Help building a storage server

[MrPilotSir]

I plan on building a storage server + possible extras but need some help.

 

I want to use the Norco RPC-4224 or equivalent. Even though I will not have 24 hard drives in it at first, I plan on this having huge storage space for video, and personal/server backup, plex

I have seen this thread http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/21948-ltt-10tb-storage-show-off-topic/#entry273427 and was looking at it for ideas but I have a few questions

 

First off I plan on having everything mirrored and will be backing up everything to CrashPlan, I have had hard drive fail me in the past and lost pictures and dont want to have it happen again!

 

1    -    I am new to RAID and if I get random raid cards and if they die, do I need to get the same type of raid card to make things work again?

 

2    -    What is the opinion of storage spaces in windows server 2012? Has anyone had a problem with using that with large amounts of storage? I like it because I could just keep adding drives and expanding the array without fuss. 

 

3    -    Do you think I should just get an inexpensive raid card with 2 SFF-8087 and use windows storage spaces? or should I spend the money on a nicer raid card and use that for my mirroring?

4    -    Other than the above questions does it matter what motherboard/CPU/ram I use to get windows server 2012 working? how do I know? My dad just built a new computer and we tried to load server 2012 on it but ran into a bunch of problems, is that normal? or should windows server 2012 load on anything windows 8 will load on?

 

5    -    This will mainly be used as a file server but will also probably run plex and so it will need to be at least powerful enough to transcode video

Sorry for all the questions.. Any help is greatly appreciated! 

[legopc]

 

4    -    Other than the above questions does it matter what motherboard/CPU/ram I use to get windows server 2012 working? how do I know? My dad just built a new computer and we tried to load server 2012 on it but ran into a bunch of problems, is that normal? or should windows server 2012 load on anything windows 8 will load on?

 

 

i would recomend using a server board in a server build since you might indeed run into issues with your raidcard or even drivers and for memory i would recomend getting a good kit of ecc ram 

[MrPilotSir]

Any recommendations? I don't mind if it is not new technology or not. 
I don't need very many bells and whistles 

Just a CPU that can do transcoding of videos along with other random tasks if I want to use it as a webserver and other little things at once

I also want to make sure the sata ports can handle more than 2TB

I have been eyeing this up http://www.datoptic.com/ec/esata-hardware-raid-controller-spm394.html# and it sounds interesting and could use it to combine some of the drives together but I dont know which way I should go with the drives.. It would be nice for the setup to be  flexable to add drives as needed instead of needing to buy enough to set up raid ahead of time..

[IdeaStormer]

 

1    -    I am new to RAID and if I get random raid cards and if they die, do I need to get the same type of raid card to make things work again?

 

2    -    What is the opinion of storage spaces in windows server 2012? Has anyone had a problem with using that with large amounts of storage? I like it because I could just keep adding drives and expanding the array without fuss. 

 

3    -    Do you think I should just get an inexpensive raid card with 2 SFF-8087 and use windows storage spaces? or should I spend the money on a nicer raid card and use that for my mirroring?

4    -    Other than the above questions does it matter what motherboard/CPU/ram I use to get windows server 2012 working? how do I know? My dad just built a new computer and we tried to load server 2012 on it but ran into a bunch of problems, is that normal? or should windows server 2012 load on anything windows 8 will load on?

 

5    -    This will mainly be used as a file server but will also probably run plex and so it will need to be at least powerful enough to transcode video

Sorry for all the questions.. Any help is greatly appreciated! 

 

1 - Yes, or of the same family that is known to be compatible (forward/backward), need to verify with the manufacture.

2 - I'm not a Windows storage guy. I would assume if you're using hardware RAID then Storage Spaces is a step down in performance. Read up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2012/10/10/windows-server-2012-storage-spaces-is-it-for-you-could-be.aspx

3 - It all depends on your budget and what you expect out of the storage. Do you want it to be fast, or super huge, flexible (as described in Storage Spaces), don't mind it being slow, need top notch storage? You need to define these and then proceed to decide.

4 - You need to make sure you follow the hardware requirements for Windows Server 2012, no sense in buying something that is known not to work or meets spec. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303418.aspx

5 - What's the question?

 

No sense in buying anything till you set you goal/requirements.