Which OS would suit my needs??

Copenhagen69

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2005
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so this is the plan ...

I am going to run a computer for storing my media like movies and pics as a backup in raid5. I want to run Plex or Emby server as well on here and link all my tv/roku to it to stream.

Would windows 7 work? Or would I need something more powerful like Linux or win server OS?

Also want to keep it safe since I'll have family pics and stuff on it.

Thoughts?
 

cfenton

Senior member
Jul 27, 2015
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Windows 7 would be fine if you have a spare key. I'm running Windows 10 on my HTPC with Plex and a FTP server and it works great.

If you know how to use Linux, that would work as well. I had a hard time setting up Plex to read from my network drives on Linux (which is what drove me back to Windows), but if everything you want to access is local, then it should be fine.
 

Copenhagen69

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2005
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Thanks for the input. I was thinking and hoping that would be the case.

Any special setup on the FTP server to secure it? Is it always up and running?
 
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tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
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Depends on how much storage you are using and how comprehensive you want to be. I'm using unraid right now.... I love it. It's great and simple and I really just can't recommend it enough.

But I also have 42 TB of storage. I like that Unraid has some data protection against drive failures and I don't need my drives to be mirrored as I'd never expect them to all fail at once. I just need 1-2 drive protection at best.

Also, Unraid's virtualization addition now is VERY interesting to me. I may rebuilt my whole server when I get my first home to be a top of the line high end PC that also houses all my HDDs, and have massive airflow going into it since it will be behind a wall in a Home Theater room. Thinking a HEDT platform + 2 high end GPUs, to power 2 screens for gaming.

And you can run Plex on it as well as torrents, or whatever you want to run on it realy so it's nice too. I prefer having a server OS to Windows, far more efficient.
 

Copenhagen69

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2005
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My storage will be, at least for now, 4x3tb in raid 5.

Never heard of unraid I will look into that and see.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
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I'm confused, why RAID 5? You're talking about storing a load of files in a scenario where performance apparently isn't at all important; why make it unnecessarily complicated?
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
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I'm confused, why RAID 5? You're talking about storing a load of files in a scenario where performance apparently isn't at all important; why make it unnecessarily complicated?

Raid 5 is a good choice if performance is not that important, and for that use, it's not really that important, compared to say, if you were running lot of VMs or something. Raid 10 is the choice to go with if performance IS important, but it cost more per GB. Raid 6 is also an option when you have lot of drives as with raid 5 you can only lose one, raid 6 is basically like raid 5 but with two parities so you can lose 2 disks. But for OP setup raid 5 is a solid choice.

Personally I would recommend Linux and mdadm raid for OS/software as it is very robust and stable. Though ZFS is another option too, but probably more complicated than needed for something like this.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
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Surely RAID1 is a better choice? If the only real priority is redundancy, RAID1 can handle that better than RAID5, as I understand it. It's also simpler in case weird things happen and a single disk can simply be disconnected with all the data on it.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
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Raid 1 is limited to only 2 drives though (well you can add as many as you want for even more redundancy but it kinda gets pointless after 3 :p ), you can't really expand the space. With raid 5 you can just keep adding more drives to grow it. At least with mdadm you can.
 

Copenhagen69

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2005
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Yep I was debating rad5 and raid10. I think streaming movies and such from it should work with either setup though.

This would be a first if I went Linux, I have never messed with that before so what is the learning curve for a server setup through Linux?

Unraid and windows 7 look the most promising at the moment. Linux kinda scares me because of the newness of it. At least for me. Do they have step by step tutorials on how to secure the server and make it as safe as I could a windows server or win OS? Without it taking days or weeks of work to do it all with troubleshooting nightmares?
 

Twitch03

Member
Feb 15, 2015
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If you dont have spare parts, starting a new build. Why not go with a NAS box? I have the Netgear 104 and it has a Plex app that will stream to my computer no problem. The only time it would be an issue is if I needed it to transcode on the fly, in which case get a more powerful NAS.
 

Binky

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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If you want brain-dead simple and familiar, just use Win7 and throw drivepool on it. Drives are cheap, and the space wasted by simple solutions like drivepool as compared to full raid are trivial. The ease of use and peace of mind may be worth it.

If you want the best of both worlds (familiar and full "server") you can run any server in a VM environment on top of the Win7 box. I use Win8.1 to run my WMC recordings, and I use hyper-v on the same box to host a WHS2011 system running on four passed-through 4TB drives. This gives me the ability to install my server clients like Plex, Emby, or whatever on Win8 or WHS, since they are both running 24/7. I also run several other servers part-time in VM's including an ubuntu server, MythTV, openmediavault, and xpenology. I like to tinker...

Also, l don't forget that raid/drivepool is NOT a substitute for backups! You still need a backup routine and you will be the weakest link in that routine.
 
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Copenhagen69

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2005
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I had 104 and sold it.

I have my own server system ready to go now. Just need to decide on an OS and go.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
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I vote Unraid, I think it is a great OS for a mostly media server. The live parity protection is great for things like your photos. It is dead simple to setup, and doesn't waste a precious sata port in the server for an OS drive.

The only issue is if your hardware is not compatible. But it is free to try for that reason.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,234
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Get server class hardware. Make sure RAM is ECC, then run zfs on BSD or Linux distro of your choice.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
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I vote Unraid, I think it is a great OS for a mostly media server. The live parity protection is great for things like your photos. It is dead simple to setup, and doesn't waste a precious sata port in the server for an OS drive.

The only issue is if your hardware is not compatible. But it is free to try for that reason.

I concur.