Advise for building a NAS

Lev0n · October 15, 2018

So I am deciding to move away from off the shelf NAS's and plan on building my own NAS.

The NAS will be used as a media server of sorts for use with Plex/Kodi so it may need to transcode media files. Media will be 1080p and I will be looking into upgrading stuff to 4K when needed in the future.

I plan to build my NAS inside a Silverstone - DS380B. This is a case I have had my eye on for sometime now and the idea that it has 8 x 3.5" bays allows me to expand storage in the future. Currently I have 5 x 6TB WD Reds. Only 4 of these are being used in my old NAS in RAID 5. I plan to reuse these drives in the new build.

I am unsure on the rest of the hardware and also the software that I should use. For software, I have looked into FreeNAS and unRaid however I don't plan on using either of these. I have thought about using Windows as the OS but I am unsure if this is a viable option for my needs. If Windows was chosen, what would be the best way to set up a storage pool in RAID? Would I need a dedicated RAID card? I would like the possibility of if one drive dies, I can replace it and rebuild the array, can this be done with Windows?

As for hardware with the chosen case. Being small form factor is essential as is low noise. I'm not 100% sure on the specs I need and should go for?

This is what I have come up with so far.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor	£154.97 @ Laptops Direct
CPU Cooler	Noctua - NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler	£34.95 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	ASRock - H310M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	£79.99 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Kingston - FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	£64.99 @ Amazon UK
Case	Silverstone - DS380B Mini ITX Tower Case	£145.47 @ Scan.co.uk
Case Fan	Noctua - NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan	£17.41 @ Amazon UK
Case Fan	Noctua - NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan	£17.41 @ Amazon UK
Other	Corsair SF Series SF450 SFF 450 W Fully Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply Unit	£74.99 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£590.18
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-15 17:15 BST+0100

Any help is appreciated.

Electronics Wizardy · October 15, 2018

28 minutes ago, Lev0n said:

using Windows as the OS but I am unsure if this is a viable option for my needs. If Windows was chosen, what would be the best way to set up a storage pool in RAID?

You can use storage spaces, it works well, allows for expansion and mixed raid levels and device sizes.

But why do you want windows? I see no reason to use it any. Any linux distro will work fine.

Otherwise this should work fine. Id use the stock cooler, that i3 won't make much heat and is silent on the stock cooler.

Jarsky · October 15, 2018

Have you considered the likes of the Node 304? It only holds 6 x 3.5" HDD's but far better airflow - theres also the Node 804 which can hold 8 drives but is an mATX chassis.

Just a word of warning the DS380B is known to not have the best airflow, so the drives can get prety warm.

You may want to also reconsider the L9i and consider an L9x65. I've got both and theres a huge difference in TDP/cooling capacity.

That motherboard only has 4 sata ports so you'll probably want an HBA card as well for connecting the HDD's

Lev0n · October 15, 2018

38 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

Have you considered the likes of the Node 304? It only holds 6 x 3.5" HDD's but far better airflow - theres also the Node 804 which can hold 8 drives but is an mATX chassis.

Just a word of warning the DS380B is known to not have the best airflow, so the drives can get prety warm.

You may want to also reconsider the L9i and consider an L9x65. I've got both and theres a huge difference in TDP/cooling capacity.

That motherboard only has 4 sata ports so you'll probably want an HBA card as well for connecting the HDD's

I didn't no. Both those cases are nice and I've used Fractal Design before. If the airflow of the DS380B isn't that good then I would reconsider but I do want something that is small and quite. 6 x 3.5" HDD does limit on expandability in the future compared to 8. I don't think I would need more than 8. Given the Node 804 looks the better option, I do have a old 5820K not being used that could instead be used in this NAS with a mATX board. Any recommendation of board? I do have a MSI X99A SLI Plus but it's ATX and too big for a NAS. Smaller is better in my situation. A cube case would make the height a little lower but mATX would be the limit.