Planning to build a basic file server - Advice Please -

[nfinity]

I was looking for advice for both hardware and OS.

 

I currently have around 500GBs of movies, music, pictures, games and programs. The server would be mainly used to stream movies and music but there will be times when I’ll want to pull large and or many files from or too it. I hope to build a system which can saturate an entire 1 Gig LAN (theoretical 128mbps I believe). I have a WD red 3TB drive which should be able to push those speeds when working with larger file sizes. Plan to use a 1TB laptop hard to back up the main 3TB drive. Have no need to run RAID for the data drives. Those are the only 2 data drives i plan on having. Thinking I could have a script or the os backup the 3TB drive to the 1TB for redundancy. 

 

Power efficiency is important to me as well. I hope to use a picoPSU. Thinking a Celeron 1037u or J800/j1900 would be ok? Power efficient yet enough performance to maximize a gigabyte network? Any other recommendations on hardware are welcome.

 

Next I’m contemplating the OS. I’m a windows user for my other machines and I would have to be able to see and maneuver through directories on the server from those windows machines. So thinking I’ll have to stink with NFS…. My knowledge is weak here. Assuming I could still go with a freeNAS or NAS4free? Any other recommended os’s for my situation and plan? I have only other OS I have worked with in the past is Linux(Ubuntu) other than apple. I don’t have much experience here on a good file server OS. Think Windows Home server would be too much or more than I need for such a low powered system as my plans advise… 

 

Any advice on a recommend cpu and os would be greatly appreciated. Again I wish to saturate my gigabyte networking without using a power hungry server. Hope to build a system idling at 10-15 watts max if I’m lucky. Thanks ahead for your input!

[Blackterror25]

Why don't you just buy a NAS?

[Horrorfull]

Why don't you just buy a NAS?

What this guy said.

[Blade of Grass]

Based off what you said you're looking for, I would probably suggest you go with a NAS as it will be easiest. The only issue is upgrading in the future if you need larger capacity as you either need to buy larger upfront or buy a new unit.

[nfinity]

I have thought of a NAS. But I really think they are overpriced for what I could build and have more options with. Just for example… the cheapest diskless 2 bay NAS from newegg is $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165538

It honestly doesn’t have the best reviews and I’d be limited to upgrade.

The cheapest 4 bay diskless NAS which I would probably want to be future proof is $200 and again really doesn’t have the best reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178327

 

I can build my own for less than the 4 bay and just a little more than the 2 bay for $128 total with my example below.

 

MB and CPU - $63 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135342

4GB x1 RAM - $30

Flash drive    - FREE - I have one for freeNAS

picoPSU        - $35

case              - FREE - I have a case which would work

Total              - $128

 

[Blade of Grass]

I have thought of a NAS. But I really think they are overpriced for what I could build and have more options with. Just for example… the cheapest diskless 2 bay NAS from newegg is $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165538

It honestly doesn’t have the best reviews and I’d be limited to upgrade.

The cheapest 4 bay diskless NAS which I would probably want to be future proof is $200 and again really doesn’t have the best reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178327

I can build my own for less than the 4 bay and just a little more than the 2 bay for $128 total with my example below.

MB and CPU - $63 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135342

4GB x1 RAM - $30

Flash drive - FREE - I have one for freeNAS

picoPSU - $35

case - FREE - I have a case which would work

Total - $128

If you're going with FreeNAS it is highly recommended that you use at least 8GB of RAM, and if you're going to use ZFS it should be ECC. ZFS also benefits with 1GB of RAM per TB of storage.

[nfinity]

Planning on 4GB of ram which should be more than enough for what I'm doing. I won't be using ZFS as I only plan to use 2 drives.