need advice to build a ghetto nas box

[zassou]

im planning to build a home freenas xigmanas server using cheap hardwares.

requirements: as cheap as possible, im limited on budget. not special hardware involved, like raid card, ecc rams.

 

hardware side:

i was planning on x58 platform since those xeons are dirt cheap, only ~5usd a piece. but considering they do not have igpu, and using dgpu on linux is a pain in the butt, therefore im thinking about 115x platform.

for its cpu probably a dual core celeron with 2.x ghz clock plus 4gb of ddr3, its performance is no where near the xeons but i don't think a storage box need that kind of performance.

i have 1gbps ethernet connection so wifi is not needed. to my knowledge most of those boards using realtek chips, i hope they have driver support.

i find even the cheapest board comes with 4 sata ports which is enough for my use, probably dont need a raid card for addition ports.

for case i just go to e-waste dump and (hopefuly) find a non-squeaking metal box to contain the boards and drives. since most cheap boards are matx or narrow atx i dont think its a problem. i can jerry rig some drive space if i need to.

i dont i should cut budge on psu but for a system like this i think a 200w "brick" is fine, even for 24x7 operation. i can get some cheap second hand delta units too.

 

software side:

since i have zero experience on linux so this will be the big hurdle for me. i want it to be as plug-n-play as possible, but since i cant afford a synology or qnap box so i have to do the configurations myself.

i want it to be a headless system, everything is configurable via remote acess, or better yet, web ui. but i think you still need display output for initial setup. thats why i opt for the more expensive and less horsepower 115x route.

i have no experience on how to setting up a lan, and file sharing between pcs let alone windows and linux. i used to work at a internet cafe but everything there are ready-to-use out of the box.

i don't need to acess my files from remote locations tho, its not a personal cloud, just a online backup.

i want it to be easy to use, as easy as dragging a file to a folder. but thats the point of nas i guess.

much  higher transfer speed than usb solution. thats a must.

after some researching i think the lightweight xigmanas is better.

 

[desertcomputer]

Do you want your data back up on shady setup such as cheap power supply. Please don't cheap out on power supply especially you can use it for future builds, you don't want a cheap power supply to damaged your drives.

 

How is going to be online back when you can only access via lan? Do you want to use freenas to backup to a online backup services like backblaze? If you want to, you need to use backblaze B2 as home desktop additional require you have setup window VM as it doesn't support linux.

 

Sure, freenas doesn't take long to learn. I would suggest watching some video that Freenas make about setting up accounts/shares and basic setup.

 

They shouldn't need to use command lines for most stuff but you might want to start learning as copying via zfs still require command line for most part but this is not really necessary for now. It mostly used for quick and clean way move/copy datasets to new arrays.

[zassou]

2 minutes ago, EMC said:

Do you want your data back up on shady setup such as cheap power supply. Please don't cheap out on power supply especially you can use it for future builds, you don't want a cheap power supply to damaged your drives.

 

How is going to be online back when you can only access via lan? Do you want to use freenas to backup to a online backup services like backblaze? If you want to, you need to use backblaze B2 as home desktop additional require you have setup window VM as it doesn't support linux.

 

Sure, freenas doesn't take long to learn. I would suggest watching some video that Freenas make about setting up accounts/shares and basic setup.

 

They shouldn't need to use command lines for most stuff but you might want to start learning as copying via zfs still require command line for most part but this is not really necessary for now. It mostly used for quick and clean way move/copy datasets to new arrays.

i said online means conpared to offline backup like hard drive docks, optical disc or tape drive. i can acess it anytime.

as a first time project i wont put anything valuable in it, think it as a hobby project.

[desertcomputer]

1 hour ago, zassou said:

i said online means conpared to offline backup like hard drive docks, optical disc or tape drive. i can acess it anytime.

as a first time project i wont put anything valuable in it, think it as a hobby project.

Do you know how much you going be storing in TB? Or how much money you going to spend on drives. As majority of time hard drive take up majority of budget for a server build.

[zassou]

1 hour ago, EMC said:

Do you know how much you going be storing in TB? Or how much money you going to spend on drives. As majority of time hard drive take up majority of budget for a server build.

right now i have a few spare drives lying around. im not planning to really store anything on it unless i have some idea how it work, then ill build a proper system for it.

 

but for serious operation im thinking about 4x3tb drive from hgst, these drives are kinda overproduced when they merging to wd i think. they have been put on clearence for quite a while, right now some are selling for <50 usd a piece. i think it's a solid buy, and they are brand new, not second hand.