buy a Nas or build my server?

leandronb · Aug 5, 2013

hello guys, i am looking to buy or build a NAS to serve my files at home. it will be 4x4tb hdds. is my first NAS so i saw the synology DS413j and is perfect for my needs, but do you guys think that is better build a pc to use as server? what would be a config to beat that synology price?
thanks.

JackNaylorPE · Aug 5, 2013

I couldn't be bothered

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844

jwk3 · Aug 5, 2013

take a look at the HP microservers. they're the size of a 4 bay NAS but you can run any OS you want on it like a normal PC. I have one running multiple virtual machines including a lightweight linux file sharing OS. there's 2 types now, the black one (N36l/N40l/N54l) are the older and cheaper ones and the brighter ones are the newer beefed up versions. the older version (which is what I'm running) will be cheaper than the Synology unit.

leandronb · Aug 6, 2013

i decided to make my own server, i think it will be cheaper than synology. i'm in Brazil so that DS413j costs in direct conversion 1175USD without shipping, so in think is a lot cheaper to build my own server. i want the lowest power consumption possible, i saw a sempron 3000+ but in some foruns people said that is not so powerful for a sever and 1080p movies. i cant understand how a cpu can have an effect on a file server, because i will watch the movie in my pc a, 3570k, so the movie will be decoded by my i5 and the only thing that will be stressed in my server is the sata and Lan am i right?
can you guys suggest a cheap config to me? i want a small case too like that snology nas.

jwk3 · Aug 7, 2013

it depends on how you set up the media server. some methods can decode at the client end (your i5 PC) and some will decode on the server and stream the decoded video.

in terms of parts; are you likely to want to expand past 4 drives? if so it might be best to look at an mATX or ATX case rather than a smaller ITX sized 4 bay case like a CFI A7879. are you planning on adding a hardware RAID controller later or will you be sticking with software RAID?

leandronb · Aug 7, 2013

jwk3 :

i think i will not use any kind of raid to avoid problems, i still have 7x2tb hdds that i will use for manual backup. i will put all my files in the 4x4tb hdds. right now i have 13tb of files,and with 4tb hdds i will have 3tb for futures files. i dont like the idea of raid because when you lose one hdds in raid 0 you cant recover any file if i understood correctly. in regular mode without raid, when one of 4tb hdds fail i just buy another and put the backup again on new hdd. am i right?

jwk3 · Aug 7, 2013

leandronb :

there are different types of RAID. the main ones are RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10. they can all be created by a hardware RAID controller card or software RAID.

RAID 0 is like you said, if one drive dies, the whole pool will die. good for performance but not good for redundancy/safety.
RAID 1 is a direct mirror/duplicate to 2 or more drives, so when you save a file to your hard drive you are actually saving it to 2 hard drives at the same time, although to your OS it looks like there's only 1.
RAID 5 is not recommended for large TB consumer hard drives due to the whole pool being capable of dying if one dies.
RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 0 and 1, so you get the speed of RAID 0, but you also have the redundancy of RAID 1 too. one thing to also remember about most RAIDs is that you wont be able to use all of your disk space as some of it is used for storing the duplicate data.

these 2TB hard drives, are they internal or external? you mention backups. what do you do in terms of backups?

leandronb · Aug 7, 2013

jwk3 :

they are internal, 7 seagates. right now i dont have any kind of backup, my motherboard is having some problems and my hdds are secured in a safe, but as soon as i receive my 4tb hdds i will transfer my files to it.
is very organized so is easy to separate content between hdds. so i think is better to not use any kind of raid, because i will not need so much speed and i will have individual backup for files.
i found a hp server n40l here in Brazil for like 500USD, half the price that i found that synology NAS, and i couldnt find any netgear NAS. i know that n40l can have 5 hdds, 4 in normal bays and one in odd bay, so i will try to use the provided 250gb hdd to install the SO, i think windows 8 will be ok am i right? i just want to decide to buy this or build item by item, but i couldnt find any good NAS-like case. i liked pc q25b, but is a pain to buy cases outside my country. expensive shipping and abusive taxes.

jwk3 · Aug 7, 2013

if you're a fan of running windows OS take a look at Windows home server 2011. it's half the price of Windows 8 here in the UK and it designed with file sharing in mind. Windows 8 would work too however. in terms of power consumption you could look at getting a lower power (as it will be running 24/7) OS drive as it wont need to have great performance. if you can get 5400RPM drives or a cheap SSD those would be fine. something to consider is that the 5th port by default runs in IDE mode, which will still recognise HDDs but you wont get the full speed potential from the drive , although this can be changed with a BIOS mod/hack.

leandronb · Aug 7, 2013

jwk3 :

i like windows system because i used all my life since win95. i found whs2011 a lot cheaper than windows 8, thanks. the server will not be full 24/7, i want to turn off it or just hibernate/suspend when i am not at home and with ~20 min of idle. my father ocasionally will watch a movie in the tv and i will use when i am at home at weekends, or at night when im home. too bad ide speeds are so slow, 16MBps i think is just terrible to OS, but do you think it will make any difference when serving files? and about n40l, is a great idea, or there is something with better cost-benefit?

jwk3 · Aug 8, 2013

if you're wanting to use sleep mode then the N40 wont be for you as it doesnt have the S3 sleep feature. in terms of the cost of building it yourself I found it to be the same cost as buying the N40l, but the costing may be different where you live. I bought the microserver in the end as I was wanting to run Vmware ESXI on it which has been tested on it before.

leandronb · Aug 8, 2013

i was thinking about the options i have.
i will build an almost new pc(i will keep my vga 660ti, and my psu, ax650), and buy a server.
i5 4670
gigabyte GA-H87M-DH3
silverstone sg10
samsung ssd 840 250gb
corsair vengeance 2x4gb
hp n40l
total:675+330=1005
this way i will have a server and a mini pc that is what i am looking for.
but i have this option too:
i5 4670
asus H87I-PLUS
samsung ssd 840 250gb
kingston hyperx 2x4gb
lian li pc-q25b
Total:695
with the last option i still have the ability to put more than 5 hdds in the case and will be a lot cheaper. what do you think? is still better have a file server?
what i dont like is that everytime i turn on the pc it will turn on the hdds, and sometimes i will not need to use them.

jwk3 · Aug 8, 2013

so just to clarify is the second option having the hard drives in your main PC?

I would prefer having my files on a separate file server. it's one of these things that you don't realise you'd use until it was there, as I run my server 24/7 and my files are always accessible. if you're not prepared to run a server 24/7 powered fully on then I'd suggest you look at building it yourself as the HP Microserver doesn't support the sleep features you'd be after, and I think a file server that you have to manually power on and off isn't going to offer much change from having it on your main PC and turning that PC on when you need the files.

leandronb · Aug 8, 2013

jwk3 :

yes i will try to make look like this if i go with second option

but with only 4 hdds and a ssd

jwk3 · Aug 8, 2013

as you have so much storage I'd recommend going down the file server route, so that storage expansion and desktop PC expansion can be done separately. as for parts I wouldn't say you'd need much proccessing power, just a low power (modern) dual core CPU and a few GB of RAM will do fine. the only thing you will want to make sure you have is enough sata connections on your motherboard (data connector) and power supply (power connector).

leandronb · Aug 9, 2013

jwk3 :

do you think it will worth the extra price for the server? i couldnt find an itx low powered board with more than 4 sata ports. i found this asus but is not an itx http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/E35M1M/
and this board but is discontinued o newegg and because of this i dont know if worth buy it http://www.amazon.com/Asus-C60M1-I-SATA3-Motherboard-Combo/dp/B007ZT1FAI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376050533&sr=8-1&keywords=ASUS+C60M1-I

jwk3 · Aug 9, 2013

does it have to be small server? if you're planning on using 4 hard drives right from the start I'd maybe think of getting an mATX or ATX case and having a server in there. as hard drives don't seem to be growing much in terms of capacity having a 4 bay unit will be quite limiting when you run out of space on 4TB hard drives.

the other option for more sata ports is to get a sata controller card, so you have 2 or more extra sata ports running off the PCIe slot.

leandronb · Aug 9, 2013

jwk3 :

i think i will need to have a bigger case than only an itx, i liked the Fractal Design Define R4 and can even use that asus board.
i liked this setup but can you tell me what would be the right motherboard and power supply?
*ASUS E35M1-M PRO=168
*Asus C60M1-I AMD C-60=92
Corsair Vengeance Blue 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz=40
*Seasonic 360W=60
*SeaSonic G Series 550-Watt=80
*Corsair Builder Series CX 430=40
Fractal Design Define R4=97
the cheapest config is 269 USD, is a lot cheaper and better than hp n40l

jwk3 · Aug 9, 2013

well the motherboard could be personal preference. you'll have to do your own research on the CPUs but the only point I'll make is that with an mATX you'll have more expansion slots for extra sata/RAID/network cards if you want to upgrade the server in the future.

as for power supplies. the corsair wont have enough sata connectors for 4 data drives plus boot drive. the seasonic 550W has 6 sata connections so should be good. I cant say for sure about the 360 as the description is too vague for me to get any model details on it.

The Define series is great. I have an R3 for my main PC and really like it and think the fan placement will be good for lots of hard drives.

leandronb · Aug 9, 2013

jwk3 :

thanks for the help. i will get the matx board and the 550w psu. in the future i can put a pci card and add more hdds, and for backups i can just use the esata port or usb 3.0.
i could find these parts here in Brazil and is a lot cheaper than the hp server and will be more functional and upgradeable, i will just need to import the case. thank you for all the help you gave me to build this server man.

jwk3 · Aug 9, 2013

that's ok!

one thing I'd like to add; keep an offsite backup of your important stuff! what I mean is a backup so that if the computer was to be stolen, burned down or flooded the backup would still be safe. this can be a cloud storage account if your internet is good enough, or just an external hard drive that you store in another house or as far as the main computer as possible (garage, shed e.t.c.)

leandronb · Aug 9, 2013

jwk3 :

thanks, i will keep the backups in a safe that i have in my house, is fireproof so i think my data is safe. i already uploaded all my old photos in cloud and new photos are uploaded automatically. next step is upload my music but is too much GBs, i will wait for cheaper cloud services and better connection. now i have 15mbps with just 1mbps upload. jottacloud is very good, i invited all my friends and got 100gb free, even at my work i recommended and all files were uploaded. unlimited storage 60USD per year.

buy a Nas or build my server?

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