Advice on PLEX server with RAID

[pommedeterror007]

So as the title describes im setting up a PLEX media server, The motherboard I have currently supports raid but only has 2 Sata 3 ports, the rest are Sata 2. My concern is that one sata 3 will be used for the OS SSD, then the Hard drive will have to rely on sata 2 speeds. Im not sure if this will heavily decrease the hard drive speeds or not so I was looking into a simple inexpensive raid card. Im planning on having between 2 and 6 drives for the content and am unsure which RAID is best.

 

So first will any of these cards work? if not id highly appreciate recommendations around this price point (if possible).

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082D6XSZN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1MK2DD7C33I65&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082CP8K1W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1MK2DD7C33I65&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KYP5RRL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2JG7U147IMRBO&psc=1

 

Lastly as far as RAID types, I am still a little unsure which version would best suit my needs. Mianly because of my odd capactiy drives. I have a brand new 6TB, a 3TB and can get my hands on 2tb or 4tb drives. 

 

Sorry for the long rant, I really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

 

 

[Jarsky]

33 minutes ago, pommedeterror007 said:

My concern is that one sata 3 will be used for the OS SSD, then the Hard drive will have to rely on sata 2 speeds.

SATA HDD's dont really utilize SATA3 speeds for a lot of transfers, thats really just their burstable rate. Sustainable speeds on spinning rust are about ~120-140MB/s

 

Quote

Im not sure if this will heavily decrease the hard drive speeds or not so I was looking into a simple inexpensive raid card. Im planning on having between 2 and 6 drives for the content and am unsure which RAID is best.

Worry less about the number of disks you want and focus more on how much capacity you want. 

Say you want 15TB of total capacity with redundancy, then you'd be better off getting 3 more 6TB drives to have around ~16TB of formatted redundant space. So you know you need to connect 4 hard drives. If your board has a spare 4 SATA sports (SATA2or3), then thats just fine, you dont *need* a card.

 

Quote

So first will any of these cards work? if not id highly appreciate recommendations around this price point (if possible).

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082D6XSZN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1MK2DD7C33I65&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082CP8K1W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1MK2DD7C33I65&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KYP5RRL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2JG7U147IMRBO&psc=1

Dont get those "cheap" SATA cards, get a proper HBA, which can be bought second hand for around the same price. 

Cards such as these

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H200-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-LSI-9210-8i-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/153552395870

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Perc-H310-SATA-SAS-HBA-Controller-RAID-6Gbps-PCIe-x8-LSI-9240-8i-M1015/133105907042

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-SAS-IR-9210-8i-8-port-6Gb-s-PCIe-HBA-RAID-SATA-Controller-card-9211-8I/142975830461

 

They are all SAS2008 chip HBA's so can be flashed to what's called "IT Mode", which is a passthrough mode to use with Software RAID solutions. 

 

Quote

 

Lastly as far as RAID types, I am still a little unsure which version would best suit my needs. Mianly because of my odd capactiy drives. I have a brand new 6TB, a 3TB and can get my hands on 2tb or 4tb drives. 

 

Sorry for the long rant, I really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

 

Use a Software RAID solution for a start.

 

A really popular one for running as a Plex Server is UnRAID. Its flexible in mixing drive sizes (as long as your largest is the cache drive), easy to manage with a GUI, has lots of community Plugins and easy Docker/VM management. It's great in that it runs off USB, but its downside is it has a license cost past the free trial (30 days).

 

FreeNAS with its ZFS is a robust system, and comes with a Plex "plugin" so you can easily setup a server, its downside is that all the disks must be the same size. 

 

Windows is always popular as well, and its Storage Spaces can somewhat do Mixed drives, if you mix them in pairs. That gets very confusing though, so typically try and avoid doing mixed drive configurations. 

 

Ubuntu/Debian/Mint/etc... with Linux RAID. Theres plenty of support for setting up a Linux Software RAID, and plenty of tutorials for Plex on Linux. Its a solution that is robust and works well, and no licensing costs....but again is a bit more technical in setup and you do need to use the same size drives. 

[pommedeterror007]

19 hours ago, Jarsky said:

SATA HDD's dont really utilize SATA3 speeds for a lot of transfers, thats really just their burstable rate. Sustainable speeds on spinning rust are about ~120-140MB/s

 

Worry less about the number of disks you want and focus more on how much capacity you want. 

Say you want 15TB of total capacity with redundancy, then you'd be better off getting 3 more 6TB drives to have around ~16TB of formatted redundant space. So you know you need to connect 4 hard drives. If your board has a spare 4 SATA sports (SATA2or3), then thats just fine, you dont *need* a card.

 

Dont get those "cheap" SATA cards, get a proper HBA, which can be bought second hand for around the same price. 

Cards such as these

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H200-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-LSI-9210-8i-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/153552395870

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Perc-H310-SATA-SAS-HBA-Controller-RAID-6Gbps-PCIe-x8-LSI-9240-8i-M1015/133105907042

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-SAS-IR-9210-8i-8-port-6Gb-s-PCIe-HBA-RAID-SATA-Controller-card-9211-8I/142975830461

 

They are all SAS2008 chip HBA's so can be flashed to what's called "IT Mode", which is a passthrough mode to use with Software RAID solutions. 

 

 

Use a Software RAID solution for a start.

 

A really popular one for running as a Plex Server is UnRAID. Its flexible in mixing drive sizes (as long as your largest is the cache drive), easy to manage with a GUI, has lots of community Plugins and easy Docker/VM management. It's great in that it runs off USB, but its downside is it has a license cost past the free trial (30 days).

 

FreeNAS with its ZFS is a robust system, and comes with a Plex "plugin" so you can easily setup a server, its downside is that all the disks must be the same size. 

 

Windows is always popular as well, and its Storage Spaces can somewhat do Mixed drives, if you mix them in pairs. That gets very confusing though, so typically try and avoid doing mixed drive configurations. 

 

Ubuntu/Debian/Mint/etc... with Linux RAID. Theres plenty of support for setting up a Linux Software RAID, and plenty of tutorials for Plex on Linux. Its a solution that is robust and works well, and no licensing costs....but again is a bit more technical in setup and you do need to use the same size drives. 

First of all, thanks a bunch for your in detail reply.

 

Its good to know that I dont HAVE to get a raid card, and its awesome to know which ones to purchase in the future. What Ill do is ill start with no raid card as I wont be using the onboard Raid support. Ill also start off with windows for the OS as thats what I know and am comfortable with. Ill look into the unRAID system more and see if its good for me. Thanks again for the guidance.