Im new to this, i need some advice.

[NoccoAddict]

Hi there,

Just to clarify before, I do not know much about servers in general so excuse me if I say something that might seem stupid.

 

So well, Im searching for a not too pricey Server build that i can remotely store my files and media on thats accessible by both macOS and Windows.

I am going to have to use a Computer case as i live in a remote location without any way to aquire a Nas/Plex(?)enclosure without paying crazy high customs fees and shipping.

Ive already looked around a bit online and found some old used Xeon 775 chips and motherboards for cheap, would that be sufficent for a not-too-slow server? 

 

If anyone got any suggestions, even for something completely different feel free to comment, i need every help i can rn.

(Drives are not a problem at the moment, I got over 7TB of drives at home.)

 

Thanks in advance!

[Electronics Wizardy]

How much do you want to spend?

 

How much do you care about power usage?

 

Id really just get a premade nas like a ds418, but if you want diy get something like a cheap used system(local is normally cheaper) and run unraid or simmilar on it.

[NoccoAddict]

29 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much do you want to spend?

 

How much do you care about power usage?

 

Id really just get a premade nas like a ds418, but if you want diy get something like a cheap used system(local is normally cheaper) and run unraid or simmilar on it.

I dont really have a limit. I just want a sturdy build for not too much cash, nothing beast performance like.

Could you explain what you mean with power usage? Electricity or performance? Sorry not native english.

 

 

As i said i cant get my hands on a nas/case, im generally not able to get big parts here as i am going to buy the parts(except the case which i can buy here at double the price) when i am going to vacation in germany(and i cant take a huge nas with me on a plane lmao)

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, Julius0000 said:

I dont really have a limit. I just want a sturdy build for not too much cash, nothing beast performance like.

Could you explain what you mean with power usage? Electricity or performance? Sorry not native english.

 

 

As i said i cant get my hands on a nas/case, im generally not able to get big parts here as i am going to buy the parts(except the case which i can buy here at double the price) when i am going to vacation in germany(and i cant take a huge nas with me on a plane lmao)

power is electricity. If you pay a good amount for power, a server like this can increase you power bill by hundreds of dollars a year.

 

THose synology nas boxes are pretty small, you can easily put one on a plane with you.

[aezakmi]

you can use normal components for it, it doesn't has to be a xeon, you could use I don't know an AM1 CPU or one of those Intel onboard CPU boards

I built mine from discarded parts and performs pretty good, it rocks an E4300 with stunning 2GB DDR memory, I also have some old Athlons around and also an AM1 sempron but the Intel remains faster despite being older

 

electricity is very expensive where I live so I enabled all of the power saving stuff and remote WOL in case it enters sleep mode

prebuilts are too expensive compared to a DIY system (mine was literally $0)

[NoccoAddict]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

power is electricity. If you pay a good amount for power, a server like this can increase you power bill by hundreds of dollars a year.

 

THose synology nas boxes are pretty small, you can easily put one on a plane with you.

https://www.amazon.de/TS-231P-Desktop-Gehäuse-Powerful-Storage/dp/B01MFEH9EL/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1534370416&sr=8-5&keywords=nas+2+bay I looked on Amazon and this catched my eye, 2 drive bays and a really small formfactor. Would you recommend something like this? Sorry that i linked the german amazon site, I can only buy from there lol.

And what about internet? Is a nas ethernet or wifi based? Couldnt find anything about it in the listing

[kirashi]

5 minutes ago, Julius0000 said:

https://www.amazon.de/TS-231P-Desktop-Gehäuse-Powerful-Storage/dp/B01MFEH9EL/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1534370416&sr=8-5&keywords=nas+2+bay I looked on Amazon and this catched my eye, 2 drive bays and a really small formfactor. Would you recommend something like this? Sorry that i linked the german amazon site, I can only buy from there lol.

And what about internet? Is a nas ethernet or wifi based? Couldnt find anything about it in the listing

Absolutely something like a QNAP or Synology NAS would probably work best if you're not looking to spend a ton, or are just getting started with storage servers. You can buy both brands from Amazon.de but be sure to research the features you need as both QNAP and Synology offer different NAS models.

[paddy-stone]

TBH I would just suggest to have more HDDs in your main PC and use folder sharing if it's a windows machine... not sure if it's accessible via mac though. Second suggestion if first isn't viable is to just use a Virtual Machine on your main PC to run freenas, or another GUI interface user friendly build,  for your remote storage needs. Both of the above don't cost anything for you to try first to see if that meets your needs, and then if not you could still purchase a Qnap or similar.

[NoccoAddict]

25 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

TBH I would just suggest to have more HDDs in your main PC and use folder sharing if it's a windows machine... not sure if it's accessible via mac though. Second suggestion if first isn't viable is to just use a Virtual Machine on your main PC to run freenas, or another GUI interface user friendly build,  for your remote storage needs. Both of the above don't cost anything for you to try first to see if that meets your needs, and then if not you could still purchase a Qnap or similar.

Thats exactly what i have been doing. I set up a FTP server(2TB space) accessible for my whole family and it has been working great, only downside is that my computer needs to be turned on whenever someone needs it. and a 12/7 on nas server would just be way more seemless for that purpose

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Julius0000 said:

https://www.amazon.de/TS-231P-Desktop-Gehäuse-Powerful-Storage/dp/B01MFEH9EL/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1534370416&sr=8-5&keywords=nas+2+bay I looked on Amazon and this catched my eye, 2 drive bays and a really small formfactor. Would you recommend something like this? Sorry that i linked the german amazon site, I can only buy from there lol.

And what about internet? Is a nas ethernet or wifi based? Couldnt find anything about it in the listing

That will work fine, id get more bays if you have lots of drives laying around to put in it. qnap is a good brand.

 

It plugs in with ethernet, and you wireless access with your home wif connection.

 

 

[paddy-stone]

9 hours ago, Julius0000 said:

Thats exactly what i have been doing. I set up a FTP server(2TB space) accessible for my whole family and it has been working great, only downside is that my computer needs to be turned on whenever someone needs it. and a 12/7 on nas server would just be way more seemless for that purpose

OK, fair enough, I obviously didn't know that you already do that. In all paying for more hardware will be WAY more expensive than using existing hardware in most cases IMO. For instance, buying a Qnap 4 bay can be around £500 maybe (I don't know exactly, so it's just a theoretical number right now), and a desktop ryzen 1700 can use around 70-100w all-in, lets call it 100w... even if that was left on 24/7 it would take approx £105 per year to run it. So that would be approx 5 years of running cost at 24/7 operation in relation to the cost of a QNAP.  I'm not saying you shouldn't get one at all, I'm just saying "is the cost of it worth it compared to using your PC which may be on anyway?". I have my PC on from the moment I get up, or one of my family needs to use the folder shares.. then it is shut down at night, so is on for approx 12-18 hours per day on average. I use my PC for mining, work, plex, file/folder sharing, and numerous other things so it would be on anyway even if it wasn't used for file sharing. I used to have a main server running freenas, the power draw was between 75-150W on average (it was an i7), and it was on pretty much the same amount of time as my main PC. So it made sense for me to consolidate those functions into my main PC instead, and I now use less power doing everything, than I did just for running freenas. Now mine was a more complicated issue than yours is, I was just using it as an example though. If you got a QNAP or similar the power draw of those are a LOT less, but I would still factor in the price of the unit to what you're using now is all.

 

TL:DR - IMO if you have the ability to make a small low power computer, or buy something like an HP micro server, then it might be worth the cost. If you just want to use a simple GUI and don't mind paying through the nose for it then get a QNAP. don't get me wrong, they are good pieces of equipment, I'm just saying that in a home setting, a "build it yourself" solution might be preferable if you really want to have a separate file sharing machine. Amyway, hope that might have given you food for thought.

[NoccoAddict]

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

That will work fine, id get more bays if you have lots of drives laying around to put in it. qnap is a good brand.

 

It plugs in with ethernet, and you wireless access with your home wif connection.

 

 

I will probably get a 2 or 3 bay as i have a near empty 4tb and a 2tb hdd in my current "server" that ill just format and throw in, thatll be enough for the next  5 years lmao