Hello and thank you for any advice.
I’ve been lurking in various forums and reading what articles I can find, but I’m still confused and I’m starting to get information overload, because the more I read the more confused I’m feeling. So I thought I would tell you what I want to do and what I (roughly) want to do it with and you might be able to provide some feedback.
I want this server to stream my movies (DVD and Blu-Ray), stream my music, and backup my home/gaming pc (eventually these will be different but for now…), my laptop, and my tablet (is this even possible yet?). It will eventually be streaming to my HTPC(s?) (to be built/bought), my home/gaming pc, my laptop, audio system, and my tablet (android of course).
At the moment I don’t plan for the system to have to stream to more than one device at a time, but this could change and I would like the option to be open. I would like to be able to stream while on vacation, have family/friends access my home videos and vacation photos, and backup my laptop while on vacation since I will put my pictures on it every night.
Some details:
• I would REALLY like to keep the budget under $2000 if possible (including storage costs).
• I have, currently, roughly 600 DVDs and 20 blu-rays (including 3D)
• I would like to be able to add additional storage
• I want redundancy! I really really REALLY don’t want to load all my discs more than once. Carbonite?
My current (always up for change plans):
• Case: Rosewill Thor v2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2400S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• MB: GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• OS: WHS 2011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• OS SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F240GB3A-BK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• Storage HDD x5: Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• Raid Controller: HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGLc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• Raid Cables x2: HighPoint Int-MS-1M4S SFF-8087 to 4 SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
• PSU: Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-450 450W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Priced as of 6/1/12 from newegg.com it would work out to $1,892.85. All items are in a public wish list titled “My Home Server 6-1-12”. Would this setup work for what I want? Is the SSD for the OS overkill and not necessary? Other than shopping around is there something else unnecessary? Did I miss something?
Configuration is something that I’m sure I’m going to have many questions on, but later, after I purchase my Baby. I do have one important question and that is raid. As I understand it Raids 5, 6, and 10 are the better ones as far as redundancy goes. In December of 2011 maximumpc.com wrote an article about building a home server and they recommended Raid 6. Is Raid 6 something I should do? If a drive fails in the above raids, can I just power down the server, unplug the bad drive and plug a new one in or hot swap the drive? Can I start with just 4 drives and add to the Raid? And what about UnRAID by Lime Technologies? Can I put Carbonite (
http://www.carbonite.com) or another backup service on my server?
You can see that I start seeing options everywhere and end up with my eyes crossed and my fingers tied in knots.
I don't really have a timeline for this build. If I could start it small and add to it later that would be great, if not then a splurging I will go.
Thank you again for any help you can provide.
-William