Trying to build a NAS.

[arthurc_]

What CPU do I need for a NAS? Im trying to build one.
It will be used for just storing photos, videos, files just casual stuff. 

[RONOTHAN##]

If you have one laying around that's less than 10 years old, that's the CPU you should use, it'll likely be just fine. You only really need something along the lines of a Celeron or Pentium, just doing file transfers at gigabit speeds don't need really any CPU horsepower and the focus should really be on cheap, whether that be on price to acquire hardware or to actually run the hardware (power effciency). You wouldn't want to be using an i386 or something stupid old and slow, but something relatively modern that's somewhat power efficient is all you need for a basic NAS. 

[arthurc_]

3 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

If you have one laying around that's less than 10 years old, that's the CPU you should use, it'll likely be just fine. You only really need something along the lines of a Celeron or Pentium, just doing file transfers at gigabit speeds don't need really any CPU horsepower and the focus should really be on cheap, whether that be on price to acquire hardware or to actually run the hardware (power effciency). You wouldn't want to be using an i386 or something stupid old and slow, but something relatively modern that's somewhat power efficient is all you need for a basic NAS. 

How about this? https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/201899/intel-celeron-processor-g5905-4m-cache-3-50-ghz/specifications.html

[RONOTHAN##]

6 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

How about this? https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/201899/intel-celeron-processor-g5905-4m-cache-3-50-ghz/specifications.html

Looks fine. It's got decent single thread and should be very low power. If you're just gonna be doing NAS things (hosting files) it's perfect. If you want to do more advanced stuff in the future like hosting a Plex server or VMs, I might want to look at something with a bit more cores, but for what you said you're gonna do it's more than enough, cheap to buy (likely), and low power so cheap to run. 

[arthurc_]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Looks fine. It's got decent single thread and should be very low power. If you're just gonna be doing NAS things (hosting files) it's perfect. If you want to do more advanced stuff in the future like hosting a Plex server or VMs, I might want to look at something with a bit more cores, but for what you said you're gonna do it's more than enough, cheap to buy (likely), and low power so cheap to run. 

Should I use SSD’s or HDD’s on my NAS and how much should I get for now?

[arthurc_]

19 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

If you have one laying around that's less than 10 years old, that's the CPU you should use, it'll likely be just fine. You only really need something along the lines of a Celeron or Pentium, just doing file transfers at gigabit speeds don't need really any CPU horsepower and the focus should really be on cheap, whether that be on price to acquire hardware or to actually run the hardware (power effciency). You wouldn't want to be using an i386 or something stupid old and slow, but something relatively modern that's somewhat power efficient is all you need for a basic NAS. 

Heres what I got for now, unsure of what power supply to choose from. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HhQx2m

[Quantum Noisemaker]

26 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

Should I use SSD’s or HDD’s on my NAS and how much should I get for now?

Depends on your budget and how much storage you need. Most people go with HDDs as they are plenty fast for a standard file serving NAS.

[RONOTHAN##]

23 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

Should I use SSD’s or HDD’s on my NAS and how much should I get for now?

For bulk storage you want to use HDDs, they're a lot cheaper and you already able to saturate a Gigabit controller with a HDD anyway. How many you should get depends on what capacity you're looking at, how much you need, and what your redundancy requirements are, as well as what OS you're planning on running. I'd say at least two if you plan on running them mirrored, but it's a very nuanced question. If you want to run say TrueNAS, expansion will be limited to what you have originally (I.E. if you have 2 drives originally in RAID Z1, you need to add in drives 2 at a time and you only get the capacity of one of them), but if you have UNRAID, then it's a lot more flexible. For what you're trying to do, UnRAID is likely the better option since you can add drives in somewhat freely. 

 

22 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

Heres what I got for now, unsure of what power supply to choose from. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HhQx2m

For a PSU, get something modular so you can have more SATA connectors in the future by just buying a new cable. Something like this should be more than enough

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Xsn8TW/evga-supernova-ga-650-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-220-ga-0650-x1

[Quantum Noisemaker]

40 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

Heres what I got for now, unsure of what power supply to choose from. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HhQx2m

With you current build, you could probably get away with a 550 W power supply, or honestly even less (but if you did go under 550 W, I'd start looking at the product datasheets and check peak power draw). If you foresee upgrading the NAS over time however, it would be worth speccing the PSU a bit higher.

 

The power supply that Ronothan linked above should work well in both cases. 

[arthurc_]

7 minutes ago, Quantum Noisemaker said:

With you current build, you could probably get away with a 550 W power supply, or honestly even less (but if you did go under 550 W, I'd start looking at the product datasheets and check peak power draw). If you foresee upgrading the NAS over time however, it would be worth speccing the PSU a bit higher.

 

The power supply that Ronothan linked above should work well in both cases. 

So this? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9vg44s
Also what OS does a NAS run, should I use TrueNAS and how do I setup?

[Quantum Noisemaker]

4 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

So this? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9vg44s
Also what OS does a NAS run, should I use TrueNAS and how do I setup?

In your case, I'd suggest using UnRaid. Truenas is overkill for two drives, and UnRaid will be easier to upgrade and add drives to down the line.

 

Here's a video walking through some of the setup process.

[arthurc_]

2 minutes ago, Quantum Noisemaker said:

In your case, I'd suggest using UnRaid. Truenas is overkill for two drives, and UnRaid will be easier to upgrade and add drives to down the line.

 

Here's a video walking through some of the setup process.

If I add to like 4 or 8 drives in the future, should I still do unraid? (Most likely ill do 4 in the future.)

[Quantum Noisemaker]

Just now, TechguyCin said:

If I add to like 4 or 8 drives in the future, should I still do unraid? (Most likely ill do 4 in the future.)

Yep, UnRaid will have no problems handling 4-8 more drives. Just be aware of the pricing. Unraid costs $59 for up to 6 drives, and $89 if you have more than 6 drives. So if you just add four you'll be fine, but if you add more you'll have to pay $30 for the higher tier license.

[arthurc_]

3 minutes ago, Quantum Noisemaker said:

Yep, UnRaid will have no problems handling 4-8 more drives. Just be aware of the pricing. Unraid costs $59 for up to 6 drives, and $89 if you have more than 6 drives. So if you just add four you'll be fine, but if you add more you'll have to pay $30 for the higher tier license.

Thanks for the help! So, when I finish building my nas, I just plug it in using ethernet and set up unraid to start using it? Also can my macbooks access the NAS? 

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

If I add to like 4 or 8 drives in the future, should I still do unraid? (Most likely ill do 4 in the future.)

If that's the plan, UnRAID is actually better than TrueNAS. TrueNAS's big advantage is the fact that it's file system is basically bulletproof. It does support expansion, but the expansion it does support is very limited. UnRAID's file system is still fairly reliable, especially if you're using <10 drives, but it's so much more flexible what you can do for expansion since it allows for individual drive expansion (TrueNAS does not). If you're going for more than 8, then I'd want ZFS and TrueNAS would be the better option, but for what you're doing UnRAID really is the superior option. It unfortunately does cost money though. 

[arthurc_]

z

2 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

If that's the plan, UnRAID is actually better than TrueNAS. TrueNAS's big advantage is the fact that it's file system is basically bulletproof. It does support expansion, but the expansion it does support is very limited. UnRAID's file system is still fairly reliable, especially if you're using <10 drives, but it's so much more flexible what you can do for expansion since it allows for individual drive expansion (TrueNAS does not). If you're going for more than 8, then I'd want ZFS and TrueNAS would be the better option, but for what you're doing UnRAID really is the superior option. It unfortunately does cost money though. 

Thanks for the help, Ima start building it next week!

[arthurc_]

9 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

If that's the plan, UnRAID is actually better than TrueNAS. TrueNAS's big advantage is the fact that it's file system is basically bulletproof. It does support expansion, but the expansion it does support is very limited. UnRAID's file system is still fairly reliable, especially if you're using <10 drives, but it's so much more flexible what you can do for expansion since it allows for individual drive expansion (TrueNAS does not). If you're going for more than 8, then I'd want ZFS and TrueNAS would be the better option, but for what you're doing UnRAID really is the superior option. It unfortunately does cost money though. 

What USB should I run UNRAID off of. I checked UNRAID’s offical website and all of those USB’s are old and outdated

[Quantum Noisemaker]

7 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

Thanks for the help! So, when I finish building my nas, I just plug it in using ethernet and set up unraid to start using it? Also can my macbooks access the NAS? 

Yep, just like setting up windows. And your Macbooks will be able to access the NAS if you configure them properly. You should also be able to configure Apple Time Machine to automatically back up to the NAS.

 

8 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

z

Thanks for the help, Ima start building it next week!

Best of luck with your build.

[RONOTHAN##]

10 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

So, when I finish building my nas, I just plug it in using ethernet and set up unraid to start using it?

Basically. There's a ton of different guides on how to set it up. You do need to have a monitor hooked up to it in order to get the initial setup (you need the IP address of the server in order to set it up), but it's more or less just following the setup wizard and you're golden. 

 

10 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

Also can my macbooks access the NAS? 

Yes. There are two ways to set it up. There's SMB (Windows) shares and there's Apple specific shares (I believe it's called APFS, but don't quote me on this). SMB works on basically everything, though it doesn't perform super well (still fine for what you're trying to do though). I would setup SMB. 

 

3 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

What USB should I run UNRAID off of. I checked UNRAID’s offical website and all of those USB’s are old and outdated

I would just get a USB 3.0 drive from a more reputable brand like Sandisk, something like this

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Transfer-Speeds-s-SDCZ48-032G-UAM46/dp/B00KYK2AKO/ref=asc_df_B00KYK2AKO/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309833041189&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16128702097773297170&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9052110&hvtargid=pla-309497982842&psc=1

 

I don't personally use UnRAID and run OS of flash drives, so I don't have a ton of experience with this. I'd just guess that drive would be fine though. 

[Quantum Noisemaker]

2 minutes ago, TechguyCin said:

What USB should I run UNRAID off of. I checked UNRAID’s official website and all of those USB’s are old and outdated

Did you see this page? I'd probably just get a decent quality Samsung or SanDisk flash drive. Just don't go with anything too cheap.

[arthurc_]

1 minute ago, Quantum Noisemaker said:

Did you see this page? I'd probably just get a decent quality Samsung or SanDisk flash drive. Just don't go with anything too cheap.

I saw this page, anyways thanks.

[arthurc_]

12 minutes ago, Quantum Noisemaker said:

Did you see this page? I'd probably just get a decent quality Samsung or SanDisk flash drive. Just don't go with anything too cheap.

USB I chose that, will that be fine?

[Quantum Noisemaker]

1 hour ago, TechguyCin said:

USB I chose that, will that be fine?

Based on everything I've seen, that should be good. No guarantees with anything of course, but I'd be shocked if it didn't work.