bit. Prices are dropping and what I paid for 320Gigs is nearly what I'm getting 400s for and it's only been a few months. a shame we can "only" fit 12 drives :D I'd love to run the IDE and SATA interfaces ALL together. Would need a second P/S for sure then though I'll bet. :eek:

P.S. A tip - when installing drives ino the array write downthe date and size on them with a sharpie. Size makes it easy to glance at them and know size (duh) and date tells you how long they have been in use if one goes bad.

So no one else using the Cremax MB123AK Icy Dock trays are having this problem? Seriously, they can't ALL be bad.

Madpoet,

I am using the Icy Docks and had a similar problem when I replaced a power supply. For some reason, unrelated to the power supply I assume, the preferred boot disk in the bios was changed to one of the hard disks. For the record, I had not enter the bio before and the product had been working fine until this point. I only replaced the power supply becuase a piece of plastic in the PS came loose and was making a big noise. When the tower wouldn't boot, I entered the bios as a last resort. I noticed under the Boot section that the prefered boot drive, the number one at the top of the list, was one of the hard drives. When I changed it to the flash drive, everything worked fine. Now, to be clear, I could see my hard disks in the bios setup. If you still don’t see the drives there, then the issue above is not your problem.

If you don’t see the drives in the bios, I would disconnect all drive cables and make sure I could boot off the flash drive first (to make sure the MB is working OK). Once that’s working, I would connect the top drive, which is your parity drive, and the next drive below it to the black IDE connector on the mother board (don’t connect to the CD-ROM connector beside it by accident). Once that's working, you should be able to connect the other drives in the proper sequence.

Also, I removed the front power/USB panel. I think I read that you are using that panel. The default configuration is to remove it. I would take it out until I got everything working. My 2 cents.

marrt,

You only need to remove the front panel if you want to have all 12 drives in mobile racks.

I have the front panel in place and 8 drives in mobile racks and 4 drives in the 4 in 3 sub- chassis with the fan.

I like having the front panel because I can reset the motherboard if it hangs and I can shut down the array without having to turn the power supply off in the back of the CM Stacker.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

AMEN! After looking at the cost of mobile racks vs the 4into3 adapters frmo CM I now have 3 of the 4into3 adapters! :) $15 apiece for two plus the one that came with my case - DONE! My drives are staying plenty cool and while a bit of a PITA to swap drives it's worth the savings for me right now. I'll be able to easily retain the front set of buttons too whichis nice, I *do* really badly need to move th eUSB dongle inside the case though as having it stick out the front is really asking for trouble and I've already had one go bad :-(

With all the crap I've had with my trays, you can be darn sure I'm looking at more 4-3 adapters. I have the 1 it came with, I need 2 more.

posted a link a few pages back to the lpace I got mine from - CHEAP. They took awhile to send them as they turned out to be out-of-stock but they DID send them eventually and they are terrific. One hint: before powering them up make sure the fan guard is on right, if it's not the fan doesn't spin and it makes a racket - ask me how I know! Few seconds with pliers and mine is fine :)

Now, I have a couple of question.

Not being at all Linux savvy, although I am very experienced with Windows all the way back to 3.0. How easy is this for a noob to maintain and configure?

What will be the benefits of the SATA versus the IDE and is it worth the premium?

With all the crap I've had with my trays, you can be darn sure I'm looking at more 4-3 adapters. I have the 1 it came with, I need 2 more.
Have problems that you have been experiencing with the trays been pretty rare? I think I've only read one other post where a person has had trouble with them.

I wonder if you just got a bad set or something. Either that or most people are building their own and not using the stock trays.

Yep, I seem to be all on my own :). Even the manufacturer is baffled. I have 2 of them working finally after litterally disassembling and reassembling them to tighten all the connections.

Now, I have a couple of question.

Not being at all Linux savvy, although I am very experienced with Windows all the way back to 3.0. How easy is this for a noob to maintain and configure?

What will be the benefits of the SATA versus the IDE and is it worth the premium?


Piece of cake, there's not a lot of maintenance to it unless you want to do some of the more esoteric stuff. Turn it on and leave it on :). I don't think SATA is worth it, but the price has dropped substantially on SATA so who knows.

I think this is the baby for me then. I was going to throw down some serious cash on some 1Tb arrays (Buffalo's or whatever was cheaper) but this seems more robust and easily configured.

Piece of cake, there's not a lot of maintenance to it unless you want to do some of the more esoteric stuff. Turn it on and leave it on :). I don't think SATA is worth it, but the price has dropped substantially on SATA so who knows.

I don't have time to be messing around with it. I just want to buy it, it works, end of story.

I work away from home a lot and I would dread an "IT" call from the Wife whilst on the road.

I suppose the next question would be.

Is this remotely maintainable?

I use "LogMeIn" to maintain several PC's remotely. Cuz this uses linux, will I be able to access it to maintain it, whilst on the road?

Log in to a remote windows pc on the network and use a browser to access the unraid, not that there is much maintenance. Its very much switch on and forget untill a drive needs replacing.

Thats all I needed to know, thanks for the answer.

I have a question that has had different answers mentioned in previous posts.
1. For hard drive jumper setting, are they all set to cable select or is the parity drive set to master on IDE 1 and everything else is cable select?

2. I know that Unraid formats all the drives in a new set-up. Does this mean we can disregard the format utilities that come with new drives.

3. How does Unraid recognize which drive is parity?

I realize that this has been gone over before but there are some conflicting answers and I want to be absolutely certain of what I am doing.

Thanks,

#1 - all of my drives are set to Cable Select.
#2 - format utils included with the drives are not needed.
#3 - unRAID has a config file that specifies this. By default it's the Master drive on the first IDE channel as I recall - the Lime site has a support page that might help understand this. I'd leave it there just to make life easier. <shrug>

Hope that helps!

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Joe

BLKMGK:

Re: your network problems (writing to server over network), several thoughts:

1) When doing a lot of network installs back w/Novell (Unix derivative), it was not infrequent to see significant slowing of the SPX/IPX and later TCP/IP communication protocols. The solution while seemingly "stupid/silly" was to simply disconnect ALL the Computers and Connections. Its really been years since this has arisen, but for lack of a better thought, give it a try. We used to call it "gremlins" in the wires.

2) The other fault (15 years ago) was in the wire itself - typically flat cable w/o twists. If you are running GigE over longer distances with standard Cat5 (not Cat5e or Cat6) you may also be running into some problems. If you have a friend with a wire tester, it might be work checking the connections. I used to wire straight through connections despite the std twisted pair (1,2,3,6) recommendation until I discovered increased problems. GigE takes all 8 wires and they must conform to std or things really don't work right.

3) Finally, depending upon your Router/Switch (some brands are much much better), you may be having a problem, where the switch is not forwarding the data at 1000 mps (fundamentally none really do despite their ads/engineering documents (only in controlled labs)), so you might want to test that theory by directly connecting your two computers through the GigE RJ45's (should not require a "crossover cable" for GigE) and see if it makes a difference (should rule out the switch/router ? assuming both computers truly have functional GigE ports with proper drivers).

Personally, I'd try the simplest idea 1st - let the "gremlins" out of the wire, novell used to leave "traces" that would remain even if all the "boxes (computers)" were turned off. To get rid of them, everything had to be disconnected, a bit of PITA but pretty simple 10-15 minutes or if really An.. overnight :D

Good Luck!

BLKMGK,

I never do an ISO! I just rip to a VIDEO_TS file that contains the video VOB files and other supporting files. The audio is in with the VOB files.

Ripping this way just gets me the movie and the chosen sound track. There is no menu or scene selection. I don't care because all I want to do is go to the movies and see just the movie! What a concept!

My Meedio front end and my Mediagate MG-35 can jump from chapter to chapter, both backwards and forwards, when the movie is ripped this way...




Tom,

I've created my "ripped" DVD's in separate "movie named" folders on my server and have been able to access the VIDEO_TS.IFO file with my MediaGate, but that has been hard to explain to my WAF with several dozen different files in these folders. Have you been able to isolate or "substitute" the movie name for this file?

Also, I'm having an occasional problem accessing the various chapters with the MG-35. Sometimes it won't move through the menu and start the movie at that location. Suggestions would be appreciated. It is a very nice device and for those looking for an alternative to Media Center, the MG-35 is quite functional (networked, component, composite, s-video & USB) outputs w or w/o internal Hard Drive.

Re: Meedio, I have a Go-Video 2740 networked DVD, but it for some reason (probably DRM) won't play "VOB" files. It does DIVX, MPEG2/4 etc. but I've not been able to get around the VOB files on my Server (may also be the dumb "server" interface they provide (though TwonkyVision no better)). It is awesome for "networked dvd's (original discs)" but not files. If anyone has a solution, I'd appreciate thoughts.

Dave

Alright, ordered mine on Thursday, hopefully it will be in my clammy little paws soon....

Now, to shop for drives...

Alright, ordered mine on Thursday, hopefully it will be in my clammy little paws soon....

Now, to shop for drives...

Right now 300Gig drives are getting pretty cheap, 400Gig drives on sale are dropping to where the 300s used to be and look good. The 500s are pricey as all get out even on sale and only the Maxtor ones seem even halfway reasonable in price to me at around $269. Frankly, I wouldn't touch Maxtor right now although I'll admit their return process for warranty service doesn't feel too painful - working through it now. Seagate and WD would be better choices and Seagate, who just bought Maxtor, offers a 5year warranty on boxed drives. The 40s I just picked up were $199 apiece but the sale appears to have ended. I'm told COSTCO has them for that price too but I've not checked yes.

Hope that helps! Dealdatabase.com, Slickdeals.net, and other bargain hunter places might be good to watch for big deals....

Yeah, from what I am seeing, it is about $115 for 300GB, $200 for 400GB and $270 for 500GB.

What I might do, seeing as I only really NEED about 1.6TB-2.0TB for all the media I have at present, is to buy one 500GB as my parity drive and then either the rest in 400's or 300's. That way, later I can buy 500's when they become more reasonable.

Yeah, from what I am seeing, it is about $115 for 300GB, $200 for 400GB and $270 for 500GB.

What I might do, seeing as I only really NEED about 1.6TB-2.0TB for all the media I have at present, is to buy one 500GB as my parity drive and then either the rest in 400's or 300's. That way, later I can buy 500's when they become more reasonable.

You can always change out the parity drive later. I don't see any point to buying a 500 now if you aren't going to have any data drives of that size.

[QUOTE=BritOverseas]Yeah, from what I am seeing, it is about $115 for 300GB, $200 for 400GB and $270 for 500GB.
QUOTE]

Fry's has 300GB on sale until Tuesday for less than $80. Their web site www.outpost.com is $10 higher.

Fry's has 300GB on sale until Tuesday for less than $80. Their web site www.outpost.com is $10 higher.

Shame, I am not at home at the moment, I could pop down to Fry's.

Trust me, this is NOT a priority for my Wife so trying to get her to go would be a wasted excercise..

The internet deal is a 1 per household anyway, I would need 8....

Bought one anyway though, that is a good price... Now if I could only persuade her indoors to head over to Fry's.....

Bought one anyway though, that is a good price... Now if I could only persuade her indoors to head over to Fry's.....

There is something to be said for NOT buying all your drives at the same place at the same time. If, for example, Seagate got a bad batch (which has happened before), you're more likely to get multiple bad drives in that case. And Unraid is not resilient against multiple failures.

The beauty of Unraid is that you can get the system up and running with as few as two drives, then add more at your leisure.

That Fry's deal is pretty smokin', though.

That the problem.

The money I could save from this could probably pay for about half of the other HTPC I have to build, decisions decisions....

That the problem.

The money I could save from this could probably pay for about half of the other HTPC I have to build, decisions decisions....

I've been accumulating hard drives for more than two years now, and the one thing I've learned is this: There will always be another sale, and it will be better than the one today. Better enough that you'll wince at how much you paid for the last smokin' deal.

True true

I suppose I have to start trolling Fatwallet and places like that again...

True true

I suppose I have to start trolling Fatwallet and places like that again...

Tom's opened up a "hot deals" board on the Unraid forums, which I expect will be 100% hard drive deals, so that might be a good place to start.

http://support.lime-technology.com/forum/index.php

There is something to be said for NOT buying all your drives at the same place at the same time. If, for example, Seagate got a bad batch (which has happened before), you're more likely to get multiple bad drives in that case. And Unraid is not resilient against multiple failures. ...
Good point! I had 2 Dell (maxtor) drives die at 13 months (just out of warranty of course :mad: ) within a week of each other. They were mirrored and I replaced the first failed drive 3 days before the 2nd drive failed. Talk about a close call! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I've been accumulating hard drives for more than two years now, and the one thing I've learned is this: There will always be another sale, and it will be better than the one today. Better enough that you'll wince at how much you paid for the last smokin' deal.


Too true!!!! And as for the Maxtor drives failing - no surprise there at all! Maxtor just doesn't seem to have the quality anymore that WD and Seagate seem to. I had one of their drives in use for bare WEEKS as a Parity drive when it blew. To my surprise the warranty period was ALOT shorter than expected too. Replacement on the way and fingers crossed it's good. I have ONE of their drives in there now but I'd sure prefer ZERO.

Oh, agree there's no sense in a 500Gig Parity. That drive can be swapped as easily as any other at any time - just swapped mine this past week from 300 to 400 and even having had one fail in that position it was no biggie although I think I uncovered a bug in the beta I'm running - easily worked around and posted about on the support board for Tom too.

Sommer3,

It would be nice if we could substitute the movie name for the Video_TS file and make it easier to navigate to and get the selected movie going.

Actually I clicked on the movie title folder while using the MG-35 and the movie actually started to play. However the movie was a 16:9 format and the MG-35 started it in 4:3 format. If I used the Video_TS file to start the movie, the MG-35 would start it in the correct format.

I believe that there has been a request to change the firmware in the MG-35 to be able to start the movie correctly from the movie title folder, but nothing has come of it as far as I know.

Regards,
TCIII

I'm trying to use the 4-3 adapter and it's driving me nuts. I can't get the darn thing into the tower! I put on the removable metal side panels, and then the plastic inserts that go into that. I have Left and Right oriented correctly. I push, and... it sticks. I have pushed pretty hard to no no avail. Isn't it supposed to slide in and click with the locking mechanism? I swear to god, as much grief as this thing has given me next time I would just buy the darn pre-assembled case!

It's a PITA to get the 4into3 adapters to line up with the slots, yes. Keep working with it though and make sure that the locking clips on the sides are flipped out so they don't catch. Once it's aligned it will slide in, make sure the fan wire isn't in the way to. The hardest one for me was the very last one with two others already in the case - getting it aligned just right with the remaining slots was a pain but it did finally slide in. You can try compressing the side rubber things a bit too as that might help. Just try not to force it or get frustrated or it'll never go in....

My original 4 in 3 adapter was no problem at all. I haven't been successful in purchasing two more because they appear to be out of stock at all the usual places. The place mentioned by BLKMGK earlier appears to be out of business. I haven't nearly filled my first 3 drives yet so I can wait for the adapter.

My original 4 in 3 adapter was no problem at all. I haven't been successful in purchasing two more because they appear to be out of stock at all the usual places. The place mentioned by BLKMGK earlier appears to be out of business. I haven't nearly filled my first 3 drives yet so I can wait for the adapter.

For those of you buying additional 4-in-3 modules, be careful. I got a batch in which all of them had the fan grills on backwards, so the grill actually contacted the fan and prevented it from spinning. Nearly baked 4 drives before I realized that they weren't getting any cooling at all.

Fixing the problem is just a matter of swapping the grill around, but make sure to check before you go to the trouble of getting everything installed.

For those of you buying additional 4-in-3 modules, be careful. I got a batch in which all of them had the fan grills on backwards, so the grill actually contacted the fan and prevented it from spinning. Nearly baked 4 drives before I realized that they weren't getting any cooling at all.

Fixing the problem is just a matter of swapping the grill around, but make sure to check before you go to the trouble of getting everything installed.

Actually I alluded to this earlier as well - mine were all on backwards too. Rather than trying to undo the funky plastic connectors on the grills I simply grabbed some pliers and pulled so that the grill no longer contacted the fan. Someone at the factory needs to be smacked for this mistake but it's not too hard to check. My first fan made quite the racket before I realized what was up :rolleyes:

Actually I alluded to this earlier as well - mine were all on backwards too. Rather than trying to undo the funky plastic connectors on the grills I simply grabbed some pliers and pulled so that the grill no longer contacted the fan. Someone at the factory needs to be smacked for this mistake but it's not too hard to check. My first fan made quite the racket before I realized what was up :rolleyes:

The funky plastic connectors are quite easy to remove, just poke them with a screwdriver and they pop right out.

Lol, figures! the first one I just didn't want to pull apart so I bent it out, the second one I just didn't want to fool with. A few secs with the pliers and it spun free. Odd that at least 4 of them have been done bassackwards!

I guess I should go check my fan. My HD temps seem to be low though.
Can anyone give me a link to a store that has these HD holders in stock?

Question... there is 12 bays, so conceivably you could fit 4 of the 4-3 cages. That's 16 drives instead of 12. Now obviously you'd need another controller card, but would it work? Or is unRaid hard coded to look for a maximum of 12?

For all you other people that bought these things.

How quickly did it come. I have received no ship notice, no other email to tell me it is on it's way and I ordered it last Thursday??

Question... there is 12 bays, so conceivably you could fit 4 of the 4-3 cages. That's 16 drives instead of 12. Now obviously you'd need another controller card, but would it work? Or is unRaid hard coded to look for a maximum of 12?

That's a good question. Inquiring minds want to know! :)

Question... there is 12 bays, so conceivably you could fit 4 of the 4-3 cages. That's 16 drives instead of 12. Now obviously you'd need another controller card, but would it work? Or is unRaid hard coded to look for a maximum of 12?
Current limit of 12 drives is imposed by Promise bios, which only supports 1 or 2 cards. Possibly one could install another type of controller, e.g., SIIG, and get 4 more drives; but we have never tried this (never tried SIIG cards either).

Software "hard limit" is 16 drives, but once you get to 12 you have to start asking how many data drives are reasonable to put into an array with a single parity drive. I think 12 is OK for UnRaid, 16 ... well ... maybe.

By way of reference, most "enterprise" class raid systems generally won't go over 8 drives in a RAID-5. The risk is this: if a drive fails, then you must replace the drive and rebuild it before another drive fails. Therefore, the chances of this happening in a 16-drive array is over double that of an 8-drive array, though if you believe drive MTBF numbers, and the failures are not systematic, then we're still talking about a very low probability.

Makes sense :). I was just curious.

Makes sense :). I was just curious.

Hey, you been to CQC lately, that 4 YDM fell through, I still need one.

Hrm, so we can go 16drives? So the onboard ATA, 2 Promise controllers, and there is a couple of SATA connectors too right? :)

I see the logic of being careful about going further though. More is nice and all but calculating Parity on replacement would take awhile. Would the array be even slower?

Hrm, so we can go 16drives? So the onboard ATA, 2 Promise controllers, and there is a couple of SATA connectors too right? :)

I see the logic of being careful about going further though. More is nice and all but calculating Parity on replacement would take awhile. Would the array be even slower?

Normal Read/Write is the same regardless of the number of disks. The rate of parity sync is determined mainly by overall memory bandwidth. With the D865GLCLK, the PCI bus, on-board IDE and on-board SATA operate independantly, with a theoretical 266 MB/s max bandwidth to memory. See page 19 of ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/25251405.pdf. [BTW, the block diagram also shows the separate path of GigE.]

What we see with 12 drives executing parity sync (11 readers, 1 writer) is about 172 MB/s. So apparently some headroom remains for adding additional drives.

I guess its too soon to tell,but are there any thoughts if this server system/software will be able to storage BLU-RAY/HD-DVD ?

I guess its too soon to tell,but are there any thoughts if this server system/software will be able to storage BLU-RAY/HD-DVD ?

That all depends on how long it takes someone to crack the new copy protection schemes.

Unraid just stores bits, it doesn't have any clue where those bits came from.

That all depends on how long it takes someone to crack the new copy protection schemes.

Unraid just stores bits, it doesn't have any clue where those bits came from.


Yes,cracking the AACS copy protection could be one way to go.But i was thinking more of the MANAGED COPY SUPPORT that both BLU-RAY and HD-DVD will use.

Is there a 6 or 8 drive case alternative to the CM Stacker? I really don't need that much storage and I would prefer my unRAID setup to have the electricity usage similar to the smaller NAS boxes on the market.

Robert

Is there a 6 or 8 drive case alternative to the CM Stacker? I really don't need that much storage and I would prefer my unRAID setup to have the electricity usage similar to the smaller NAS boxes on the market.

Robert

I would think most non-microATX cases would hold at least 6 drives. Or are you looking for style similar to the Stacker, but just in a shorter box?

Or are you looking for style similar to the Stacker, but just in a shorter box?

Yes. It would be nice to have 4, 6 or 8 external 5.25" drive bays so I can use some removable drive trays. I would love to be able to use an old PIII motherboard with a Tualatin processor, but that's a question for another thread. I'm not sure of the compatibility of the Linux kernel they have in the unRAID software. Ideally, I would only use a 300W or less power supply, depending on drives.

You have to admit, those smaller NAS boxes do have something on the massive Coolermaster Stacker with a P4 motherboard - power consumption. But the features of unRAID appear to be superior to that of a NASLite+ type of software.

Another option I would find acceptable is a mid-tower case with nothing but drives in it (like those CDROM towers) with some kind of connection back to a regular low powered PC. I'm not sure if unRAID has a way to access such an external enclosure, but imagine SCSI or Firewire would be needed. Shoot... come to think of it, it just gets more expensive as I digress... :(

-Robert

Check out this calculator for power http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Now add 6 extra drives and you should probally have one really big psu or two smaller ones. Last nov this came up too.

---edit---
~6.4W (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article242-page4.html) in this chart.
Methodology (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article242-page3.html)
---/edit---

Here is one site's numbers.

Power Distribution within Six PC (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article265-page1.html)

SPCR's PSU Test Platform V.3 (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article269-page1.html)

Not vouching for the methodology, I hated EE back when...

Off Topic -- Because someone at work just bought 10 Shuttles with this GPU for [mostly 2d/text] workstations, my favorite part was:

v/r,
C-F

Remember those smaller nas boxes probally don't have as many HD's in them oh and don't fortget heat can kill :(

Hrm, I have the recommended P/W - what 450watts? And I've got 8 drives in it - fires up easily. Initial start-up is the biggest concern since rarely are all drives running at once. I may put in a delay for the M/B connected drives but haven't done it and am not 100% sure the Linux code wouldn't mind. At this point the power supply is doing fine and I'm not worried about it....

As for power consumption - it's a Celeron and the drives don't spin all the time. It ain't using THAT much power and might not even be as much as a POS PIII.

Taking all your power recommendations to heart, I still don't want an enclosure as big as that Coolermaster. Surprising there is no "baby" version...

Robert

Does anybody have a "Watts Up" or similar power metering gizmo that they could try with the UnRaid? I'd be really interested to know how much power it's using when the drives are spun down, and how much when one drive is being accessed.

Is there a 6 or 8 drive case alternative to the CM Stacker? I really don't need that much storage and I would prefer my unRAID setup to have the electricity usage similar to the smaller NAS boxes on the market.

Robert

Robert:

I had same thought and bought the CoolerMaster Centurion 5CAC from NewEgg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068. It has 5 externally accessible 5.25's plus another 4 internal & 1 External 3.5 for about $45 plus shipping & Power Supply - your choice. Love the Case, quite manageable and if I "pack" it I can get almost as many drives in as the big Coolermaster though with only 1 PowerSupply (see other responses). I picked up some DataExpress Trays for my 5.25's though TCIII and others like the KingWins. Anyrate check this one out, I did a lot of research and made some bids for the big CoolerMaster, in the end, I'm glad to have found this one!

Dave :)

Any case that will house the drives and P/S will work fine. Just watch cooling is all. Trays sound like a great idea but price them and look at the issues some have had with them before you get too excited - I did and went with $15 4into3 adapters instead and they cool my drives VERY well!

Don't have a WattMeter but honestly I need one. I'll look into getting one tonight, ThinkGeek is near me and I can get one from them quickly - just keep forgetting to order one whenever I think about it! :-(