Home Network File Sharing and Backup

[DLM_012]

I'm currently running a partitioned 3TB desktop hard drive off of my ASUS router to share files over my home network. Needless to say, its barebones settings and features are becoming a bit limited for my personal needs and I'm outgrowing the setup. A lot of the things I do manually I know can be automated with a better solution and I won't have to jump through nearly as many hoops. I have a general idea of what I need but I can't decide between a dedicated prebuilt NAS device like a Synology NAS or a custom built server even after doing a bit of reading up in this part of the forum along with my own research. I figure the guys here in this subforum are far more seasoned on these things than I will ever be and can give me a concise answer as long as I highlight my wants. So here they are:

• cost effective - I want to spend no more than $1K. $500 or less is ideal but I primarily care about the overall value I'm given from whatever solution I decide on if the price is justifiable
• RAID support - Redundancy in the event of failure
• Plex support - There are two chromecasts in my home and there will probably be more in the near future. I want to access that media anywhere in the house
• Supports encrypted backups - I <3 security plain and simple

 

Thanks in advance guys. It doesn't have to be extensive but if you can provide reasoning as to why you recommend a particular product/solution, I will be very grateful.

 

 

[Vitalius]

For those requirements, I recommend the following:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Other: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard ($280.00)
Other: Crucial 2x8GB ECC Unbuffered RAM ($169.99)
Total: $987.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 18:01 EST-0500

With the OS as FreeNAS 9.2.1.5 or whatever is current when you do the build. In order:

• Put the 4TBs in RAID 1 for redundancy
• The case is small, high quality, and has space for doubling your storage (four 3.5" HDDs).
• The power supply is very efficient, supports the motherboard/CPU (very important), and high quality.
• The Other CPU/Motherboard is a powerful, small, and efficient passively cooled server combo. It has 4 cores and supports transcoding 2-3 1080p streams simultaneously using Plex.
• That RAM is necessary (It has to be ECC and unbuffered). You don't need two sticks, you can get by with 1 stick of 8GB of RAM, but don't go below that. I'm serious. Though I highly recommend having 16GB.

[DLM_012]

For those requirements, I recommend the following:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00 @ Amazon)

Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)

Other: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard ($280.00)

Other: Crucial 2x8GB ECC Unbuffered RAM ($169.99)

Total: $987.97

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 18:01 EST-0500

With the OS as FreeNAS 9.2.1.5 or whatever is current when you do the build.

 

I appreciate the reply Vitalius  Out of curiosity why do you recommend this over a pre-built? I noticed that this doesn't have a RAID card included in the cost so I'm assuming that this motherboard has RAID features correct? I'm looking at the specifications and reviews right now as I type this so I apologize in advance if my questions are redundant. 

[Vitalius]

I appreciate the reply Vitalius  Out of curiosity why do you recommend this over a pre-built? I noticed that this doesn't have a RAID card included in the cost so I'm assuming that this motherboard has RAID features correct? I'm looking at the specifications and reviews right now as I type this so I apologize in advance if my questions are redundant. 

Because pre-built tends to be less bang for your buck, as it normally is. It's not very different from buying a pre-built computer from Dell as a work station computer. You can get more power and functionality for the same money by doing it yourself. It just depends how much you are willing to go DIY and whether you want it to just work out of the box. 

RAID cards are largely unnecessary. They are only useful in very specific situations and their high costs mean most normal users don't need them. FreeNAS has RAID. Use it's built-in Software RAID. In 90% of cases, Software RAID > Hardware RAID. 

[DLM_012]

Because pre-built tends to be less bang for your buck, as it normally is. It's not very different from buying a pre-built computer from Dell as a work station computer. You can get more power and functionality for the same money by doing it yourself. It just depends how much you are willing to go DIY and whether you want it to just work out of the box. 

RAID cards are largely unnecessary. They are only useful in very specific situations and their high costs mean most normal users don't need them. FreeNAS has RAID. Use it's built-in Software RAID. In 90% of cases, Software RAID > Hardware RAID. 

 

Ok cool. I've heard of FreeNAS before so I'll do a bit more reading up on it and I'll probably have more questions for you lol.

 

Nevermind, no more questions. Thank you very much!!!