My Unraid dream build (early 2020)

My Unraid dream build would provide me with ample storage space, a lot of computing power, and data security.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.
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This is my current (early 2020) Unraid dream build. I might never be able to actually build it but the ambition is there. It’s never a bad idea to set ambitious goals, right? My Unraid dream build includes a Fractal Design Define 7 (or Define 7 XL) computer case, a power-efficient six-core Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, plenty of ECC (error-correcting code) memory, multiple big hard drives, a decently sized cache pool, and an X470D4U2-2T motherboard from AsRock Rack.

This Unraid dream build would provide me with ample storage space for my photography and videography, enough computing power for a few Docker containers or maybe even a Linux virtual machine if needed, and data parity. Maybe one day, if you use my affiliate links, I will be able to build my Unraid dream build for real.

The perfect case for Unraid

While researching my Unraid dream build, I was dead set on the Fractal Design Node 804. In my eyes, it was the perfect case for a DIY NAS running Unraid. It’s quite a small cube-shaped box that houses up to ten 3.5″ hard drives and two 2.5″ drives. Someone on the Unraid forum even managed to fit in 12 hard drives with some slight modifications. I really like the design of Fractal Design cases and their focus is mainly on silent cases which is a must in a flat like mine where I can’t easily hide the machine.

Update: It has been brought to my attention that the Fractal Design Node 804 lacks centre screws on the hard drive mounts. This makes it impossible to mount any large hard drives without modifications. For that reason, I can’t recommend the Node 804 to anyone building an Unraid NAS.

Then came the Fractal Design Define 7 XL (and Define 7)

Everything changed when Fractal Design announced the Define 7 and, perhaps more importantly, the Define 7 XL.

The Fractal Define 7 fits 14 and the Fractal Define 7 XL fits a whopping 18 3.5″ hard drives. If you were to fill the Fractal Define 7 XL with 16 TB Seagate IronWolf drives, you would have 288 TB of raw storage in a single tower case. Even with two parity drives, you would be left with 224 TB of usable disk space.

The Fractal Design Define 7 as an Unraid case
The Fractal Design Define 7 XL would be a perfect case for an Unraid Server or NAS

While the 3.5″ hard drives in both the Fractal Design Define 7 and Define 7 XL aren’t hot-swappable, which definitely would be nice in an Unraid build, they are screwed into caddies which makes removing them as easy as pie. As we’ve come to expect from Fractal Design, both cases look great. They definitely wouldn’t be improper next to a media console or as a secondary desktop in an office. Both have a great layout and are, according to the reviews I have watched and read, easy to build in.

Update: Since writing this article, the Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL has been announced. The Meshify 2 XL is very similar to the Define 7 XL but offers better airflow, making it the better choice for Unraid in almost all situations. The Define 7 XL is quieter under load but at the cost of cooling. Read my full article on the Meshify 2 XL here.

Case fans from no one else but Noctua

When it comes to case fans there is only one viable option in my opinion: Noctua. Noctua makes the best performance/noise ratio case fans and in addition to that, they are also very reliable. Noctua even has a line of fans meant for industrial heavy-duty applications. I think those would make perfect sense for my Unraid dream build.

Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, Premium Quiet Fan, 4-Pin (120mm, Brown)
Noctua NF-A14 PWM, Premium Quiet Fan, 4-Pin (140mm, Brown)
Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM, Heavy Duty Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 3000 RPM (140mm, Black) for Desktop
Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM, High Performance Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 1700 RPM (120mm, Grey), Compatible with Desktop
Title
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
Noctua NF-A14 PWM
Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM
Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM
Size
120mm
140mm
140mm
120mm
Max RPM
2000
1500
3000
1700
Colour
Noctua brown
Noctua brown
Black
Grey
Application
Case cooling, heatsinks, and water-cooling radiators
Water-cooling radiators and PC cases
Heavy duty cooling fan
Case cooling, heatsinks, and water-cooling radiators
Price
$32.95
$23.95
$29.95
$15.95
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, Premium Quiet Fan, 4-Pin (120mm, Brown)
Title
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
Size
120mm
Max RPM
2000
Colour
Noctua brown
Application
Case cooling, heatsinks, and water-cooling radiators
Price
$32.95
Noctua NF-A14 PWM, Premium Quiet Fan, 4-Pin (140mm, Brown)
Title
Noctua NF-A14 PWM
Size
140mm
Max RPM
1500
Colour
Noctua brown
Application
Water-cooling radiators and PC cases
Price
$23.95
Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM, Heavy Duty Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 3000 RPM (140mm, Black) for Desktop
Title
Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM
Size
140mm
Max RPM
3000
Colour
Black
Application
Heavy duty cooling fan
Price
$29.95
Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM, High Performance Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 1700 RPM (120mm, Grey), Compatible with Desktop
Title
Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM
Size
120mm
Max RPM
1700
Colour
Grey
Application
Case cooling, heatsinks, and water-cooling radiators
Price
$15.95

There isn’t a single RGB LED to be found on Noctua fans, and their brown colour scheme has been criticized by some reviewers (though there is also the chromax line of fans, which are black). But an Unraid build doesn’t need to be flashy, it has to perform reliably and in my case quietly. Noctua fans are by no means cheap, but they do come with a 6-year warranty and a good set of accessories in the box.

Power supply (PSU): Seasonic powers my Unraid dream build

I’d use a Platinum- or even Titanium-rated power supply (PSU) from Seasonic to power my Unraid dream build. They’re highly regarded in the community and are competitively priced. For an Unraid build, you should be looking at an efficient power supply, one rated at least 80 Plus Platinum, as it will most likely be running 24/7.

A fanless Season PRIME 600 power supply for an Unraid server build
The Seasonic PRIME 600 has no fans

The 80 Plus Platinum rating means that the power supply is rated for at least 90% efficiency at 20% load, 92% at 50% load, and 89% at 100% load and is only outclassed by the 80 Plus Titanium rating.

Seasonic FOCUS PX-850, 850W 80+ Platinum Full-Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode, Perfect Power Supply for Gaming and Various Application, SSR-850PX.
Seasonic PRIME 850 Titanium SSR-850TR 850W 80+ Titanium ATX12V & EPS12V Full Modular 135mm FDB Fan Power On Self Tester 12 Year Warranty Power Supply
CORSAIR HX Series, HX850, 850 Watt, 80+ Platinum Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2, 80+ PLATINUM 850W , Fully Modular , EVGA ECO Mode, 10 Year Warranty , Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Power Supply 220-P2-0850-X1,Black
Product
Seasonic FOCUS PX-850
Seasonic PRIME 850
CORSAIR HX850
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2
Efficiency
80+ Platinum
80+ Titanium
80+ Platinum
80+ Platinum
Output Wattage
850 Watts
850 Watts
850 Watts
850 Watts
Also Available
550W/650W/750W
600W/650W/750W
750W/1200W
650W/750W/1000W/1200W/1600W
Design
Fully Modular
Fully Modular
Fully Modular
Fully Modular
Cooling
Hybrid Fan Control with Fanless Mode
Hybrid Fan Control
Zero RPM mode at low loads
-
Size
140 mm
-
-
-
Price
$196.10
$495.00
$268.00
$329.99
-
-
-
-
Seasonic FOCUS PX-850, 850W 80+ Platinum Full-Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode, Perfect Power Supply for Gaming and Various Application, SSR-850PX.
Product
Seasonic FOCUS PX-850
Efficiency
80+ Platinum
Output Wattage
850 Watts
Also Available
550W/650W/750W
Design
Fully Modular
Cooling
Hybrid Fan Control with Fanless Mode
Size
140 mm
Price
$196.10
-
Seasonic PRIME 850 Titanium SSR-850TR 850W 80+ Titanium ATX12V & EPS12V Full Modular 135mm FDB Fan Power On Self Tester 12 Year Warranty Power Supply
Product
Seasonic PRIME 850
Efficiency
80+ Titanium
Output Wattage
850 Watts
Also Available
600W/650W/750W
Design
Fully Modular
Cooling
Hybrid Fan Control
Size
-
Price
$495.00
-
CORSAIR HX Series, HX850, 850 Watt, 80+ Platinum Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply
Product
CORSAIR HX850
Efficiency
80+ Platinum
Output Wattage
850 Watts
Also Available
750W/1200W
Design
Fully Modular
Cooling
Zero RPM mode at low loads
Size
-
Price
$268.00
-
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2, 80+ PLATINUM 850W , Fully Modular , EVGA ECO Mode, 10 Year Warranty , Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Power Supply 220-P2-0850-X1,Black
Product
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2
Efficiency
80+ Platinum
Output Wattage
850 Watts
Also Available
650W/750W/1000W/1200W/1600W
Design
Fully Modular
Cooling
-
Size
-
Price
$329.99
-

Motherboard: AsRock Rack X470D4U2-2T

It should be pretty obvious that each Unraid dream build is going to be dependent on its use. Some of you might even disagree with the case I’ve chosen. But as my Unraid dream build would be mainly used for storage, I would need enough room for many drives.

In my build, I’m not looking for an insane amount of computing power or a platform to host a demanding Plex server (although a GPU could be added later on). Considering that, server-grade hardware would be a bit overkill. And because I don’t need to do any hardware encoding/decoding I also don’t necessarily need an Intel CPU.

AsRock Rack X470D4U2-2T Micro ATX Server Motherboard AM4 Ryzen & Ryzen 7nm PGA1331 AMD X470 Dual 10GLAN
  • Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen Series CPUs
  • Supports 4x DDR4 ECC and non-ECC UDIMM, max. 128 GB
  • Supports up to 6 x SATA3 6.0Gb/s (inculded 1 SATA DOM), 2 x M.2
  • Integrated IPMI 2.0 with KVM and Dedicated LAN (RTL8211E)
  • Supports2 x RJ45 10G base-T by Intel X550-AT2

The motherboard I’ve picked out for my Unraid dream build is the X470D4U2-2T from AsRock Rack. Your eyes are not deceiving you, that is an AMD Ryzen motherboard for server use. There are a few reasons why I’d go for this board over a consumer motherboard:

  • It has 2×RJ45 10GBASE-T by Intel X550-AT2
  • You can run it headless, meaning there’s no need to install a GPU
  • It supports error-correcting code (ECC) RAM
  • It has enough PCIe expansion for my needs
  • An IPMI port which allows remote management is included
  • No RGB LEDs!
A Asrock Rack X470D4U2-2T for an Unraid build
Bestseller No. 1
ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) AM4 Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 & 3rd Gen Ryzen ATX Motherboard with PCIe 4.0, Dual M.2, 12+2...
  • AMD AM4 socket: Ready for 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors to maximize connectivity and speed with up to two M.2 Drives, USB 3.2 Gen2 and AMD StoreMI
  • Enhanced power solution: Military-grade TUF components, Pro Cool socket and Digi plus VRM for maximum durability
  • Comprehensive Cooling: Active PCH heatsink, VRM heatsink, M.2 heatsink, hybrid fan headers and Fan Xpert
Bestseller No. 2
MSI Meg X570 Unify Motherboard (AMD AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0, SATA 6GB/s, M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, ATX)
  • Supports 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryze/Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen with Radeon graphics desktop processors for AM4 socket
  • Supports DDR4 Memory, up to 4600+(OC) MHz
  • Aluminum cover with extended heatsink: All-Metal extended heatsink cover enlarge the surface of heat dissipation, ensures even high-end processors to run in full speed
SaleBestseller No. 3
ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 WiFi AX AM4 AMD X570 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard
  • Supports AMD AM4 socket Ryzen 2000 and 3000 Series processors
  • 10 power Phase design
  • Supports DDR4 4066+ (OC)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600

The choice of CPU mainly boils down to efficiency. Considering that, I would stick a six-core Ryzen 5 3600 with a TDP of 65 watts into my Unraid dream build. It should have enough raw power for loads of Docker containers and enough cores for a couple of Linux virtual machine. The Ryzen 7 3700X would be a nice upgrade, but I would never use the computing power of which that CPU is capable of.

A Ryzen 5 3600 for an Unraid build

The Ryzen 5 3600 has six cores which can boost up to 4.2 GHz and have a base clock of 3.6 GHz. This CPU comes with a Wraith Stealth Cooler, which is pretty decent and depending on the usage (and how much heat is being generated by other components) wouldn’t necessarily require an upgrade.

AMD Ryzen 3000 Series

Table could not be displayed.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-core, 16-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core, 24-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core, 32-thread unlocked desktop processor
Product
Ryzen 5 5600X
Ryzen 7 5800X
Ryzen 9 5900X
Ryzen 9 5950X
Cores/threads
6/12
8/16
12/24
16/32
Max. boost clock
4.6 GHz
4.7 GHz
4.8 GHz
4.9 GHz
Price
$144.00
$200.21
$278.62
$375.25
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler
Product
Ryzen 5 5600X
Cores/threads
6/12
Max. boost clock
4.6 GHz
Price
$144.00
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-core, 16-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor
Product
Ryzen 7 5800X
Cores/threads
8/16
Max. boost clock
4.7 GHz
Price
$200.21
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core, 24-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor
Product
Ryzen 9 5900X
Cores/threads
12/24
Max. boost clock
4.8 GHz
Price
$278.62
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core, 32-thread unlocked desktop processor
Product
Ryzen 9 5950X
Cores/threads
16/32
Max. boost clock
4.9 GHz
Price
$375.25

CPU cooler: Stock or Noctua

Were I to consider an upgraded CPU cooler, I would definitely pick one from Noctua’s line-up for my Unraid dream build. They’re quiet, well-built, and should be capable of cooling any CPU around the clock. As an Unraid build’s case is generally large, there shouldn’t be any limitations on how big the CPU cooler can be.

The Noctua NH-D15, a perfect CPU cooler for an Unraid server
The Noctua NH-D15 is a massive CPU cooler

The reason I would not go for an all-in-one water cooler (AIO) is simple: I do not, and never will, trust water around my electronics. Furthermore, the pumps of AIO water coolers are known to fail over time, which is something I wouldn’t want happening to my Unraid dream build. If a CPU cooler from Noctua were to fail, all I’d have to replace was the fan and not the whole thing.

Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans For Desktop (Brown)
Noctua NH-D15S chromax.Black, Premium Dual-Tower CPU Cooler with NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan (Black)
Noctua NH-U12S chromax.Black, 120mm Single-Tower CPU Cooler (Black)
Noctua NH-U12S Redux, High Performance CPU Cooler with NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM 120mm Fan (Grey)
Product
Noctua NH-D15
Noctua NH-D15S
Noctua NH-U12S
Noctua NH-U12S Redux
Fan
2 (NF-A15 140mm fans with PWM support)
1 (NF-A15 140mm fans with PWM support)
1 (NF-F12 120mm Focused Flow fan with PWM support)
1 (NF-P12 redux-1700 120mm fan with PWM support)
Design
Dual tower
Dual tower
Single tower
Single tower
Price
$109.95
$109.95
$89.95
$54.95
Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans For Desktop (Brown)
Product
Noctua NH-D15
Fan
2 (NF-A15 140mm fans with PWM support)
Design
Dual tower
Price
$109.95
Noctua NH-D15S chromax.Black, Premium Dual-Tower CPU Cooler with NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan (Black)
Product
Noctua NH-D15S
Fan
1 (NF-A15 140mm fans with PWM support)
Design
Dual tower
Price
$109.95
Noctua NH-U12S chromax.Black, 120mm Single-Tower CPU Cooler (Black)
Product
Noctua NH-U12S
Fan
1 (NF-F12 120mm Focused Flow fan with PWM support)
Design
Single tower
Price
$89.95
Noctua NH-U12S Redux, High Performance CPU Cooler with NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM 120mm Fan (Grey)
Product
Noctua NH-U12S Redux
Fan
1 (NF-P12 redux-1700 120mm fan with PWM support)
Design
Single tower
Price
$54.95

Going with a CPU cooler with two fans (for example, the Noctua NH-D15) would give you added reliability. Depending on which CPU you go with, the Noctua NH-D15 would be overkill. But in case one of the two fans was to fail, you would possibly still be able to use the system until a replacement arrives.

RAM is memory

I’d go with error-correcting code memory (ECC memory) in my Unraid dream build, just for the peace of mind. ECC memory is a type of memory that can detect and correct n-bit data corruption which occurs in memory. It is used in most computers where data corruption cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. And I’ll go ahead and include my Unraid dream build in that category.

No products found.

The X470D4U2-2T motherboard supports dual channel DDR4 memory technology and can take on up to 128 GB of it. It is important you make sure that the motherboard will accept the memory you are purchasing. Generally, you will find a list of tested and compatible memory on the product page.

Host Bus Adapter (HBA): Dell PERC H310

The X470D4U2-2T motherboard has six SATA ports onboard. Obviously, six hard drives aren’t all I would want in my Unraid dream build. Luckily, I currently use a Dell PERC H310 card, which I would also use in any future build. With its eight SATA ports and the six SATA ports on the motherboard, I’d definitely be sorted for a while. Were I to run out of SATA ports, I’d just get another Dell PERC H310 card or use a SAS expander. A full list of compatible HBAs can be found on the Unraid Wiki.

The Dell PERC H310, a perfect Host Bus Adapter (HBA) for an Unraid server
The Dell PERC H310 can be bought for little money

HBAs, such as the Dell PERC H310, can be found on second-hand marketplaces such as eBay for comparatively little money. Because the Dell PERC H310 uses a SAS2008 processor it can be flashed with IT firmware which is required for use with Unraid. There are many guides online on how to do that.

0hv52w Dell 0hv52w Perc H310 6g Sas Sata Pcie Raid Controller
LSI Logic SAS9211-8I 8PORT Int 6GB Sata+SAS Pcie 2.0
Lsi Logic 179356 Controller Card 05-25703-00 9305-16i 16-port Sas 12gb/s Pci-express 3.0 Host Bus Adapter Single Pack
Title
Dell PERC H310
LSI SAS 9211-8i
LSI SAS 9305-24i
Processor
SAS2008
SAS2008
SAS3224
Connector type
36 pin 4i Mini MultiLane SAS (SFF-8087)
36 pin 4i Mini MultiLane SAS (SFF-8087)
Mini SAS (SFF-8643)
SATA ports
8
8
24
Host bus
PCIe 2.0 x8
PCIe 2.0 x8
PCIe3.0 x8
Price
$39.00
$53.99
$254.99
-
-
-
0hv52w Dell 0hv52w Perc H310 6g Sas Sata Pcie Raid Controller
Title
Dell PERC H310
Processor
SAS2008
Connector type
36 pin 4i Mini MultiLane SAS (SFF-8087)
SATA ports
8
Host bus
PCIe 2.0 x8
Price
$39.00
-
LSI Logic SAS9211-8I 8PORT Int 6GB Sata+SAS Pcie 2.0
Title
LSI SAS 9211-8i
Processor
SAS2008
Connector type
36 pin 4i Mini MultiLane SAS (SFF-8087)
SATA ports
8
Host bus
PCIe 2.0 x8
Price
$53.99
-
Lsi Logic 179356 Controller Card 05-25703-00 9305-16i 16-port Sas 12gb/s Pci-express 3.0 Host Bus Adapter Single Pack
Title
LSI SAS 9305-24i
Processor
SAS3224
Connector type
Mini SAS (SFF-8643)
SATA ports
24
Host bus
PCIe3.0 x8
Notes
-
Price
$254.99
-

Unraid cache disks

For my Unraid dream build’s cache disks, I’d be using two high-quality NVMe drives, such as the Samsung 970 Pro or the newer and faster Samsung 980 Pro with an X570 motherboard. The drives would be mirrored because I like my data to be safe and the read/write speed of a single NVMe drive is faster than the gigabit network I currently have.

Hard drives for my Unraid dream build

And finally, the most important thing inside an Unraid dream build which will be used as a NAS: the hard drives. Basically, I would just stick to the largest drives rated for use in a NAS. Which at the moment would be the 16 TB Ironwolf/Ironwolf Pro from Seagate or the 18 TB WD Red Pro. While I do currently use mainly WD hard drives I would avoid them in any future build due to their shady practices in the past. Two of the drives would be used as parity disks.

Seagate IronWolf hard drives

Seagate IronWolf 16TB NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD – CMR 3.5 Inch SATA 6GB/S 7200 RPM 256MB Cache for Raid Network Attached Storage, with Rescue Service (ST16000VN001)
Seagate IronWolf Pro, 18TB, Internal Hard Drive, NAS, 3.5 Inch, SATA, 6GB/s, 7200 RPM, 256MB Cache, for RAID Network Attached Storage (ST18000NE000)
Seagate 16TB HDD Exos X16 7200 RPM 512e/4Kn SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch Enterprise Hard Drive (ST16000NM001G)
Product
Seagate IronWolf
Seagate IronWolf Pro
Seagate Exos
Maximum capacity
16 TB
18 TB
16 TB
Speed
7200 RPM
7200 RPM
7200 RPM
Cache
256 MB
256 MB
256 MB
Recording technology
CMR
CMR
CMR
Bay in enclosure
8
24
Unlimited
Price
$298.99
Price not available
Price not available
-
-
-
Seagate IronWolf 16TB NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD – CMR 3.5 Inch SATA 6GB/S 7200 RPM 256MB Cache for Raid Network Attached Storage, with Rescue Service (ST16000VN001)
Product
Seagate IronWolf
Maximum capacity
16 TB
Speed
7200 RPM
Cache
256 MB
Recording technology
CMR
Bay in enclosure
8
Price
$298.99
-
Seagate IronWolf Pro, 18TB, Internal Hard Drive, NAS, 3.5 Inch, SATA, 6GB/s, 7200 RPM, 256MB Cache, for RAID Network Attached Storage (ST18000NE000)
Product
Seagate IronWolf Pro
Maximum capacity
18 TB
Speed
7200 RPM
Cache
256 MB
Recording technology
CMR
Bay in enclosure
24
Price
Price not available
-
Seagate 16TB HDD Exos X16 7200 RPM 512e/4Kn SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch Enterprise Hard Drive (ST16000NM001G)
Product
Seagate Exos
Maximum capacity
16 TB
Speed
7200 RPM
Cache
256 MB
Recording technology
CMR
Bay in enclosure
Unlimited
Price
Price not available
-

WD Red hard drives

Western Digital 6TB WD Red NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 5400 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, SMR, 256MB Cache, 3.5" - WD60EFAX
Western Digital 14TB WD Red Plus NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 GB/s, CMR, 512 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD140EFGX
Western Digital 18TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD181KFGX
Product
WD Red
WD Red Plus
WD Red Pro
Maximum capacity
6 TB
14 TB
18 TB
Speed
5400 RPM
7200 RPM
7200 RPM
Cache
256 MB
512 MB
256 MB
Recording technology
SMR
CMR
CMR
Bay in enclosure
8
8
24
Price
$125.27
$320.00
$337.99
-
Western Digital 6TB WD Red NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 5400 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, SMR, 256MB Cache, 3.5" - WD60EFAX
Product
WD Red
Maximum capacity
6 TB
Speed
5400 RPM
Cache
256 MB
Recording technology
SMR
Bay in enclosure
8
Price
$125.27
Western Digital 14TB WD Red Plus NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 GB/s, CMR, 512 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD140EFGX
Product
WD Red Plus
Maximum capacity
14 TB
Speed
7200 RPM
Cache
512 MB
Recording technology
CMR
Bay in enclosure
8
Price
$320.00
-
Western Digital 18TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD181KFGX
Product
WD Red Pro
Maximum capacity
18 TB
Speed
7200 RPM
Cache
256 MB
Recording technology
CMR
Bay in enclosure
24
Price
$337.99

About Liam Alexander Colman

I first heard of Unraid through the same medium as many of us did: The Linus Tech Tips channel on YouTube. At the time, I was running TrueNAS (or FreeNAS as it was called back then) on my DIY NAS built using a dual-core Intel Pentium G4400 at its heart. I was convinced, I had chosen the better operating system. After all, it was free and open-source and had a large community behind it. One day, after once again facing the need to buy another three hard drives, I seriously started researching Unraid and its features. I bit the bullet and gave it a go, transferring my data on to external hard drives that I later shucked and added to the Unraid array. Since that day, I have not looked back once, and I am now an enthusiastic and experienced user of Unraid. You can find out more about Unraid Guides right here.

2 thoughts on “My Unraid dream build (early 2020)”

  1. Nice site, definitely helping me now when buolöding and configuring my first Unraid server. This article inspired me to go big. Now putting together this:

    PCPartPicker part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/sb2GRT
    CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor
    CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
    Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X ATX AM4 Motherboard
    Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GBDDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
    Storage: 2* Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
    Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
    Storage: 5* Seagate IronWolf NAS 3 TB 3.5″ 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive
    Storage: Seagate IronWolf Pro 14 TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
    Storage: 4* Seagate EXOS Enterprise X18 18 TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
    Video Card: PNY Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card
    Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL ATX Full Tower Case
    Power Supply: Corsair HX Platinum 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
    Case Fan: 7* Noctua A15 PWM 140 mm Fan
    UPS: APC SMC1500I UPS
    Custom: Asus DUAL-GTX1060-O6G
    Custom: DELL H310 SAS 8Port 12Gb/s PCIE3.0

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