First NAS build

[Raptor21]

Budget (including currency): ~$1500 with drives or ~$800 without drives (see draft parts list below) but flexible

 

Country: Canada

 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Backing up 3 household computers and important file storage. Streaming video (up to 4k) to the computers and smart TVs (probably max 2 concurrent streams 1 @ 4k stream and 1 @1080p. Maybe add video cameras in the future. Likely using either unraid or TrueNAS/FreeNAS

 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): Draft parts list https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/r9hrK3

 

I don't need any peripherals (as long as I can run headless for the most part, if I can't then I'll use an existing monitor. 

 

I'm struggling to figure out what low cost CPUs support ECC, I've heard it's worth considering. I don't know if I need a raid card or some hardware to manage the drives. 

 

I'd appreciate any recommendations for a change in CPU/MOBO/RAM for ECC or raid support and guidance on the RAID front. 

 

I was thinking that the SDD would be a high speed cache but if it's not required then I suppose I can use a good USB to run the OS?

 

Apologies if this is the wrong forum.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

You don't want a raid card, your os will manage that here.

 

You probably don't need ecc here, but if you want ecc id go with a used xeon e3. Super cheap on ebay. And they often have impi for easy management.

 

Don't bother with the ssd, the hdds are more than fast enough to fill a gigabit network connection. 

 

Unraid wants to boot from a usb, id use that.

 

WHy get the ironwolf pro drives? Id get the cheaper non pro drives, or red plus drives.

[Raptor21]

15 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You don't want a raid card, your os will manage that here.

 

You probably don't need ecc here, but if you want ecc id go with a used xeon e3. Super cheap on ebay. And they often have impi for easy management.

 

Don't bother with the ssd, the hdds are more than fast enough to fill a gigabit network connection. 

 

Unraid wants to boot from a usb, id use that.

 

WHy get the ironwolf pro drives? Id get the cheaper non pro drives, or red plus drives.

Thanks for your comments. I downgraded the SSD to just be a boot drive, seems I'd spend a similar amount on a good USB drive and I don't imagine they have the same longevity to run the OS that I'd be comfortable with.

 

I went with Ironwolf pro because of the 5 year warranty and their included data recovery service. I wasn't a big fan of Seagate previously but the recent CMR vs SMR shenanigans that WD went through put me off on them. What if I were to mix and match between the brands but keep them all 6TB?

 

Also, I'm not sure how much usable storage I'll have with this setup. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, Raptor21 said:

Thanks for your comments. I downgraded the SSD to just be a boot drive, seems I'd spend a similar amount on a good USB drive and I don't imagine they have the same longevity to run the OS that I'd be comfortable with.

Well unraid needs to boot from a usb stick, booting from a internal ssd isn't a option. 

 

5 minutes ago, Raptor21 said:

I went with Ironwolf pro because of the 5 year warranty and their included data recovery service. I wasn't a big fan of Seagate previously but the recent CMR vs SMR shenanigans that WD went through put me off on them. What if I were to mix and match between the brands but keep them all 6TB?

 

I wouldn't worry about the warranty or data recovery service. It will be cheaper on average than buying the extra warranty. And the data recovery likely won't help with a raid array.

 

You can mix and match drive. Id go bigger with 8tb or 12tb drives if you can though

 

7 minutes ago, Raptor21 said:

 

Also, I'm not sure how much usable storage I'll have with this setup. 

If your going with a single parity setup with 3x6tb drives you have 12tb usable.

[Raptor21]

On 8/26/2021 at 1:25 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Well unraid needs to boot from a usb stick, booting from a internal ssd isn't a option. 

 

I wouldn't worry about the warranty or data recovery service. It will be cheaper on average than buying the extra warranty. And the data recovery likely won't help with a raid array.

 

You can mix and match drive. Id go bigger with 8tb or 12tb drives if you can though

 

If your going with a single parity setup with 3x6tb drives you have 12tb usable.

Can TrueNAS boot from an internal SSD? I haven't really decided between TrueNAS/unraid, I'm finding it very difficult to compare the two. Do you have experience with both of them? I guess unraid would be easier in terms of usability and upgrading in future versus TrueNAS but I'm not sure. I think I'd lean towards unraid.

 

Thanks, I didn't know that the recovery doesn't apply to RAID arrays. I suppose then the added price of Ironwolf Pro would only really be the 2 years warranty for me then?

 

For now the drives are enough for me, I was going to go with 2x8TB but another person I spoke with mentioned 3x6TB would be better for reliability/recovery if something goes wrong.  From what I understand I can add more drives in unraid later without them having to be the same as the original drives.

 

Would this be a good USB drive for unraid? https://www.newegg.ca/samsung-model-muf-128ab-am-128gb/p/N82E16820147718 It seems fast and low profile and the price seems great. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 hours ago, Raptor21 said:

an TrueNAS boot from an internal SSD? I haven't really decided between TrueNAS/unraid, I'm finding it very difficult to compare the two. Do you have experience with both of them? I guess unraid would be easier in terms of usability and upgrading in future versus TrueNAS but I'm not sure. I think I'd lean towards unraid.

Yup truenas can boot from a internal drive. 

 

Ive used both. 

 

Unraid is much easier at expansion, and does things like docker for non storage uses better.

 

2 hours ago, Raptor21 said:

Thanks, I didn't know that the recovery doesn't apply to RAID arrays. I suppose then the added price of Ironwolf Pro would only really be the 2 years warranty for me then?

Yea, the warranty won't matter here really either, just save the money.

 

2 hours ago, Raptor21 said:

 

For now the drives are enough for me, I was going to go with 2x8TB but another person I spoke with mentioned 3x6TB would be better for reliability/recovery if something goes wrong.  From what I understand I can add more drives in unraid later without them having to be the same as the original drives.

Id get fewer bigger drives. Lower power, quieter, easier to expand. It should be easier to recover with 2 bigger drives and less likely to fail too.

 

2 hours ago, Raptor21 said:

 

Would this be a good USB drive for unraid? https://www.newegg.ca/samsung-model-muf-128ab-am-128gb/p/N82E16820147718 It seems fast and low profile and the price seems great. 

Yea it will work fine, but so will the 8gb version, 128 is overkill

[Raptor21]

On 8/27/2021 at 4:45 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yup truenas can boot from a internal drive. 

 

Ive used both. 

 

Unraid is much easier at expansion, and does things like docker for non storage uses better.

 

Yea, the warranty won't matter here really either, just save the money.

 

Id get fewer bigger drives. Lower power, quieter, easier to expand. It should be easier to recover with 2 bigger drives and less likely to fail too.

 

Yea it will work fine, but so will the 8gb version, 128 is overkill

Okay thanks. I don't really need more space but I'll check if 2x8tb is good. I would get a smaller USB but that was the only one in stock when I posted the link. 

 

Unless you have a different fast low profile one worth getting?

 

Would love seeing some more thoughts as well

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, Raptor21 said:

Unless you have a different fast low profile one worth getting?

 

Speed for the boot drive really won't matter. I just use the sandisk ones, haven't had a issue. Just make sure you buy from a reputable seller as there are lots of fake ounes out there.

[Raptor21]

On 8/30/2021 at 11:52 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Speed for the boot drive really won't matter. I just use the sandisk ones, haven't had a issue. Just make sure you buy from a reputable seller as there are lots of fake ounes out there.

Got it, thanks.

 

Any recommendation for swapping the CPU/MOBO to AMD? Seems the CPU is out of stock everywhere