Idea: Move WHS to Zotac ZBox, use unRaid in what was my WHS Server

[ChaOConnor]

WHS is a great product, but it's not perfect. I'm starting to feel some of those imperfections and was thinking about moving my files to unRaid as I like it for many reasons. The real question is where do I put sage then? i've read all about the ESXi solution, but I'm afraid I'll just be opening myself up to more tinkering and hurt.

So what if I use my WHS (specs below) as just an unRaid server. Allows me less overhead, don't have to worry about losing the files during a WHS rebuild (it's happened before...), etc. and move my WHS functions (Sage, PlayOn, Comskip) to the Zotac box that I bought as a Client and never really got to work properly. (I've since just gone w/ the HD-300 and haven't looked back!)

My question is, what about recording from two HDHomerun sources? Will the laptop hard drive that's in the Zotac be able to keep up? Do I batch move stuff to unRaid at a later time? What holes in my test haven't I even considered?

Just a fishing expedition at this point, but something I'm considering doing this weekend.

Appreciate any thoughts on the matter, take care!

[gplasky]

I think the major drawback to move your WHS ot Zotac is it doen't really have the horsepower for comskip and playon. As far as recording most of the green drives spin at 5400 rpm so recording from the HDHRs shouldn't be an issue. BUT even if you're sticking with one drive you'll still have the overhead of demigrator running. And I'm assuming your HVR2250 goes away? Are you backing up any house PCs to WHS? Do you have enough drive space or are you adding external drives to the Zotac? I don't think I would make that move.

Gerry

[ChaOConnor]

What if I ditch WHS all together and throw the copy of Win 7 I bought for the client? I was thinking about the horsepower, how much do i really need? I mean, I don't use CS live right now, just after a recording... so what if it takes a few minutes longer, you know? The real question is PlayOn...

Although, the current WHS box shows two threads available in task manager, the Zotac shows 4, so maybe it won't be terrible?

[gplasky]

Maybe-but isn't it just an Atom? I comskip all my files at night and watch them the next day or later so that shouldn't matter. But Playon transcodes so that will hit your processor. And my concern isn't WHS vs. Win 7. It doesn't matter too much the OS. The two processes you picked, comskip and playon are processor intensive with the added issue of comskip hitting your drive pretty hard too. I have both processes running on a single, seperate PC.

Gerry

[mayamaniac]

Sell the Zotac, use the money as part of fund to build an Unraid or WHS/Win7 box.

Personally, I would just get rid of WHS and use Win7. Buy a nice server case with lots of fans to keep the system cool and you don't have to use raid.