RAID build advice needed

QuadroShadow · February 14, 2019

Looking into building a small NAS on a budget, but I'm really unsure about most of the things, so I'm looking for both hardware and raid software advice.

I need to create a solution for storing mostly video files, on a budget. I want to to invest as little money into this as possible, but grow my array gradually, upgrading the hardware along adding new disks to expand the storage. Redundancy is very important. Much preferably want to start with a software raid if that is possible, I really don't know. I don't really have any hardware for the build except a couple lenovo think centre core2duo pcs. Also is using old ddr2 server hardware an option? Also, I want to use Hgst 4tb drives as they are cheap at the place where I live.

Hopefully someone can help.

Phas3L0ck · February 15, 2019

I'm gonna save some breath and direct you to my massive argument on RAID types here:

And here:

And an honorable mention for a response I just wrote-- something to consider if you're thinking of doing RAID more cheaply:

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Quick suggestion based on experience; 4x drives, RAID-10; or RAID-6 if you can get an LSI 9361 (they're cheaper than you think) 8x drives, I don't recommend RAID-10 but if you're on a small budget do it; RAID-60 for enhanced performance and redundancy; RAID-6 with hot spares for increased capacity and immense redundancy.