Hello All,
I had a couple questions about hardware advice for building an unraid server using some of the components I already have. I currently use a Dell Optiplex 7040MT with Windows 10 running Plex, I have a VM also running Windows 10 that I use strictly for torrenting behind a VPN. The Dell box is an I7-6700 with 8gb of ram, I use a 120GB SSD for an OS drive, a 500GB SSD for VM’s and a 1TB HDD that my torrents save to, I then copy them to one of the three 8TB USB drives I have plugged into the box. I know this isn’t an elegant solution but its worked so far, my problem is I’d like to use unraid but cannot with USB drives and Dell box is very proprietary and does not have enough SATA, power connections or physical space in the chassis. I would kind of like to keep using this box until 11th Gen Intel is out (it plays so well with Plex) or GPU’s drop a bit in price. I’ll list out my questions so its a little easier to respond:
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I’ve thought about using one of the serverbuilds builds, it consists of a Rosewill 4U server chassis, a LSI 9201-16e External SAS HBA, a SFF-8088 to 4xSATA breakout cable and a PSU. The guide basically just uses the 4U chassis to house the drives and run the breakout cables through the case and into the LSI card installed in the main box. I like this idea because it leaves room for future upgrades (when hardware becomes available again), I just dont like the idea of cables just hanging out of the back of the case and wondered if they made some sort of union? that would sit in a blank pci slot.
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I’ve seen other posts in my reading that go into using older enterprise disks shelves paired with an LSI card but I really don’t know what I am looking for, again quite new to all of this.
Any input/help and your suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!