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Build Advice Serious NAS advice needed for christmas

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by logan'srun, 1 Dec 2009.

  1. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    Hi Hi,

    Well, now it's confirmed and it looks like we'll be spending the holidays in the States, which is a benefit as the dollar is dropping against the krona and it will be a cost benefit to buy hardware while we're there.

    So now I'm coming to my question, I'm not afraid of DIY, and will have loads of time on my hands from March to Sept next year as I'll be on paternity leave (god bless equality in swe) and am already looking to build a new desktop, so I figured a NAS at the same time would be cool / do-able.

    But, and it's a big but, am I better off just buying something ready made in the states, and getting the HDD's here? Or would it be better to DIY?

    Please recommend me either a hardware list of components or a ready made NAS that's available in the US. OFC, if it's hardware components then, I would need what OS?

    For me I would like something that is little more powerful that can multitask , but of course it should be quiet (low power is another point, but can you get a decent multi-tasking CPU that is low power?) Should be a 4 bay case or ready built, that can be used in RAID, media purposes, encoding, DL, web interface? Out of curiosity, if I wanted to set up a game server, could I use this as well , and what broadband speeds would I need to play l4d or CSS (max 12 players)?

    Money is no object (well there are limits ofc), but I'd like to keep it reasonable. Anything that costs more than 1000usd is not really reasonable since we should be able to do this for less. It's OK if it's diskless as I want to put in my own HDD's, so don't factor the HDD's into the cost.


    Is that enough information, or is it still vague? I don't know much about NAS, so I'm sorry if my requests aren't specific enough.
     
  2. Von Lazuli

    Von Lazuli I get by fine with a jig-saw.

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    If you want to build one yourself, then you can't really go past FreeNAS as the operating system. I swapped from XP to that on my fileserver and couldn't be happier. Plenty of functionality, power options for drives, all sorts of good things. Can't really be used as a game server though, you might want to go back to an embedded form of XP or the like for that.

    As for components, ITX seems to be the way to go. Small yet still with plenty of features. If you were prepared to use a SATA PCI card, you could get away with a basic D945GCLF2, chosen specifically for its Gigabit network port. It has 2 SATA ports and a single PCI slot, allowing for up to four more (would hurt speeds though...) via a PCI card. It takes a single stick of DDR2 RAM.

    If you want more native SATA, or better SATA speed, then you have a few options.

    Firstly, an ION based ITX board. These tend to have 3 SATA ports and an E-SATA port. Also, there is a ZOTAC one with an integrated PSU, which saves room and at 90W, should be plenty for a few drives. They also have lower idle power consumption than the Intel 945GC based solution. Integrated WiFi might help? Unfortunately, there is no way to expand the number of SATA ports. It takes DDR2 RAM as well. Up to two sticks in fact.

    Secondly, there is a socket 775 option. The Intel DG45FC can take virtually any standard s775 desktop processor, so has no shortage of power at its disposal. You might want to stick to the low power versions though. It features 4 SATA ports on board and a PCI-E x1 slot to allow for further expansion. If you decide that you need speed, then there are a few decent PCI-E x1 RAID cards, though the bandwidth may be a little limited. Like the other options, DDR2 is still used here.

    There is also an AMD option using a Jetway JNC62K or equivilent. The board takes an AM2+ socket processor and has 4 on-board SATA ports, as well as a PCI slot for more if you need it. It uses SO-DIMMs.

    If you want, I could probably put together a price list, but hopefully this put you on the right track.
     
  3. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    Sounds interesting, but I thought I read somewhere (perhaps a Bindi quote) that ION couldn't handle the encoding of media?
    So then I should look for the 775 socket then?

    Also, for sh*ts and giggles, if I did want a server, I would need MS server then instead of FREENAS? if I went that route, what functionality would I lose over the FREENAS, or vice versa?
     
  4. samkiller42

    samkiller42 For i AM Cheesecake!!

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    Well, personally, i'm looking at 2 different NAS, First being the WD ShareSpace
    A total of 8tb gives plenty of data, and GB Ethernet means pretty swift transfer times. The other i'm looking at is the Netgear Stora But is more limited than the ShareSpace.

    Other than that, i don't know alot else about NAS, but it's food for thought.

    Sam
     
  5. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    Thanks for the input guys, does anyone else have some opinions on this matter?
     
  6. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    I would have a separate NAS to PC honestly: Look at 4-6 bay Netgear or QNAP, which are my personal favs.
     
  7. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    ok, but you're of the the 'save the headaches and buy prebuilt' opinion right? I think that's what I've seen before.

    Any recs when it comes down to exact models?
     
  8. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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    What exactly do you need it to do?

    I use a readynas for my storage with 4x 1tb F1's in it & have a seperate server for games & as a TV server.

    Remember the USA use 115v so if you buy a prebuilt option you may need a different PSU for it (can't remember of my readynas switches voltages)

    For game hosting you'd need a lot of upload bandwidth. 10MB should be ok but that's going to be a leased line so very expensive. You'd be better off renting a game server in a data centre
     
  9. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Yes, please trust me: I've been through the self-build until my fingers bled and eyes were red from tears. Then I just bought a reliable 4 bay pre-build and it's been fantastic.

    The tranquil stuff is very nice for something particularly quiet, but performance is not up to the more professional companies like QNAP and Netgear. Plus, they rely on Windows Home Server which is .. well, Windows.

    QNAP has a web great interface with tons of features and Netgears XRAID stuff is fantastic. I don't know models off hand sorry, best seek out reviews. Try the PC Pro website or find reviews by Dave Mitchell. He knows his NAS stuff inside out.
     
  10. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    What did you buy? What disks did you put in there? How long have you had the NAS and what do you do with it?
     
  11. samkiller42

    samkiller42 For i AM Cheesecake!!

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    Bindi, Could this sudden surge in activity for NAS devices warrant a review or guide on them?
    I'm sure theres interest, and maybe possibly tie it in with a DIY home server type build too.

    Sam
     
  12. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    Well, I think I've narrowed it down to Netgear NV+ or Qnap TS-439 pro and the Qnap TS-419P

    From what I can see the differences are minor between the 2 QNAP models, but all should be similar to the NV+. I was considering the NVX, but since that doesn't come diskless it kind of forced my hand out of consideration.

    What's strange though, is the NETGEAR doesn't have a single Samsung drive on their compatibility list. And I wanted to load this up with F3's, but even the QNAPs accept only F1's.

    Is there an issue with the Samsung drives?

    Also, anyone have personal experience with these models? (and I'm still waiting on Bindi to answer my other post)
     
  13. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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    I've got the NV & use F1's in it with no problems.
     
  14. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    anyone else using the QNAPS? I think I'm down to the nvx vs the 439 pro. . .(found a nvx diskless)
     
  15. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Not enough time to do it properly and very few people read them.

    Post on their communities and ask about the Samsung drives.
     
  16. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    I did and on Netgear's forum, I've gotten no reply (like they don't want to answer about samsung) but bindi, you never did answer my questions :


    :D
     
  17. nry

    nry Minimodder

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    If you want media encoding, dl, game server etc then pre built is out the question really?

    I built my own server up (runs vista ultimate)
    Mainly because im adding about 2TB every 6 months at the moment!

    I have a 45w 5050e AMD processor.

    And re-encode blu-ray disks on a regular basis, may not be the fastest but I just set it to run and come back in a few days.

    What exactly are you storing on this NAS?
     
  18. logan'srun

    logan'srun following the footsteps of giants

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    I'd be using it to store all my media, as well as pictures and work docs. Then it would be nice to have a dl tool, ftp server, and I wouldn't mind setting up some IR cameras (mostly for the fun of it)

    The focus was never on a game server, but mostly that was an afterthought. Being able to back-up without fear 12 years of pictures is also important , but now I've been reading that a NAS is never the last backup, you should back up the Back up as well. But I guess that only counts if everything is stored on the NAS as the primary, but I tend to use my computer as the primary for now (but I would love to get rid of that function and just keep it cleaner).
     
  19. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead It's big, and it's clever.

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    I've been wondering about the best way to tackle this myself. I don't want the NAS to be a "backup" just because it's a RAID. My thinking is: Have all my data stored on my main, local machine initially, so it's easily accessible and editable. Then sync that data with Beyond Compare, or Synchronise It to the NAS. This can be automated, so you'll always have a mirror on your RAID for network access (and redundancy). Then.. Ghost backs up my main data on the local machine (scheduled) so it's faster. Then that ghost file is mirrored to the NAS and stored as a seperate backup file. This file is then mirrored to a standalone external drive as a fast grab and run solution also.

    Sounds complicated, I know. But I have 2 copies of the data in usable, editable form: one locally, fast and accessible, and one network attached for streaming or sharing. I also have three copies of the compressed back up (excluding the RAID) for restoring purposes, both on the NAS, the local machine, and on a removable drive.

    That covers me for drive failure, house fire, theft... all the usual stuff.
     
  20. BioSniper

    BioSniper Minimodder

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    Personally I just built a PC from an MATX board and a spare 4400 X2 CPU that was hanging around.
    I guess mine is more of a media centre than a NAS per-sae but I use it as a data dump for TV etc.

    The whole shebang is running Win7 with a TV card in it and handles data storage and TV/Media watching functions in the living room.
     

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