2010-10-19, 06:18
froggit Wrote:(how do you know which ones?)
Great question! I personally copy my entire movies and TV shows list at least once a month and email it to a backup email for that purpose. That way if I experience data loss (none so far, but have on older server) I can compare the list and get back what I lost. One day I hope to automate this, but its easy using user shares in Finder. This isn't an Unraid point though, as I would do this no matter what the NAS was because one day a meteor might take out that part of your house and its nice to not rethink everything.
One point that IS about Unraid, is the fact that it forced me against my will to improve my computer habits.
I personally had a real problem buying Unraid at first. Not because it "should be free because its Linux" or "its too much" or anything like that.
I had a problem because its based on Slackware.
I am an intermediate Linux user (since 2003 on my desktop) and I really have always turned away from Slackware. I respect it for what it is (historically) and the power it has, but I have disliked it from the beginning.
To get programs to work that I often use (MythTV Backend, Air Video Server, XBMC, Mediatomb, etc.) in Slackware, ones that I can get working in Ubuntu in like 5 minutes, I would have to learn things about Linux that I purposefully avoiding learning back in 2004 by switching to Debian/Ubuntu. I know that Slackware is server oriented, not desktop oriented, but it probably has the worst package management system this side of Linux From Scratch. I mean you can sometimes find the packages you need, but ever since Debian crossed the 20000 package mark compiling other people's programs to use them is a dead concept to me (except for ones I purposefully use SVN versions of like XBMC and Xorg).
Which is fine. It is what it is for good reason. And that is why I have avoided Slackware for years with good reason. Even though I respect Pat for all he has done for the overall Linux community over the years, the honest truth is no independents like him can keep up with the Shuttleworths, Debians, Red Hats and Novells of the world.
If Unraid was on Ubuntu I would have bought two licences day one I heard about it. And that is exactly where I would have gone wrong.
Because what ended up happening is that I avoided Unraid for two years, "trusting" my data to a Ubuntu software RAID server that did all my programs like I thought I wanted. A server that I tweaked to the moon. Then one day I screwed up adding some new script to do some new thing, and I experienced data loss. Not huge, I recovered (like 8 TB out of 10) but I knew I needed to move on.
So I tried Unraid on the server. And something amazing happened.
A few benchmarks showed me a SMB read speed faster than I have ever tweaked Ubuntu or OSX to do. In a single moment I realized that I was an idiot, and that having one box to do data and only data completely spruced up by a guy who makes a living working of what is basically a custom distro designed to serve data is way better than anything I could hack together.
In fact, by being based on Slackware, Unraid pretty much ENSURES that I won't play the role of Linux Hacker and mess up my Unraid box because I won't mess with it. Its cheaper for me (after subtracting cost of labor) to just buy another box to run Ubuntu on the same network as my Unraid box to do all the things that I want my server to do besides serve. I pay for wind power so the extra computer only hits my pocketbook, not the environment.
The reason why this matters so much to me now is because I got married this summer. In the two years I have lived with my wife she has not liked my old server because often whenever she wanted to do something simple (like watch a show on my XBMC frontend in our livingroom) I had the server off the network to add some cool new program that streamed something new to my iPhone.
In my new setup I can tinker all I want to on the Ubuntu box, and she can still watch Desperate Housewives when she wants to with a guarantee that I won't break it. Unraid has preemptively saved me tons of marital strife.
Since this realization I have bought two Unraid licensees and I have built both into servers (one for TV one for Movies). I feel extremely grateful to be taught this lesson by Limetech and I really appreciate the epiphany.
With that said maybe one day in the future I will want a server to do more (not for media, but for other purposes) and for that reason I am keeping an eye on ZFS.