Gimli, a NAS build by Shaqalac.

[JokuTyyppi]

Yeah I saw your thread of your penis Pi NAS.

It probably will and I sure hope it does compared to what I've been paying

 

I'm planning on buying a Pi at some point with Rasbmc to act HTPC until I'll get a proper HTPC.

I am REALLY sure it will outperform Pi But hey, it is a nice hobby despite the cost and POWAAH I almost went with a pc Nas but then i thought about the electricity bill and turned towards Pi Was that Pentium u have a Haswell one? If it is it will propably be quite efficient in terms of power consumption anyway.

I think Pi will do its job fine as a HTPC when you have such a good nas. But could you somehow integrate a HTPC into your Nas? If it is close to your TV.

 

(Sometimes i wonder how people have SO much movies that they need like 10tb of storage just for the movies. I hope they aren't all pirated In that case NAS's are almost completely full of pirate stuff. Unless people really rip their Blu-Ray discs which i doubt Not saying that you are one of those but seeing that much storage just put me thinking )

[Shaqalac]

I am REALLY sure it will outperform Pi But hey, it is a nice hobby despite the cost and POWAAH I almost went with a pc Nas but then i thought about the electricity bill and turned towards Pi Was that Pentium u have a Haswell one? If it is it will propably be quite efficient in terms of power consumption anyway.

I think Pi will do its job fine as a HTPC when you have such a good nas. But could you somehow integrate a HTPC into your Nas? If it is close to your TV.

 

(Sometimes i wonder how people have SO much movies that they need like 10tb of storage just for the movies. I hope they aren't all pirated In that case NAS's are almost completely full of pirate stuff. Unless people really rip their Blu-Ray discs which i doubt Not saying that you are one of those but seeing that much storage just put me thinking )

That exactly why I went with the DIY NAS over a Synology because to me this is a hobby. At the same time it gives me an opportunity to learn Linux and some of the endless possibilities it has.

 

Power consumption was actually one of my focus points when I was looking for hardware to this NAS. Whether I got the best parts for the lowest power consumption I'm not so sure of. To get a lower power consumption, than what I will achieve with this hardware, would probably be much more expensive and then you speculate whether it the lower consumption will justify the higher price in the end. The Pentium is based on Haswell architecture and has a TDP on 35W. To begin with I was determined to go with WD Red drives but ended up with SeaGate's NAS drives instead despite of the higher power consumption but I think it's justified when the Seagate drive is rated for 600K load/unload cycles and the WD Red is rated 300K. Besides from that I got the SeaGate drives cheaper than I could possibly get the WD drives.

For the NAS itself I'm sure a Synology/Qnap/etc. will have a lower power consumption than mine will.

 

I'm sure I could use my NAS as HTPC but that will probably crank up the power consumption as the CPU will handle all the decoding. Haven't made any decisions on this topic yet, so...

 

Well mine is for media, primarily. I'm going to store a ton of movies, TV-series, music, pictures and pretty much anything I want to be able to access from multiple devices.

[CapnJames]

Bookmarked since you brought the first update! One of the better looking build logs, please hurry up though!

[Shaqalac]

Bookmarked since you brought the first update! One of the better looking build logs, please hurry up though!

This warms my heart! Thank you!

 

The last piece of hardware arrived today (CPU)

Picture(s) of it will come tomorrow, hopefully, and then I'll have to gather the family for a group picture

[Megabikerjoe]

Did I skip it or didn't you tell us what OS you're gonna be using? Excited for the build!

[CapnJames]

This warms my heart! Thank you!

 

The last piece of hardware arrived today (CPU)

Picture(s) of it will come tomorrow, hopefully, and then I'll have to gather the family for a group picture

Your very welcome!

 

Glad to hear there will be more updates soon. Can't wait to see pics.

 

Kind of wish I had done a build log for my first build I just done...

 

P.s. Did your gloves come?

[Shaqalac]

Update #3: Gimli's brain arrived, a small portion of it at least.

 

So yesterday my last hardware piece arrived, the CPU, so I'm almost ready for some actual building. Like I mentioned earlier I won't touch the case without some microfiber gloves, so I', still waiting for those.

 

Intel Pentium G3220T OEM.
Looks nothing like any other CPU packaging I've ever encountered.

 

Intel Pentium G3220T OEM.

I know I only ordered one but it looks like something is missing.

[Shaqalac]

Did I skip it or didn't you tell us what OS you're gonna be using? Excited for the build!

I don't think I've talked too much about what OS I'll be using. I'll make an update later as I'm about to hit the bed

 

Your very welcome!

 

Glad to hear there will be more updates soon. Can't wait to see pics.

 

Kind of wish I had done a build log for my first build I just done...

 

P.s. Did your gloves come?

It's nice to follow the progress in the building. Feedback is a major factor as well, whether it's about what you've done wrong or could've done better or just a "good job".

 

No unfortunately my gloves haven't arrived yet. They should be here within the next week but hopefully they'll arrive before the weekend so I can get some work done.

[Darkspacekilla]

LOL

[CapnJames]

I don't think I've talked too much about what OS I'll be using. I'll make an update later as I'm about to hit the bed

 

It's nice to follow the progress in the building. Feedback is a major factor as well, whether it's about what you've done wrong or could've done better or just a "good job".

 

No unfortunately my gloves haven't arrived yet. They should be here within the next week but hopefully they'll arrive before the weekend so I can get some work done.

You going the Windows or Linux route for OS?

 

Yeah it is, My build wouldn't have had much progress though, was built in a day and RAM died the next, so like 2 and a bit weeks later my RMA from Corsair arrived and all was good. Speaking of RAM I've literally just added a 4GB stick before posting this reply!

I'll probably get around to posting a picture or 2 of my build somewhere but I want to sort my cable management a little more first.

 

May I ask what's with the gloves? Do you just not like fingerprints all over the inside of your PC's or something else?

 

Looking forward to next update!

[flibberdipper]

Looks kinda cool.

[Shaqalac]

You going the Windows or Linux route for OS?

 

Yeah it is, My build wouldn't have had much progress though, was built in a day and RAM died the next, so like 2 and a bit weeks later my RMA from Corsair arrived and all was good. Speaking of RAM I've literally just added a 4GB stick before posting this reply!

I'll probably get around to posting a picture or 2 of my build somewhere but I want to sort my cable management a little more first.

 

May I ask what's with the gloves? Do you just not like fingerprints all over the inside of your PC's or something else?

 

Looking forward to next update!

I've always wanted to learn Linux, so this seems like a obvious opportunity. Like I mentioned in my previous reply, I'll probably make an update this weekend about what my intentions are OS wise.

 

Well, I don't know how much progress this will have. I don't have any modding planned but I do want to focus on the details, so there might be a bit of polishing in the end.

 

The Lian-Li PC-Q25B has a brushed aluminium finish to it and with the gloves I will be able to work with the case without staining the finish.

[Shaqalac]

Update 4: Thoughts on OS, RAID setup and future improvements.

 

Unfortunately I can't bring you any pictures or tell you that the build is starting to get together, as I still haven't received my gloves.

 

I did promise some explanation or thoughts at least of what I've considered regarding OS, as well as what RAID config I will run.

 

So I spent the weekend at a friend of mine, the friend that actually got me started with the idea of getting a NAS, and he has recently bought a Synology DS412+, a beautiful little machine. So a think I'm a bit concerned about is the noise level of my NAS when it's complete as it will stand 2m away from my bed as it is right now and probably not a lot further away when I get my own apartment. The DS412+ was surprisingly quiet and the only thing you could really hear was the drives spinning, impressive! It got me thinking though, could you reduce that noise level even more? My initial thoughs was to use the low-noise adapter with my NF-F12 and NF-A14 and/or to replace the NF-F12 with a Noctua NF-S12A. Another modification that could decrease the noise level could be noise dampening foam like be quiet!'s Noise absorber kit or Silverstone's SF01. Do any of you have any experience with these two products and be able to tell me if it would do any difference at all.

 

So that was a bit about what improvements could be made in the future and as I've mentioned a couple of times before, suggestions are much appreciated!

 

OS?

When I first started researching I stumbled upon FreeNAS but whether you should use this with or without ECC memory is very devided. So I saved myself the trouble and skipped that. UnRAID was considered for a short period of time but I think I'm going to end up with a Linux based OS.

One of the reasons I went with a home-made NAS was to expand my technical/computer knowledge and horizon and why not learn Linux while I'm at it, or at least a small fraction of it, and kill to birds with one stone.

As it is right now I will use Debian 7 with mdadm to handle the RAID. I will probably end up using MG2R's Howto: create your own linux home server using Debian for all the basics and as an inspiration. My initial use of this NAS is storage of media, so I can't explain much further of what programs/applications I will install.

 

RAID config?

As you can see in previous post I've bought 4 x 4TB drives to begin with. The Q25B is able to hold up to 7 x 3.5" drives without any modification. I'm planning to add the last 3 drives when I'll run out of storage, which hopefully will take some time. With 4 drives only it seems like an obvious choice to go for a RAID5 config, which will give you 12TB of usable storage but when you add another 3 drives of 4TB that gives you 24TB of usable storage but only tolerant of 1 drive to fail! That to me is a bit scary, that's why I'm thinking of going with a RAID6 config. That's might seem a bit silly at first with only 4 x 4TB drives, which gives me 8TB of usable storage but once I start to add more drives to the array it will start to make some sense. With adding an additional 4TB drive will give me 4TB additional usable storage and a failure tolerance of 2 drives.

 

Sorry for spelling mistakes, it's getting late.

 

Cheers Shaqalac.

[alpenwasser]

snippy-snip-snippity-snip

Just today I asked my little youngest brother what he thought about Synology

NAS boxes (he works in IT and has said they sell and install these quite frequently),

and he highly recommended them (I'm thinking about getting one to back up my the

important data from our server).

As for the rest: Your plan actually sounds pretty reasonable to me. Having a RAID6

with four drives isn't really a tragedy IMO as long as you don't need those 12 TB right

freaking now!

[JokuTyyppi]

Sounds good again Keep it up Shaqalac! Cant wait to see more!

Btw my Pi has worked flawlessly now Its transfer speeds got higher for some reason Now it is about 6-8mb/s wich is reasonable for me. I cant wait to hear how fast your NAS is when its done

[Shaqalac]

Update #5: Family photo. Smile!

 

All the hardware in a united picture. Let the assemble begin.

 

I still haven't received my gloves but according to the eBay seller it should be here within the next two days.

 

If the gloves doesn't arrived before the weekend I will do some building anyways. I will probably do as much work as I can outside of the case, mounting CPU, cooler and RAM.

 

I'm starting to look into sleeving materials and have seen some nice sleevings at MDPC-X and as I come from Denmark shipping prices aren't too bad. Any recommendations on what sleeving and colour scheme I should go for?

 

Cheers Shaqalac.

[Shaqalac]

Just today I asked my little youngest brother what he thought about Synology

NAS boxes (he works in IT and has said they sell and install these quite frequently),

and he highly recommended them (I'm thinking about getting one to back up my the

important data from our server).

As for the rest: Your plan actually sounds pretty reasonable to me. Having a RAID6

with four drives isn't really a tragedy IMO as long as you don't need those 12 TB right

freaking now!

Synology was definitely my brand of choice if I wasn't going for a home made one. It looks good, it's quiet and it works out of the box.

 

Only time will tell how my needs for storage are, the cool thing though is that I can just add another disk to the array without too much trouble. That's what I've read at least.

 

Sounds good again Keep it up Shaqalac! Cant wait to see more!

Btw my Pi has worked flawlessly now Its transfer speeds got higher for some reason Now it is about 6-8mb/s wich is reasonable for me. I cant wait to hear how fast your NAS is when its done

Another update, small one but an update none the less, just popped up. Hopefully a good heavy update will come this weekend!

 

I will do some benchmarking/speedtest to see how well it performs. Should tell if something's wrong as well.

[megadarkwood]

Looks really good so far! 

[Raboo]

Looks good

[Shaqalac]

Update #6: ST45SF-G unboxing and a small problem.

 

First of all I would like to say thanks once again, I just realised this build log got over 2.5K views which is very overwhelming!

 

So I was considering to do as much work as I possibly could outside the case but decided not to do that anyways. The reason for this is that I don't want the motherboard with the hardware on to stand and collect dust until the gloves arrive. Hopefully they will arrive tomorrow when the mail is delivered.

 

Instead I took another look at the hardware to see if I missed something or if I should be aware of something when I build the NAS. Unfortunately I had missed something, more on that later.

 

SilverStone ST45SF-G unboxing.

 

It comes in a bubble wrap bag. Would have preferred it had arrived in a cloth bag but there's no other protection in the packaging than the bubble wrap around the PSU itself so I guess this solution makes sense to keep cost down. It arrived in one piece, so nothing, really, to complain about.

 

Out in the free. Has a nice smooth finish to it and the fan looks like an easy swap should it be needed. I don't have any plans to open it up, at least not within the warranty.

 

I wanted to show you how small it really is, so I found something as universal as a lighter. Amazing how much power SilverStone packed into such a small form factor.

 

Sticker with all the information about the PSU.

 

I/O: Mobo 24pin, PCI-E 8pin and 6pin, ATX 8pin and 4pin, 2 IDE & SATA. Looks fine for my needs.

 

Sleeving could have been better but I'm thinking of doing it myself with some sexy looking MDPC sleeving. This picture was include to show the length of it rather than the quality of the sleeving. Again with the lighter as comparison.

 

The 8/4pin connector. For my motherboard I only need the 4pin, so in the future I might turn this into a 4pin connector only, if that's possible.

 

And now to the problem. It only includes ONE SATA cable with 3 SATA connectors. So now I have to look for some kind of solution, preferably a cheap solution as I would like to make a custom sleeved cable with the right amount of SATA connectors with the right space between each connector. Do you guys have any solutions?

 

Cheers Shaqalac.

[alpenwasser]

And now to the problem. It only includes ONE SATA cable with 3 SATA connectors. So now I have to look for some kind of solution, preferably a cheap solution as I would like to make a custom sleeved cable with the right amount of SATA connectors with the right space between each connector. Do you guys have any solutions?

If the existing cable is long enough but just has the wrong amount of connectors

at the wrong places, get some additional connectors (I cannibalized a few SATA

molex->SATA power adapters for ZEUS to get some without needing to buy new ones,

in case you have some of those laying around).

Mount the drives, put the power connectors into the drives and push the wires

into the connectors (obviously you'll need to take off the sleeve first). You'll

end up with the perfect spacing between your power connectors and can cut off any

unneeded wire at the end should you wish.

If the cable is too short, it's the same thing, only you'd need to make a new

cable first.

The connectors are pretty cheap if you need to buy some btw.

As for the sleeving, I did the following in ZEUS: Take a piece of paracord (should

also work with MDPC-X) which is a bit longer than the piece of wire between two

connectors, push the wire into one connector, slide the piece of paracord onto the

wire and push the wire into the second connector. The sleeve will be loose on the

wire, but since it's a little bit too long it will butt up against the power connectors

and be held in place by them. There are also alternative ways to do this, I think

Lutro0's FAQ on OCN mentions them, you might want to check that out as well.

[cl_l-CaKe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls14BmwkeWg

 

this should help you with your sata connector problem

[Shaqalac]

If the existing cable is long enough but just has the wrong amount of connectors

at the wrong places, get some additional connectors (I cannibalized a few SATA

molex->SATA power adapters for ZEUS to get some without needing to buy new ones,

in case you have some of those laying around).

Mount the drives, put the power connectors into the drives and push the wires

into the connectors (obviously you'll need to take off the sleeve first). You'll

end up with the perfect spacing between your power connectors and can cut off any

unneeded wire at the end should you wish.

If the cable is too short, it's the same thing, only you'd need to make a new

cable first.

The connectors are pretty cheap if you need to buy some btw.

As for the sleeving, I did the following in ZEUS: Take a piece of paracord (should

also work with MDPC-X) which is a bit longer than the piece of wire between two

connectors, push the wire into one connector, slide the piece of paracord onto the

wire and push the wire into the second connector. The sleeve will be loose on the

wire, but since it's a little bit too long it will butt up against the power connectors

and be held in place by them. There are also alternative ways to do this, I think

Lutro0's FAQ on OCN mentions them, you might want to check that out as well.

The first part of your post made a lot more sense to me after I watched the video cl_l-CaKe linked to.

Did you cannibalized an adapter like this?

I think I'll have to buy a couple of those and until they arrive, steal one or two from my main rig.

 

Your result looks awesome and it's definitely the result I'm looking for as well.

 

I'm not completely sure yet, what sleeving I'll be going for. I have heard much good about MDPC and shipping prices aren't that bad for me.

 

Lutro0's FAQ seems to have all the answers for all my questions.

 

Thanks for the tips and tricks!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls14BmwkeWg

 

this should help you with your sata connector problem

Woaw, is it really that simple? I will have to do that to my main rig as well. As you can see from my Installation of NH-D14 I had to relocate my drive cage because the cable where interfering with the 120mm fan on the NH-D14.

[alpenwasser]

The first part of your post made a lot more sense to me after I watched the video cl_l-CaKe linked to.

Haha, yeah sorry about that. I couldn't find any pictorial descriptions

of what I'd described when I was writing it.

Did you cannibalized an adapter like this?

I think I'll have to buy a couple of those and until they arrive, steal one or two from my main rig.

Yes, that's the sort of adapter I meant. However, if you're going to buy

adapters to cannibalize, you might as well just buy the connectors.

I only cannibalized my adapters because I still had some laying around,

so I thought I might as well use them for something.

These are what you're looking for I think:

SATA Push-In Connector, Pass-through Cap, End Cap

Your result looks awesome and it's definitely the result I'm looking for as well.

Thanks!

I'm not completely sure yet, what sleeving I'll be going for. I have heard much good about MDPC and shipping prices aren't that bad for me.

I am currently doing a sleeve job (well, a favour, really) with MDPC-X and

it's pretty nice to work with. I've never worked with Lutro0's plastic

sleeving, but from what I've heard it's pretty nice as well.

[Stadiz]

You shall have my sword!

And my bow!
 

AND MY NAS ! ! !