NAS Build

[menendez1293]

Alright guys, I am looking at building a NAS pretty soon (Within the next month or two) and wanted to know what you guys had to think about what I have speced out. I am planning on running the 4 2TB drives in a RAID 5 and then using the SSD to install Server 2012R2. Please let me know if you guys have any suggestions as to anything I should change out. So you guys know, I am located in the states and my uses for this are general file storage between multiple devices and using it as an FTP server in the future. It won't be really taxed so it doesn't need to have crazy specs.

 

Here are the specs I have planned for now: 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($113.78 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($46.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($84.39 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.98 @ OutletPC) 

Case: Silverstone DS380B Mini ITX Tower Case  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: Silverstone 300W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 

Total: $920.05

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-31 18:11 EDT-0400

 

Thanks for the help. 

[Fulgrim]

Why not use 3x 3TB's then add a 4th at a later date?

[menendez1293]

Why not use 3x 3TB's then add a 4th at a later date?

That is a good option, the only reason I was thinking of doing 4X2TB was because of slightly better performance. But the 3X3TB is actually cheaper and allows for future expansion of the array with that board. 

[Captain_WD]

Hey menendez1293,

 

4GB of RAM should work for you, but I would upgrade to 8GB of RAM (2x4GB) for more stable performance and better transfers and streaming. 

The minimum space that Server 2012 R2 requires is 32GB so you could also cut some costs down by getting a little smaller SSD (80 or 60 gigs for example).

WD Red drives are great for NAS and RAID environments as they are designed specifically for that. Have in mind that RAID does offer redundancy (RAID 1, 5, 6, 10, etc) but it is not a backup. I would encourage you to have a separate backup of your important data. Using 4x2TB drives in RAID 5 would give you roughly 6TB of usable space plus 2TB for redundancy. If you go with 3x3TB, you should have again 6TB of usable space but 3TB for redundancy, although the 4x2TB option should give you a better speed since the data would be spanned across 3 drives rather than 2. You can always upgrade your NAS with more and larger drives so it is up to you to decide

 

Hope this helps,

 

Captain_WD.

[menendez1293]

Hey menendez1293,

4GB of RAM should work for you, but I would upgrade to 8GB of RAM (2x4GB) for more stable performance and better transfers and streaming.

The minimum space that Server 2012 R2 requires is 32GB so you could also cut some costs down by getting a little smaller SSD (80 or 60 gigs for example).

WD Red drives are great for NAS and RAID environments as they are designed specifically for that. Have in mind that RAID does offer redundancy (RAID 1, 5, 6, 10, etc) but it is not a backup. I would encourage you to have a separate backup of your important data. Using 4x2TB drives in RAID 5 would give you roughly 6TB of usable space plus 2TB for redundancy. If you go with 3x3TB, you should have again 6TB of usable space but 3TB for redundancy, although the 4x2TB option should give you a better speed since the data would be spanned across 3 drives rather than 2. You can always upgrade your NAS with more and larger drives so it is up to you to decide

Hope this helps,

Captain_WD.

Oh this is just a working backup, I will have a external 3TB drive plugged in for routine backups and then will get another 3Tb drive to have a backup off-site.

The extra ram is always something to look at, but I honestly think at this time it's not completely necessary. It's really only me backing up and I just want something more secure than just my single 2TB external drive I am doing now.

[Captain_WD]

Oh this is just a working backup, I will have a external 3TB drive plugged in for routine backups and then will get another 3Tb drive to have a backup off-site.

The extra ram is always something to look at, but I honestly think at this time it's not completely necessary. It's really only me backing up and I just want something more secure than just my single 2TB external drive I am doing now.

 

In that case, you are all set The off-site backup is a great choice, and adding more memory is always an easy option.

Good lick with the build and ask away  if you have more questions

 

Captain_WD.