Home Server (Media & NAS)

madcar86

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Jul 23, 2012
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I need to build a new server for my home. It will mainly be used for media and storage. I plan on running Plex Server off of it. I I have looked into 3 builds and I would like the communities opinion. I have a Windows Build, a FreeNAS build, and a Small Windows Build + WD MyCloud. They all come out to roughly the same price.
Requirements

  • ■ Plex Server (max 2-3 streams at same time)
    ■ File storage, with remote access (software suggestions?)
Extras (for Windows Build)

  • ■ Be able to play/rip DVDs/Blu-rays
    ■ In future will need to stream 4K media (No HTPC GPUs with HDMI 2.0 currently)
I am leaning towards the Windows Build, because I am more familiar with Windows than FreeNAS. And the more I read about FreeNAS, the more I worry about it. For example, you cant use >2TB HDD for RaidZ. The only issue with the Windows is, how do I get remote access to my files. That is why I built the Small Windows and attached the WD MyCloud. Kind of a combo of NAS and PC. But then I run into the issue of expanding capacity.
Questions

    ■ Which build should I go with?
    ■ Are the builds overkill/underkill?
    ■ Is there a Windows programe to access files remotely from any other device? Like with WD MyCloud
    ■ Is there anything else I am missing?

I appreciate any advice and help you can offer. Thanks
Here are my builds.
Windows Build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790S 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A (NFC Express Edition) ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($58.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1381.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-22 12:03 EDT-0400

FreeNAS Build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($142.98 @ Directron)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.95 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Other: ASRock Intel Avoton C2750 ($399.99)
Other: Scandisk 16GB LP USB Drive ($6.99)
Total: $1244.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-22 12:04 EDT-0400

Smaller Windows+WD MyCloud Build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4340 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($158.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.95 @ OutletPC)
Case: Silverstone ML07B HTPC Case ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Other: WD My Cloud EX4 8 TB ($668.99)
Total: $1258.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-22 12:04 EDT-0400
 
Solution
I would personally go with a Windows build, due to the information all over the web on how to setup and maintain it.

However, a few changes to the part lists:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($276.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro Rev. 2 36.7 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($13.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.23 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($83.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ ARC 100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Storage:...

Woody1999

Admirable
I would personally go with a Windows build, due to the information all over the web on how to setup and maintain it.

However, a few changes to the part lists:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($276.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro Rev. 2 36.7 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($13.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.23 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($83.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ ARC 100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Toshiba 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Toshiba 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Toshiba 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case ($77.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1209.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-22 12:24 EDT-0400

When building media server/NAS computers, I value size just as much as effectiveness. The ability to be ran for long periods of time without maintenance is also an absolute must. Therefore, small cases with little air to move around (therefore less fans to keep cool therefore less dust) are my favourite option. Small cases are also much easier to hide away in the corner of a room somewhere, unlike some older media servers I've seen (the one at my school for example) which can take up an entire room.

I would go for a Xeon E3-1246 V3 for this build - it's a better option for servers and workstations than the slower and power-efficient i7 4790S. I also included a small CPU cooler (which I personally use) that is completely silent even at full whack; just a nice feature. I chose a good quality H97 Mini ITX board from Gigabyte, and 16GB of RAM to make sure your server never gets bogged down on memory when called upon for lots of data. You can always swap this out for the preferred ECC memory that this Xeon supports.

I assume the SSD is only for the OS and basic NAS software, so 120GB is all you'll need. The particular SSD I've chosen is a little-known beauty from OCZ, which I've used in my secondary build - what a tank this thing is! For primary storage, I chose the slightly cheaper but also slightly better performing 7200RPM, 128MB cache 4TB drives from Hitachi. More cache and faster spin speed than the Seagate ones chosen, meaning a faster server. As for case, the BitFenix Prodigy is perfect for your needs, with 5 drive bays, a small form factor and best of all, cute looks :3

Finally, a little rant about power supplies (or more specifically: cables). I've disassembled enough old computers with my part time job as a junior computer store technician thingy to know that cables attract dust like crazy. If there's going to be dust in your computer, you can count on it being collected in a nice fat string on one of your cables. That's why I chose a fully modular, high quality power supply from Seasonic. Maybe a bit overkill for your needs, but I feel like it's worth it. You can limit the amount of cables to only the ones you really need, and help prevent dust collecting in your computer.

Phew. Sorry for the wall of text!

Woody

PS: Get your Windows key from here - Piracy link removed by Moderator. Do that again and your wall of text gets deleted completely.
 
Solution
In terms of your NAS use and playing/streaming 1080P videos your CPU choices are a bit overkill. Basically any CPU on the market except for Atoms etc. is going to be fine for 1080P. For 4k even a Celeron should be fine for the most part, maybe go for a Pentium or an i3 just to be safe.

For accessing files remotely via Windows you could use a VPN like BTGuard or something. Then any PC you use to connect to it over the internet will see it as part of the same network as if they were connected via LAN. I don't know how that would work if you wanted to do it on a smartphone or something but would be fine for PC's and laptops.

For your boot drive as well I'd go for a USB flash drive or an M.2 SSD, that would save you a Sata port so you could have another hard drive in future.

EDIT: In terms of minimising maintenance, you could go totally fanless with this build seeing as though you will want to minimise power consumption anyway. That would mean zero maintenance and not much noise so long as the drives are mounted properly. A fanless CPU cooler would easily manage a 30-50W CPU, there are some great fanless power supplies available and I'd then just go for 5400RPM drives and space them out in the case as much as you can.
 

Archgaull

Admirable
Also, remote access via Windows can be as simple as starting a home group. While it's not perfect, it's a simple and very basic way to stream media across a household, as long as everything can connect to the wifi.
 

madcar86

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Jul 23, 2012
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Wow thanks guys. I am glad to hear I was correct in going with a Windows server over FreeNAS. FreeNAS seems really cool, but you have to invest in a lot of expensive hardware and know what you are doing. I assume the Windows server can do anything that FreeNAS can do minus ZFS.

Woody, should I get NAS Drives since it will be up 24/7? And you are correct that the SSD is for the OS and basic programs. I was also thinking of getting a Hybrid drive to run games. What do you think?

For storage I was planning on putting all the drives minus the SSD into a storage pool, then separate into drives as needed. 1TB in double mirror for important files (photos, videos, docs), 500GB for not important files/programs with no redundancy, and the rest for media in a in raid 5. Is that a solid plan?

For the OS should I get Win 8.1 and upgrade to 10 or go for Windows Server 2012?

As for remote access, I looked at BTGuard. It looks like it is just VPN service, not a home VPN unless I miss understood it. Any suggestions for a home VPN?

Thanks again guys.
 

Woody1999

Admirable
NAS drives are a nice touch but definitely not unnecessary. Unless you're running a huge array of drives in RAID 5 or RAID 6, you don't need these extra features and supposedly better reliablilty. I have two hard drives I primarily use, a 640GB WD Blue 7200RPM and a 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM. Both have lasted over 8 and 7 years respectively, and I use them every singly day. They don't even show a single sign of wear and tear.

Woody
 

madcar86

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Jul 23, 2012
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Woody, since you said to go with a Xeon cpu, do I need to get video card too? If so which do you recommend. I was planning on getting on in the future when hdmi 2.0 becomes more avaliable.

Also random question, do you know if I want to use dolby atmos, is that a mobo, a cpu, a sofwar, or a gpu feature?
 

Woody1999

Admirable
The Xeon I picked has the specially adapted Intel HD P4600 graphics, which offer similar performance to the high end "Iris" graphics on the Haswell platform. You won't need a video card, unless you're going to be gaming/working on it in the future.

And I have no idea what I that is :p

Woody