Hello all,
I'm building my first dedicated NAS that I will be hooking up via gigabit ethernet to my home's central router. It will be used basically for a couple of HTPC's that are in the house which are tied in via wireless access or gigabit ethernet to the router. However, I would like this rig to function as a personal "dropbox" as well, that I can access outside of my LAN, if that's easily doable. If not, it's no big deal. The NAS will be mostly used to hold important files and movies for the HTPC's.
What I'm looking for:
- Budget system (I'm willing to spend what I need to get these action items done, but I don't want to fly off the handle and spend more than going out and buying a pre-built model on the market)
- Data integrity/reliability
- Low power usage
- Near silent operation
- Secure
- OS reliability and integrity (and secure)
- Some sort of "wake on activity" would be nice, if there is a robust sleep-mode. It would be nice if it could go into some sort of sleep mode automatically and just wake up when it is being accessed. I'm not sure if this is a feasible goal or not.
My questions:
- Should I be using the "NAS" labeled drives on the market? I'm interested in the 3TB WD RED models but it sounds like they have a HIGH failure rate, as well as most of the other "NAS" drives on the market. Or should I just use a good reliable regular drive and just sink the cost of continuous operation of a regular drive vs. an NAS drive?
- I also want to be able to take out a failed drive and send it back to the manufacturer for a replacement or purchase another without having to shut down the NAS. Do I need 3 or 4 drives for this? What type of RAID or array do I need for this? Also, whichever it is (3 or 4) is it complete redundancy to where I would only have 3 TB of space or does the array spread a little farther to give more space? Sorry if this doesn't make any sense. This will be my first attempt at a RAID, and I figured it would be best to do it in a non-Windows environment with all of my work files and stuff.
- It sounds like from other posts that FreeNAS will be best for my needs. Is this true? It seems like a very simple OS that I can modify, fix, etc. without too much frustration. It also is very reliable from what I hear and I can setup a hardware or software RAID that will run plenty fast for what I need.
- Should I use software or onboard hardware RAID? Or should I install a separate controller for my needs, or will the software RAID be more than enough speed/reliability?
Current parts (does this fit my goals?):
- I believe I've selected the case that best suits my needs, which I think is a very common one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811128074
- I haven't selected any hard drives yet.
- The case power supply that comes with it doesn't sound very reliable from reviews. I might as well just purchase one I know will be more reliable. Does this one fit the case and my needs?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104115
- The motherboard I've picked is not really on the market anymore but I'm sure I can find one. It's fanless which bodes well for the silent operation aspect, but will this be okay for my needs? Or should I just buy another mini-ITX board with LGA 1155 socket and a cheap processor and a low profile heatsink/fan? It sounds like the case has a hard time just fitting a stock LGA1155 cooler inside... so that poses a problem. Are there any good low profile and silent heatsinks/fans for an LGA1155 socket? Also, I don't believe this one selected below has onboard RAID capabilities...:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_CPU_on_Board/AT3IONTI_DELUXE/
- I haven't picked any RAM but I feel it's negligible at this stage of the build now
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm trying to get my homework done I will be sure to post how the build is going with pictures and such, as well as my trials and tribulations which I'm sure to run into. Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!
I'm building my first dedicated NAS that I will be hooking up via gigabit ethernet to my home's central router. It will be used basically for a couple of HTPC's that are in the house which are tied in via wireless access or gigabit ethernet to the router. However, I would like this rig to function as a personal "dropbox" as well, that I can access outside of my LAN, if that's easily doable. If not, it's no big deal. The NAS will be mostly used to hold important files and movies for the HTPC's.
What I'm looking for:
- Budget system (I'm willing to spend what I need to get these action items done, but I don't want to fly off the handle and spend more than going out and buying a pre-built model on the market)
- Data integrity/reliability
- Low power usage
- Near silent operation
- Secure
- OS reliability and integrity (and secure)
- Some sort of "wake on activity" would be nice, if there is a robust sleep-mode. It would be nice if it could go into some sort of sleep mode automatically and just wake up when it is being accessed. I'm not sure if this is a feasible goal or not.
My questions:
- Should I be using the "NAS" labeled drives on the market? I'm interested in the 3TB WD RED models but it sounds like they have a HIGH failure rate, as well as most of the other "NAS" drives on the market. Or should I just use a good reliable regular drive and just sink the cost of continuous operation of a regular drive vs. an NAS drive?
- I also want to be able to take out a failed drive and send it back to the manufacturer for a replacement or purchase another without having to shut down the NAS. Do I need 3 or 4 drives for this? What type of RAID or array do I need for this? Also, whichever it is (3 or 4) is it complete redundancy to where I would only have 3 TB of space or does the array spread a little farther to give more space? Sorry if this doesn't make any sense. This will be my first attempt at a RAID, and I figured it would be best to do it in a non-Windows environment with all of my work files and stuff.
- It sounds like from other posts that FreeNAS will be best for my needs. Is this true? It seems like a very simple OS that I can modify, fix, etc. without too much frustration. It also is very reliable from what I hear and I can setup a hardware or software RAID that will run plenty fast for what I need.
- Should I use software or onboard hardware RAID? Or should I install a separate controller for my needs, or will the software RAID be more than enough speed/reliability?
Current parts (does this fit my goals?):
- I believe I've selected the case that best suits my needs, which I think is a very common one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811128074
- I haven't selected any hard drives yet.
- The case power supply that comes with it doesn't sound very reliable from reviews. I might as well just purchase one I know will be more reliable. Does this one fit the case and my needs?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104115
- The motherboard I've picked is not really on the market anymore but I'm sure I can find one. It's fanless which bodes well for the silent operation aspect, but will this be okay for my needs? Or should I just buy another mini-ITX board with LGA 1155 socket and a cheap processor and a low profile heatsink/fan? It sounds like the case has a hard time just fitting a stock LGA1155 cooler inside... so that poses a problem. Are there any good low profile and silent heatsinks/fans for an LGA1155 socket? Also, I don't believe this one selected below has onboard RAID capabilities...:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_CPU_on_Board/AT3IONTI_DELUXE/
- I haven't picked any RAM but I feel it's negligible at this stage of the build now
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm trying to get my homework done I will be sure to post how the build is going with pictures and such, as well as my trials and tribulations which I'm sure to run into. Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!