Noob NAS builder. Hardware/OS multi-platform support?

[Canosgmk]

Hello,

 

so thanks to this group, Linus and co-workers; I’m convinced I need a NAS as I’m paying a crap ton for cloud storage and Dropbox.  I know, having off site storage is ideal, but this is still something I would like to do. At least I can have my phone cloud and my iPad cloud (most of my work on it).  
 

My wants/needs:

macbook backup

windows laptop backup
windows gaming pc backup
two iPhone backup 

two ipad backup 

1.5TB of photos and family videos 

1TB of movies

1.75TB of mp3 and audio editing (Logic Pro and Protools)

2 desktop or laptop (kids Xmas gift_used.  OS unknown, I want to push Linux for them) backups

Steam Library

minecraft server (my son wants)

we would like to have access to all photos, videos and files (work documents) remotely outside the network (plex?)

also each for my wife to use. 
 

the complication I’m having the most is what OS to use.  I want to be able to use mixed HDD sizes.  
 

I have a AMD ryzen 3 2600 (I think). 8GB of ram.  Mobo only has one pcie with a gpu in it and 3 pci slots (can’t do SAS).  I know it isn’t a speed demon, but it’s a start and freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.  Thinking of getting WD Red NAS 5.4k rpm 6TB sata (4 of them). Running raid 5.  
 

so. Flame me and guide me.  
 

-hardware on hand too old?

-HDD choice over kill?  Not enough?

-what OS would be flexible for everything I’m doing. I’m a noob at Linux as well. Have to google each command.  Will NOT do windows server.  Tried it with a 500gb in the above system and it didn’t play nice. 
-other plugins I should know/read about?

-etc.  

 

 

thanks for the help.  

 

 

[heimdali]

WD red can be rather slow.  I'd look for 7.2k disks instead of 5.4, and 6TB is really small nowadays.  When you have more disks, more disks will (can) fail, and you need more electricity.

 

Do you want to use hardware or software RAID?

 

Do you have a router that supports VPN, preferably wireguard, for accessing your files from the outside?

 

Debian is probably a good choice, and you could try to run OPNsense on a VM on the same machine for a router if you manage to pass through a/some network card(s), though running it in a VM isn't recommended.

 

Which file system do you want to use?  If you insist on ZFS, you're looking at FreeBSD ...

 

[Nocte]

33 minutes ago, Canosgmk said:

we would like to have access to all photos, videos and files (work documents) remotely outside the network (plex?)

also each for my wife to use. 

Plex is not meant for this. You might want to look into Nextcloud, but it is not as plug and play as Plex.

 

34 minutes ago, Canosgmk said:

Thinking of getting WD Red NAS 5.4k rpm 6TB sata (4 of them). Running raid 5.

I would get Ironwolfs / Seagate exos (the exos are louder but cheaper). Minimum 12TB.

I bought 6TBs 2 years ago and they filled up way too fast.

 

I would seriously consider running Unraid instead of Raid. But you would have to look if all the stuff you listed can be achieved with its apps/docker containers. If raid fails you risk having to rebuild everything from a backup. Whereas with Unraid you could potentially pull a drive and it would still be readable standalone.

[Blue4130]

5 hours ago, heimdali said:

WD red can be rather slow.  I'd look for 7.2k disks instead of 5.4, and 6TB is really small nowadays.  When you have more disks, more disks will (can) fail, and you need more electricity.

Here's the catch-22, with larger disks, rebuilds take longer thus increasing chance of a failure. Quite the paradox

[heimdali]

12 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Here's the catch-22, with larger disks, rebuilds take longer thus increasing chance of a failure. Quite the paradox

Considering that the time during which a disk is involved in rebuilding a RAID is relatively small compared to the time during which a disk is involved with a RAID (or it's lifetime) and that not as many disks can fail during a rebuild when there aren't so many, you're still better off with not so many disks.  If the rebuild fails, you still have your backup.

 

[Blue4130]

3 hours ago, heimdali said:

Considering that the time during which a disk is involved in rebuilding a RAID is relatively small compared to the time during which a disk is involved with a RAID (or it's lifetime) and that not as many disks can fail during a rebuild when there aren't so many, you're still better off with not so many disks.  If the rebuild fails, you still have your backup.

 

True, but the failure rate during a rebuild is quite a bit higher than during regular home NAS activities just due to it being under much heavier load. But with all of that said, drive reliability is much higher than years past.

 

As for having a backup, something that this board has taught me, most people (despite being told time and time again that RAID is not a backup) don't actually listen and don't have a backup, treating the RAID as the backup...

[heimdali]

37 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

True, but the failure rate during a rebuild is quite a bit higher than during regular home NAS activities just due to it being under much heavier load. But with all of that said, drive reliability is much higher than years past.

I've heared the load argument, and I'm not sure if it's true.  Some RAID controllers keep running checks like all the time when the disks are sufficiently idle so that the load doesn't necessarily change much during a rebuild.  And what does make disks fail, spinning idly or spinning active.  So what does actually make them fail?  Worn out bearings or worn out heads or overheated electronics or something else?  There's also the argument that disks fail when rebuilding because someone turned them off to switch out the failed disk but the bearings are so worn out that some of them won't spin up anymore.

 

Drive realibility is much higher when you don't buy Seagate ...  Maybe people have learned what to buy and what to avoid and they are experiencing less disk failures because of that   But then, warranties have been pronlonged, so that's a good sign.

37 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

As for having a backup, something that this board has taught me, most people (despite being told time and time again that RAID is not a backup) don't actually listen and don't have a backup, treating the RAID as the backup...

Those might be the people who don't understand that storing data without redundancy is out of the question.  You know what they say in Starship Troopers in 1997: "Figuring things out for yourself is the only freedom anyone really has.".  Unfortunately, people don't care about their freedom.

 

[Canosgmk]

Thanks for the reply.  To answer most of the question of what I want and if I my route can support VPN, hardware/software raid, etc…. I have a lot more googling to learn then.   From most of the videos I’ve seen, you build it, turn it on, install OS and follow setup list like Lego instructions. 
 

I’m in Belgium (American here for work) and don’t want to buy another router so I’m using the service provider one.  Admin section is locked and the user section allows renaming of the network and basically security options. 
 

have to rethink everything from scratch.