3 ways to build NAS server from scrap parts.

[Lenovich]

^{Sorry for simplified English.}

Now it is time, I need to build my personal NAS server. But I do not wanted spend any rubles on this build, because I have enough scrap parts.

 

So there is tree ways to approach my goal.

 

•  The fast and simple solution. Raspberry Pi B3+ (not exactly a scrap)

Advantages: good software, fast build, power efficient, rational.

Disadvantages: USB 2.0 Power limitations to HDD, in best scenario you can connect maximum 1 HDD, other HDD needs power supply

•   The fast and simple solution 2. Old netbook ASUS 1015BX

Advantages: more good software fo x86 architecture, fast build, almost power efficient, almost rational.

Disadvantages: 2GB of ram, USB 2.0, only 2 HDD maximum, One in direct SATA connection to motherboard, and another via USB, need to build case, I only have single motherboard.

•  Not fast, not rational way. Build NAS from 775 socket  parts.

Advantages: no limitations in software, 4 SATA HDD. I can use quad core CPU or simple Celeron.

Disadvantages: Not power efficient, not silent, not cool.

 

I will try all of these. And will tell about them in this post. Which one build you wanna see first, or maybe you have some advices for me?

 

teaser photo: "the scrap parts" silent 1015bx notebook.

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, Lenovich said:

So there is tree ways to approach my goal.

 

•  The fast and simple solution. Raspberry Pi B3+ (not exactly a scrap)

Advantages: good software, fast build, power efficient, rational.

Disadvantages: USB 2.0 Power limitations to HDD, in best scenario you can connect maximum 1 HDD, other HDD needs power supply

You forgot that the ethernet-port is also a USB-device internally, so any time it's reading/writing to/from any connected HDD, ethernet-speeds drop and vice versa, since they only have 480Mbps theoretical bandwidth in total and they'll have to share that. You'd actually get better speeds over 5GHz 802.11AC, if the Pi was within range, than over Ethernet.

[Lenovich]

3 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

You forgot that the ethernet-port is also a USB-device internally, so any time it's reading/writing to/from any connected HDD, ethernet-speeds drop and vice versa, since they only have 480Mbps theoretical bandwidth in total and they'll have to share that. You'd actually get better speeds over 5GHz 802.11AC, if the Pi was within range, than over Ethernet.

Never know that, thank you. So there is a new advantage, I can place Raspi in any corner or home.

[leadeater]

40 minutes ago, Lenovich said:

Which one build you wanna see first, or maybe you have some advices for me?

The laptop

[jj9987]

50 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

You forgot that the ethernet-port is also a USB-device internally, so any time it's reading/writing to/from any connected HDD, ethernet-speeds drop and vice versa, since they only have 480Mbps theoretical bandwidth in total and they'll have to share that. You'd actually get better speeds over 5GHz 802.11AC, if the Pi was within range, than over Ethernet.

I recommend looking into Pi 4. Ethernet is wired separately, it has 1Gbps port plus it has two USB 3 ports.

[Lenovich]

On 1/8/2020 at 3:26 PM, leadeater said:

The laptop

Done

 

Question , continue this post, like add more photos to this post, or make new post? 

[silentdragon95]

Having personally gone down the Socket 775 parts route, it may seem a bit boring (and I agree that it's not very energy efficient), but for anything with more than like 2 HDDs it's probably still the most sensible way of building a NAS as it won't bottleneck a gigabit network connection unlike the other two solutions.

 

That being said, the netbook solution with some sort of custom case is certainly the coolest one because I don't think many people have done that before.