Stacked (2,5") NAS

[Woodster]

Hey guys,

I recently came across a bunch of 2,5", 320GB HDDs (8-12) and I was thinking of making a NAS out of them. I'm a bit of a techie, but I'm still not sure what the optimal RAID configuration or build would be. I'll mostly be storing movies, music and pictures on it. Ideally it should be possible to put in another drive the same size at a later time and have the RAID adapt, but I'm not sure if that feature is available in any of the standard RAID setups. I won't be putting in any 3,5" drives in there, so a small form factor case would be great.

 

Do you guys have any build ideas, or know of similar projects that I could read about?

 

Woody

[Vitalius]

Depends. What OS would you prefer? What Build is it going in (relevant to your OS choice)? If you are buying one, what is it's budget? 

As for similar projects, I can't think of any that specifically use 2.5" drives, but I do know of a case that exclusively has 2.5" drive cages for a NAS setup.

 

Edit:

@Woodster, Here is the case.

 

It's actually a pretty nice drive bay. $150 for twelve 2.5" hot swap bays. Kinda pricey, but hey, this is unique to an extent (Who uses 2.5" drives that aren't SSDs?)

Here is a review of these drive bays:

Personally, I would go with RAID 7, or RAID 10 with that many HDD's. You'd get 2TB roughly in RAID 10 and awesome speeds of around 100-200 MB/s (depends on a lot). In RAID 7, you'd get 2.6TB (roughly) and decent speeds, depending on your CPU and other factors, of 60-120 MB/s (These are ball park estimates of course). 

The total raw capacity would be 3.8TB, so yeah. 

YMMV

[ShadowCaptain]

Get one of these made by Icy Dock, it goes in a 5.25" bay and gives 6 hard drive bays for 2.5" drives!

 

 

 

[Vitalius]

Get one of these made by Icy Dock, it goes in a 5.25" bay and gives 6 hard drive bays for 2.5" drives!

While that thing is cool, Newegg sells them for $80. 3 x 80 = $240. The Vantec MRK-M2512T is better price-feature set.

[ShadowCaptain]

While that thing is cool, Newegg sells them for $80. 3 x 80 = $240. The Vantec MRK-M2512T is better price-feature set.

 

Ah yes, never seen that here in the UK so did not know about it, good idea

[Woodster]

Thanks for the great suggestions, they seem perfect! I'll make sure to read up on this, looking forward to getting started. What are some of the common issues when building your first NAS?

 

I'm thinking of going with FreeNAS as the OS, but that's only because it's the best that I've heard of so far...

 

e: As for the specs I haven't decided yet. The budget is sorta loose, I want to build something that's good enough for me as a semi-poweruser not to run into any issues.

[wpirobotbuilder]

Seems like a good choice for an all-flash storage box, or if you really need more hard drives and are out of drive sleds.

 

What's nice is that it fits within the confines of a 5.25" bay, and doesn't extend out the back.

[Vitalius]

Thanks for the great suggestions, they seem perfect! I'll make sure to read up on this, looking forward to getting started. What are some of the common issues when building your first NAS?

 

I'm thinking of going with FreeNAS as the OS, but that's only because it's the best that I've heard of so far...

 

e: As for the specs I haven't decided yet. The budget is sorta loose, I want to build something that's good enough for me as a semi-poweruser not to run into any issues.

You're welcome. Glad to help. Usually, when using FreeNAS, having an underpowered server or running into issues with the OS' current version (bugs and such). 

Cool. Here is a list of potential OS':

• Windows Home Server (Primary reason not to: It costs money when other better OS don't.)
• Windows Server 20XX (Any of them, same as above.)
• FreeNAS (Can be complicated, fixing bugs specifically, and depending on your use case, needs strong hardware.)
• Amahi (Simple, great potential, but doesn't have the advanced features FreeNAS offers.)
• Ubuntu Server (Has FreeNAS' potential, but without it's simplistic side as it lacks a GUI.)

There are other variants of Linux systems, but I know little about them. 

If you want to experiment with Debian, @MG2R has an epic guide for setting one up. All Command Line Interface, so depending on if you want a GUI at any point, that's something to consider.

Basically, FreeNAS gives you options and flexibility. It offers a WebGUI for those who want simple, but it allows a lot of other things for the power users who realllly need data integrity, performance, up-time, etc.

Cool. Most of those OS' don't need very much hardware to do their job depending on all the things you plan to do. I recommend buying used server hardware on Ebay (from trusted sellers with buyer's protection, of course). It takes a lot of the cost away for FreeNAS' requirements.

[ShadowCaptain]

I decided to go with WHS 2012 Essentials, as I am a lot more comfortable in a windows environment

 

I run software raid 10 on my server and this server in turn backs up to an unlimited online cloud service for super redundancy, I am NOT losing data again

 

Setting it up is easy as pie, including making accessible on-line which is done through a simple wizard, I then bought a domain and pointed it at the server so I could have my own custom address although the given one is not that bad either it slike "xxxxx.remotefiles.com or something (cannot remember)

 

I have all my steam games installed to my server other than the ones on the SSD inside my computer, all my music photos and videos go here. I run plex server on it which pushes out my media to all of my devices, its free and the apps for android/ios are cheap, and it works on chromecast too. That means I can use my iPhone on 3g in a field and access everything on my server

 

I have the server also mounted as a network drive for easy access, and every body in my family has their own privtae password protected folder that automatically backs up their pc (as long as it is on, or a asleep) this works anywhere in the world wherver they are as long as they are online.

 

Its really amazing once its set up. All I need now is MORE STORAGE as I about to get a full frame DSLR and the videos will take up so much storage

[Vitalius]

I decided to go with WHS 2012 Essentials, as I am a lot more comfortable in a windows environment

 

I run software raid 10 on my server and this server in turn backs up to an unlimited online cloud service for super redundancy, I am NOT losing data again

 

Setting it up is easy as pie, including making accessible on-line which is done through a simple wizard, I then bought a domain and pointed it at the server so I could have my own custom address although the given one is not that bad either it slike "xxxxx.remotefiles.com or something (cannot remember)

 

I have all my steam games installed to my server other than the ones on the SSD inside my computer, all my music photos and videos go here. I run plex server on it which pushes out my media to all of my devices, its free and the apps for android/ios are cheap, and it works on chromecast too. That means I can use my iPhone on 3g in a field and access everything on my server

 

I have the server also mounted as a network drive for easy access, and every body in my family has their own privtae password protected folder that automatically backs up their pc (as long as it is on, or a asleep) this works anywhere in the world wherver they are as long as they are online.

 

Its really amazing once its set up. All I need now is MORE STORAGE as I about to get a full frame DSLR and the videos will take up so much storage

Just commenting on this post @Woodster, as there's a lot to consider. 

That backup plan is good as long as you have good internet. I live in the US and mine blows. Keeping it local is beyond preferred. It's a requirement. 

Accessing it through the internet is one majorly awesome aspect of Plex. In fact, if you know someone with Plex as well, you can share your library with them, so you can access their media. Pretty epic, but the more people accessing your media, the more hogged your internet connection will be (obviously). Still, streaming music/photos should be more than capable for most, if not all, internet connections in a First World country.

Yes. This. Chromecast + Plex = Heaven. Just be sure you have a strong WiFI router if you intend to have multiple Chromecasts or users streaming at once. Also, your CPU needs to be somewhat decent to be able to handle Plex transcoding 1080p video on-the-fly. 

That's one other major positive to Plex. It transcodes video on-the-fly for your device. So 720p for phones (unless you change the default setting), and you don't have to convert all your media to whatever format to view it. Most of mine is in .MKV and my PS3 can see it on Plex just fine (PS3's can't play .MKV files). It's great. But again, more users streaming content means you need a stronger CPU (probably just more cores really).

That's pretty epic honestly. But again, good internet connection required. A file server is nice at home, but having good internet pretty much doubles it's usefulness if you are willing to go that far, such as Shadow has here.

Hahaha, don't we all?

[ShadowCaptain]

That's pretty epic honestly. But again, good internet connection required. A file server is nice at home, but having good internet pretty much doubles it's usefulness if you are willing to go that far, such as Shadow has here.

Hahaha, don't we all?

 

Lost 5 years of files, photos etc etc. Pretty devistating

 

I use livedrive for cloud backup, I do not use their briefcase service as I have storage on the server for that, I just use the cheapest backup service £3 a month for a 2 year contract ($5 US a month) for unlimited backup of 1 pc - in this case the server

 

I have 125mb fibre optic so its great for me, though if you dont you could easily backup to a usb hard drive or cheap second nas with some desktop drives in, though I am EXTRA paranoid about data so take this as a tin foil hat approach

 

Yes, plex is awesome. I really did not think it would be, but Its actually great.

 

Also all my family and people I want to access my server can. I even gave my friends a spare 1tb of space I had lying around so they can dump stuff there if they need. Great way to share files between friends!