Emegency NAS/Raid storage help

[mak123abc]

Hey Guys first time posting on the forums, didnt know where else to go,

It apears one of my 2 drives currently shoved in my computer is on the verge of failing as it has started making a consistent buzzing noise so I need to sort out an emergency storage upgrade. untill then ive got my computer off, but i need it going again asap, it has been acting as my server that contains a lot of valuable data as well as my gaming machine.

 

I needed some advice for my storage upgrade keep in mind I am reasonable price constricted.

I was thinking of setting up some sort of RAID configuration so I dont have to deal with this kind of stress again. Probably something like RAID 5.

If I were to go this route, is it better to go for buying a hardware raid card or software raid? if I start out with software can I upgrade to a hardware raid controller later, without wiping the drives, to get a performance benifit?

Also is it better to go for a dedicated NAS box or a hard drive enclosure, or some other route that I cant think of?

Any reccomendations on hardware for me to go for?

 

Bonus question, in the future am I able to add drives to a raid 5 without wiping the drives.

 

Thanks for all your help

 

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

is it better to go for buying a hardware raid card or software raid?

Depends on the use case but as a home server/NAS Software RAID would work just fine.

4 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

if i start out with software can i upgrade to a raid controller later to get a performance benifit?

"upgrade" isn't exactly accurate. To switch to Hardware RAID is more like going sideways. It's about use case and/or preference. There's no overwhelming benefit to going either direction in a variety use case scenario.

 

6 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

Also is it better to go for a dedicated NAS or a hard drive enclosure?

Do you want to access it over the network or to access it locally? That's the major difference.

 

6 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

any reccomendations on hardware for me to go for?

What's your budget? Often any somewhat modern unused computer can be turned into a cheap NAS.

 

7 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

Bonus question, in the future am I able to add drives to a raid 5 without wiping the raid.

I believe some hardware controllers allow the adding of disks to expand a pool. Software RAID depends on what File System is being used but there are options available that allow single disk addition.

[mak123abc]

3 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Do you want to access it over the network or to access it locally? That's the major difference.

Over the network access is a necessity

3 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

What's your budget? Often any somewhat modern unused computer can be turned into a cheap NAS.

My budget is about $700 Australian Dolars, that can extend by about $100 but the less money the better right now

[Windows7ge]

7 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

Over the network access is a necessity

Then a NAS is what you want.

 

8 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

My budget is about $700 Australian Dolars, that can extend by about $100 but the less money the better right now

That equates to about $475USD. A little tight if you want to build one. Do you have any computer that you don't use anymore? May be able to just buy the parts needed to turn it into a NAS.

 

Alternatively there's eBay but I don't know if that's an option for you.

 

Alternative to both of those is to forget building a NAS and look into Synology or QNAP.

[mak123abc]

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Then a NAS is what you want.

 

That equates to about $475USD. A little tight if you want to build one. Do you have any computer that you don't use anymore? May be able to just buy the parts needed to turn it into a NAS.

 

Alternatively there's eBay but I don't know if that's an option for you.

 

Alternative to both of those is to forget building a NAS and look into Synology or QNAP.

I'll look around ebay for parts to build a nas, is there anything specific I should look out for?

[Windows7ge]

9 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

I'll look around ebay for parts to build a nas, is there anything specific I should look out for?

If you'd like to build one "proper" look for Xeon, server platform, ECC RAM, etc.

 

Supermicro sells retired barebone (some fully populated) servers on eBay for cheap. Maybe look into those.

[mak123abc]

18 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If you'd like to build one "proper" look for Xeon, server platform, ECC RAM, etc.

 

Supermicro sells retired barebone (some fully populated) servers on eBay for cheap. Maybe look into those.

At a first quick look I've found this, it looks promising although icant figure out how its so cheap:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Supermicro-x7DWN-12-Bay-Server-2x-Xeon-QC-E5345-2-33GHz-32GB-RAM-No-HDD/223633714703?hash=item34119bae0f:g:yaYAAOSwTsNdX09s

 

I guess my last question is this: Ive been hesitant to go down the the server rack route before because of noise. I live in an apartment so I'll be in close proximity to my server when i am sleeping. Is there any fan recomendations to reduce noise as much as possible.

[Windows7ge]

4 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

At a first quick look I've found this, it looks promising although icant figure out how its so cheap:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Supermicro-x7DWN-12-Bay-Server-2x-Xeon-QC-E5345-2-33GHz-32GB-RAM-No-HDD/223633714703?hash=item34119bae0f:g:yaYAAOSwTsNdX09s

 

I guess my last question is this: Ive been hesitant to go down the the server rack route before because of noise. I live in an apartment so I'll be in close proximity to my server when i am sleeping. Is there any fan recomendations to reduce noise as much as possible.

The CPUs are very old (from 2007) and it doesn't come with drive sleds. You'd have to source them separately. Yes they're loud and these older units often draw a lot of power.

 

If noise is a problem your easiest option would be to build it yourself but your hardware options will be quite limited. You can install your own fans in some of these units but it's not always an easy process.

 

I'll try and make up a parts list. Your best option will be second hand parts off eBay but it should be doable.

[mak123abc]

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

The CPUs are very old (from 2007) and it doesn't come with drive sleds. You'd have to source them separately. Yes they're loud and these older units often draw a lot of power.

 

If noise is a problem your easiest option would be to build it yourself but your hardware options will be quite limited. You can install your own fans in some of these units but it's not always an easy process.

 

I'll try and make up a parts list. Your best option will be second hand parts off eBay but it should be doable.

power is not an issue. noise is my main concern.

Im open to the idea of a rack if it can be quiet, I built my current pc, so if i have to I should be able to find a way to replace the fans.

Thanks so much for helping me out so far

[Windows7ge]

1 hour ago, mak123abc said:

power is not an issue. noise is my main concern.

Im open to the idea of a rack if it can be quiet, I built my current pc, so if i have to I should be able to find a way to replace the fans.

Thanks so much for helping me out so far

There are standard form factor rack mountable chassis. They limit you a bit on what CPU cooler you can use but if this isn't going to be used for anything really compute heavy it shouldn't be an issue.

[mak123abc]

2 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

There are standard form factor rack mountable chassis. They limit you a bit on what CPU cooler you can use but if this isn't going to be used for anything really compute heavy it shouldn't be an issue.

that sounds good, any reccomendations?

 

[Windows7ge]

4 hours ago, mak123abc said:

that sounds good, any reccomendations?

 

In the low-end I can't say I have any. You can look though a couple pages here. Pick one that ticks all the boxes that you need it to do for you.

[Jarsky]

I have a spare ATX server (in my signature) but unfortunately I think it would cost an arm and a leg to ship it from NZ to AU. 

Unless you're looking to run some fairly heavy VM's like Plex or Game Servers, you shouldn't need much power though...could easily go with a PC locally off Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. 

[NelizMastr]

One thing I haven't seen in this post is your backup strategy. You should be aware of the fact that RAID is not a backup solution, but rather a means to improve availability and continuity of your data. You still need to backup the data in the array somewhere safe. Also budget that in your $700AUD spending limit.

[mak123abc]

thanks for all your comments.

Due to the fact that the drives are no longer making noise so it is less urgent, and i managed to land a job i can up my spending limit significantly. probably to around $1500 - $2000 AUD

2 hours ago, Jarsky said:

like Plex

This server is mainly being used as a plex server but also as a NAS.

 

[Jarsky]

33 minutes ago, mak123abc said:

 

This server is mainly being used as a plex server but also as a NAS.

 

 

 

I'll point out you only need the power for plex if you're transcoding. Most people have devices that can handle direct streams from Plex, typically if theyre transcoding theyre doing so to external devices, which require a PlexPass. If you have a PlexPass then if you get an Intel GPU with QuickSync then you can use QuickSync to offload transcoding to. Ive easily run Plex on an i3-7100 with QuickSync. 

 

https://forums.serverbuilds.net/t/guide-hardware-transcoding-the-jdm-way-quicksync-and-nvenc/1408

[mak123abc]

2 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

 

I'll point out you only need the power for plex if you're transcoding. Most people have devices that can handle direct streams from Plex, typically if theyre transcoding theyre doing so to external devices, which require a PlexPass. If you have a PlexPass then if you get an Intel GPU with QuickSync then you can use QuickSync to offload transcoding to. Ive easily run Plex on an i3-7100 with QuickSync. 

 

https://forums.serverbuilds.net/t/guide-hardware-transcoding-the-jdm-way-quicksync-and-nvenc/1408

yes i have a plex pass, and yes i occasionally transcode so this is worth looking into, thanks