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+1 for UnRaid.
Two days ago I got a SMART error stating that one of my drives will fail within 24 hours. I'm getting the new disk later today.
Very convienient, in a sense, considering that UnRaid will just recreate the data from the drive I have to remove. Also, with my previous setup (8 drives in my Windows tower) I'd have no way of knowing that a drive failure was eminent and I'd have to pray it would survive long enough to backup the data.
Good news is that after the RMA, I'll have another 2tb(1.81tb) of storage to add to the array.
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edz2k9
Senior Member
Posts: 169
Hi all
I'm reengineering my back end storage to move from a backend server with mythtv and storage and squeezebox server to having a storage array / server and a server for music / mythtv (or equivalent - I may yet move to a new tv backend)
I'm considering options for the data server and love the concept of unraid, I dont mind paying for it but the locking of the software key (sorry but 4GB isnt going to cut it so I'll need the pro version) to a flash drive is really putting me off.
I have no issue with using a flash drive as a boot device when I can easily back it up and copy the contents over but, as I understand it, its up to lime if they will issue you with a new code if your flash drive dies (the guid of the pen drive is somehow hashed to your key so copying the contents over or backing up the license wont work). If they wont then your system is toast unless you buy another license (either at a discount when you buy the first or at full price later) or you pull each of the non-parity drives, mount it under a linux distro and access the files that way.
In short the whole "attaching your license to a volatile piece of hardware" bit not only worries the hell out of me but seems a little grabbing to be honest. By all means charge for what seems a solid product but its stopping me buying a license at the moment.
Anyone got any experience of what happens in this case?
Also has anyone got experience on flexraid?
Thanks all
Ed
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maxinc
Senior Member
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The computer will read the content of the flash at boot time into a ram drive where all the operations are made. The amount of data written to the flash (which could potentially shorten the life of the flash drive) is minimal. As long as you use a decent quality flash stick, chances of it going bad are slim.
That being said, Limetec are very professional and always ready to help. I've been in a situation where I upgraded to Pro and had the option to upgrade 2 sticks for the same price but only had one at the time. A few weeks later, my father got his Plus licence and I wrote to Limetec asking if I could upgrade his flash to Pro even if the 2nd flash was not purchased at the time of my upgrade. They responded very quickly and sent me the PRO license for the 2nd key at no extra charge, even if it was technically against the rules.
As long as they don't suspect fraud and your flash failure story is genuine, I don't think you would have any problem getting a replacement license from them.
XBMC Live: i3 530 / GT210 / 2GB / SSD + 2 x Zotac HD01 / 2GB / SSD
unRAID Pro: 6 x 1TB + 2 x 1.5TB + 2 x 2TB + 2 x 500G over GbE
HP Micro Server: SABnzbd+, Sickbeard, Couchpotato, uTorrent, Media Companion, MySQL, MKV Toolnix