A lot of questions in regards to :FlexRAID

[Airbender 125]

Hello Guys,

 

I am asking here so all new uerser and advnace users who dont know FlexRAID can be aware of it , i am talking about Raid F here only the Combo
(Data Protection + Storage Pooling) for $59.95 + TAX deal

 

I know in the past alot of users in MB3 spoke about FlexRAID and provided screenshot and so on and "assassin" wrote a manaual on setup and install http://assassinhtpcblog.com/server-flexraid/ it is 100 page manaual

 

but i have so many question about this , after i look at "assassin" manual and some other screenshots and so on i relaized that Storage Pooling was not as i thought it would be , i thought it will make a large files of data of all 30TB 12 drives space but i could be wrong

 

also Data Protection with Parity drive is little confusing if in the future i buy second drive and extend the Parity size , i am not talking about 2 Parity drive backup of a backup just incase one drive died and that was the Parity drive i am talking about 2 Parity drive being one large 8TB size to cover 27TB worth of data

 

so i still need some help in this so i can get back to world of media browser 3 it been alsmot 3 Months and i over come all issue now trying to move on to next level

 

as usual i am very new to all this so i am still little confused about Transparent RAID™ (tRAID™) also because alot of people saying diffrent thing and i dont know which one will be better for me

 

 

Can someone advise

 

Thanks guys

[shaefurr 1339]

To your first question, yes the storage pool combines multiple drives into one large one, for example in my case I have 5 data drives and 1 parity drive, FlexRAID combines all 5 data drives into the storage pool Z:\

 

To the second question, yes you can have 2 hard drives  for the same parity drive, Flexraid allows you to "span" multiple drives into a single Data or parity unit. For example I use one 3TB drive for parity, I could add another 3TB to make it a 6TB parity drive, OR I can add it and have 2 separate 3TB parity drives.

 

In the first pic you can see my 5 data drives and parity drive, labeled WD# and PPU1, as well as the combined storage pool Z:

 

 

2nd pic is with flexRAID hiding the drives while the storage pool is running

 

 

Hope this answers some of your questions

[Airbender 125]

To your first question, yes the storage pool combines multiple drives into one large one, for example in my case I have 5 data drives and 1 parity drive, FlexRAID combines all 5 data drives into the storage pool Z:\

 

To the second question, yes you can have 2 hard drives  for the same parity drive, Flexraid allows you to "span" multiple drives into a single Data or parity unit. For example I use one 3TB drive for parity, I could add another 3TB to make it a 6TB parity drive, OR I can add it and have 2 separate 3TB parity drives.

 

In the first pic you can see my 5 data drives and parity drive, labeled WD# and PPU1, as well as the combined storage pool Z:

 

 

2nd pic is with flexRAID hiding the drives while the storage pool is running

 

 

Hope this answers some of your questions

Hi not able to see your pics but do i need to clear the recycle bin just as "assassin" manual says ?

also i am going to be using it on windows 7 64bit

 

 

Thanks

[shaefurr 1339]

Yeah you'll need to disable the recycle bin on the drives you want to use, I have it on both 7 x64 and 8.1 x64

 

To further explain that, the pool has its own recycle bin so the windows one should get disabled.

Edited November 30, 2013 by shaefurr

[Airbender 125]

Yeah you'll need to disable the recycle bin on the drives you want to use, I have it on both 7 x64 and 8.1 x64

 

To further explain that, the pool has its own recycle bin so the windows one should get disabled.

ok got it so i am going setup now and if i have more question i will ask thanks

[Airbender 125]

Hi

 

Run into issue localhost:8080 is been taken by SabNZBD so i change the port and then shutdown Sabnzbd but FlexRAID wont connect ?

i used sabnzbd , sickbeard, and other apps

 

This is very intersting 

[shaefurr 1339]

hmm, not sue on that one I always use the default port

[Airbender 125]

yeah it seems that Sabnzbd uses Port 8080 and FlexRAID uses same port so by changing sab port sabnzbd workd but FlexRAID did not restarting the pc i hope everything goes well as i am working remotely from work

[Airbender 125]

Hello

 

Restart worked just fine all 11 drives show up and FlexRAID connected so now moving on with my task lol

[Airbender 125]

Hello

 

I am trying to figure out if i need to put all my drives as DRU or DRU Span ? i want all drive to be one pool

[shaefurr 1339]

I would leave them separate, as the storage pool combines all the DRUs into the pool anyway.

[Airbender 125]

I would leave them separate, as the storage pool combines all the DRUs into the pool anyway.

ok i will do that then sorry i am asking questions as i go with this Thanks alot for your help

[Airbender 125]

hello

 

“Initialize Raid” now so it might takes few hours to complete and mybe more

 

i will ask question if i have one Thanks in advance

[Airbender 125]

Hi started at 09:22 PM and now it is 11:33 PM and it show 0 % completed is that normal with F Raid ?

[Airbender 125]

Hello

 

It is 11 AM now and it show 1% completed

[wraslor 70]

It depends on cpu, how fast your drives are etc, but I can tell you it took 3 days for my system to create parity for 22TB of data.  I'm running an older dual cpu setup for two 6 core 1.6 ghz opterons and slow 5400 rpm drives.

Edited November 30, 2013 by wraslor

[Airbender 125]

It depends on cpu, how fast your drives are etc, but I can tell you it took 3 days for my system to create parity for 22TB of data.  I'm running an older dual cpu setup for two 6 core 1.6 ghz opterons and slow 5400 rpm drives.

Hello i think it will take at lest a week in my case and i bought a new 4TB drive so once this Raid complete i will have to add the new one and that will take one more day so i will have to wait one more week before i can use MB3 again

[Airbender 125]

Hello Run into new problem with FlexRAID it showed 1% completed but when i check now it show 100% completed so i notice also it had an error message also

so i double checked and it show 100% completed so i tried to go to setup driver pool or storge pool thing and it was not available so then i try to get logs but the directory of logs give me access denied error

so now i am restarting the pc as killing the process and re starting it did not work

[ebr 15670]

Hello i think it will take at lest a week in my case and i bought a new 4TB drive so once this Raid complete i will have to add the new one and that will take one more day so i will have to wait one more week before i can use MB3 again

 

The new drive will have no data so it will not take any time to calculate parity for it.

[Airbender 125]

The new drive will have no data so it will not take any time to calculate parity for it.

Hi ebr

 

Good to know but i am still stuck now with this raid thing i wish if i new a different software just like FlexRAID as i can tell they dont have real support for paid clients and their forums is dead

Also notice in Device manager i have option to resume the Initializations so make me think the original Initializations might not went throw and it could be possible that why i am not able to click on storage pooling

[Airbender 125]

Hi

 

did not do anything resume the Initializations so not sure where the issue is at this moment but the whole thing is one big nightmare

all i want is to start using media browser3 again it been non stop issue hardware and software so far

[Airbender 125]

Hello

 

Deleted the configurations and starting over with this article http://wiki.flexraid.com/2011/08/24/getting-started-creating-your-first-flexraid-configuration/

one drive and one Parity drive Initialize RAID just to see if it works

[steve1977 67]

I love the concept of flexraid, but have dropped using it. It is a quite impactful software, but lacks stability and user support. I don't mind to use an alpha version of a mediaplayer, but would need something like flexraid to be 100% ready and mature before putting my data at risk. I am still keeping an eye on it, but don't think it will be ready in the years to come.

 

Unraid is a great alternative, which is stable and has a huge user community. I am not using it as I am still stuck with Win7 and want to keep it, but if you are more open, give it a try. Great user community and support over thee at unraid!

[Airbender 125]

I love the concept of flexraid, but have dropped using it. It is a quite impactful software, but lacks stability and user support. I don't mind to use an alpha version of a mediaplayer, but would need something like flexraid to be 100% ready and mature before putting my data at risk. I am still keeping an eye on it, but don't think it will be ready in the years to come.

 

Unraid is a great alternative, which is stable and has a huge user community. I am not using it as I am still stuck with Win7 and want to keep it, but if you are more open, give it a try. Great user community and support over thee at unraid!

Hello i was looking at it at this moment unraid seems to be more expansive and more complex to use or mybe i am new to it but i totaly agree with you on flexraid or their new tRaid it seems it is easy to use but not very stable at all and no support what so ever

[Airbender 125]

Hi or if i can get 2 sprate software one for drive pooling and one for Raid F type with parity drive that could work too