- Jul 20, 2013
- 7
- 0
- 10,510
I'm going to be building my first NAS. I've been building hardware for a long time, and I've even built an NAS before out of scrap parts-- (NASes, as you know, can run on barely anything if they're low traffic).
But I want a professional looking build this time. I want my next build to have:
- A small case. Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX, I'm not sure of the advantages of either, but I want it small and stylish. I would use an intel NUC if I wanted to stream video, but because of HDD mounting space, I need a case bigger than that.
- Low-power PSU; I want an efficient one, and small as possible. I've looked into PicoPSUs and I like their size, but I'm not sure of how much power I will really NEED for this.
- Cool and Quiet operation. Slim fans, if any. Probably at least one.
- Storage capacity. I'll mount 2.5"/laptop drives if I have to, but I just want to be able to fit multiple drives into it.
- Minimum requirement of hardware specs necessary for FreeNAS
I'm going to have it placed inside a media hutch and I want the dimensions to be less than 5.5" x 9.5" (~140mm x 240mm), with a minimum on flashy LEDs or status lights. And black.
Here are the specs that need to be in, as I am aware. Needless to say, I'm not terribly aware.
- CPU: Low-power, low-energy. FreeNAS isn't CPU-intensive, I don't think. It will just be streaming video.
- RAM: 8GB Minimum of good RAM. We can discuss speeds and types, for cost-effectiveness, but I want to be able to use ZFS which requires 8gb minimum for good performance, and 1gb per TB following that.
- HDD: 2x 2TB drives. 2.5" preferred, but I can easily be talked out of it if bigger ones are that much better, even if that means less space inside.
- OS: FreeNAS on a 4gb USB stick or SD card if the machine has one built in.
- MOBO: Mostly what's important are the power in, network out, and internal hardware components. I also want USB jumper pins or an internal USB to connect the OS drive to, but I can figure out the connection myself so long as the pins are there.
- FreeNAS 9.1.1+ compatibility. The compatible hardware is listed on their site-- I just want to make sure everything will work.
- RAID? Do I need this? If I lost a hard drive full of media, it wouldn't kill me and I could always reclaim it. But should I consider other factors aside from data preservation?
Now... that's what I want. But, why should you care? Well, I'll tell you.
I want to hear about your builds! If you have a NAS, even if it's nowhere NEAR what this is, I want to hear about your build. Problems you ran into, challenges you overcame! And if you have direct experience with anything listed on this thread, I want to know about that! Above all, if you have clever ideas or hacks you think about or used in your build, I want to know about them. I am *all for* hacks to make something like this work.
Help me make myself proud, everyone. I thank you for reading this so far, and I thank you again for your considerate replies!
EDIT: In the interest of stimulating thoughts, it's worth noting how I intend to use the NAS!
I'll be installing FreeNAS 9.1.1+ on it and storing all media/maybe some local software backups. Then, I'll install the Plex plugin to it and stream my local media to my TV using a Chromecast! This is why I don't need an HTPC build, but merely an elegant low-power storage box. I'm also not terribly worried about RAID arrays, unless they prove to be *very* helpful. If I lose all of my media, I can always just rebuild it from my various physical media.
EDIT2: If someone can think of a commercial device that is cost-effective and seems like what I'm looking for, I'd also be interested in this. Above all I want to be able to put FreeNAS or a similarly customizeable OS onto it, and I have the general impression that if I build it myself, it will be cheaper and more flexible. But, you can always prove me wrong.
But I want a professional looking build this time. I want my next build to have:
- A small case. Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX, I'm not sure of the advantages of either, but I want it small and stylish. I would use an intel NUC if I wanted to stream video, but because of HDD mounting space, I need a case bigger than that.
- Low-power PSU; I want an efficient one, and small as possible. I've looked into PicoPSUs and I like their size, but I'm not sure of how much power I will really NEED for this.
- Cool and Quiet operation. Slim fans, if any. Probably at least one.
- Storage capacity. I'll mount 2.5"/laptop drives if I have to, but I just want to be able to fit multiple drives into it.
- Minimum requirement of hardware specs necessary for FreeNAS
I'm going to have it placed inside a media hutch and I want the dimensions to be less than 5.5" x 9.5" (~140mm x 240mm), with a minimum on flashy LEDs or status lights. And black.
Here are the specs that need to be in, as I am aware. Needless to say, I'm not terribly aware.
- CPU: Low-power, low-energy. FreeNAS isn't CPU-intensive, I don't think. It will just be streaming video.
- RAM: 8GB Minimum of good RAM. We can discuss speeds and types, for cost-effectiveness, but I want to be able to use ZFS which requires 8gb minimum for good performance, and 1gb per TB following that.
- HDD: 2x 2TB drives. 2.5" preferred, but I can easily be talked out of it if bigger ones are that much better, even if that means less space inside.
- OS: FreeNAS on a 4gb USB stick or SD card if the machine has one built in.
- MOBO: Mostly what's important are the power in, network out, and internal hardware components. I also want USB jumper pins or an internal USB to connect the OS drive to, but I can figure out the connection myself so long as the pins are there.
- FreeNAS 9.1.1+ compatibility. The compatible hardware is listed on their site-- I just want to make sure everything will work.
- RAID? Do I need this? If I lost a hard drive full of media, it wouldn't kill me and I could always reclaim it. But should I consider other factors aside from data preservation?
Now... that's what I want. But, why should you care? Well, I'll tell you.
I want to hear about your builds! If you have a NAS, even if it's nowhere NEAR what this is, I want to hear about your build. Problems you ran into, challenges you overcame! And if you have direct experience with anything listed on this thread, I want to know about that! Above all, if you have clever ideas or hacks you think about or used in your build, I want to know about them. I am *all for* hacks to make something like this work.
Help me make myself proud, everyone. I thank you for reading this so far, and I thank you again for your considerate replies!
EDIT: In the interest of stimulating thoughts, it's worth noting how I intend to use the NAS!
I'll be installing FreeNAS 9.1.1+ on it and storing all media/maybe some local software backups. Then, I'll install the Plex plugin to it and stream my local media to my TV using a Chromecast! This is why I don't need an HTPC build, but merely an elegant low-power storage box. I'm also not terribly worried about RAID arrays, unless they prove to be *very* helpful. If I lose all of my media, I can always just rebuild it from my various physical media.
EDIT2: If someone can think of a commercial device that is cost-effective and seems like what I'm looking for, I'd also be interested in this. Above all I want to be able to put FreeNAS or a similarly customizeable OS onto it, and I have the general impression that if I build it myself, it will be cheaper and more flexible. But, you can always prove me wrong.
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