Looking for help on cloud storage solution

[Virgule]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some help/hints/guides on setting up my own storage solution.

 

I would like to go for safe storage on 2 spacious hdds in raid 1 that automatically back up my OS drive in addition to being a dump for all my other files (music, videos, ...). I would also like to have access via an internet connection to my drives' content and be able to read/write from another computer and read from iphone if possible. I would also like to have the hdds in my full tower case since I have the space.

 

I looked into personal clouds but I am not sure this is what I want. For a start, they seem to require application for its use with its custom explorer view. Also, from what I understand, they require an always on computer. I also stumbled upon the VPN solution which I misunderstand a bit. It seems to be a gateway to your home network from an internet address with encrypted data streams. This seems to also need an always on computer. There is also the remote desktop option. 

 

I need opinions of people with a little more knowledge than me, so my questions are the following :

 

1- Is there a solution that doesn't require an always on computer ? Maybe some way to power only the drives, chipset (or whatever part of the Mobo is needed for W/R) and ethernet adapter ?

 

2- Regarless of the computer being always on or not, what could be a good option to R/W files on local drives from any internet connection and do it in a secure manner ?

 

3- Is this option accessible from a browser or application ? Can this be accessed using a smart phone ?

 

4- Do you have a recommandation for a good reliable drive (2, 3 or 4 TB) that could be used for that purpose ?

 

5- Any other things I should be aware of ?

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

My rig : MSI MPower z77,  Intel 3570K,  XFX R7970 DD,  GSkill 2x 4Gb @ 1600Mhz,  Samsung 840 256 Gb,  Some 600 Gb HDD,  Corsair H80i,  OCZ ZX1000,  Azzo Solano 1000R

[Hyydrah]

From what I've seen, Google Drive is probably most suitable. They have some of the best prices while having integration with smartphones, etc.

Not to mention that Google Docs is freaking awesome. RIP Office.

 

https://www.google.com/settings/storage/summary/?hl=en_GB

 

Edit: Just found out that

 

"Google+ Photos

Photos bigger than 2048x2048 pixels use your storage. Everything smaller than that is free."

 

So basically, all of my screenshots don't take up any storage.

[Virgule]

From what I've seen, Google Drive is probably most suitable. They have some of the best prices while having integration with smartphones, etc.

Not to mention that Google Docs is freaking awesome. RIP Office.

 

https://www.google.com/settings/storage/summary/?hl=en_GB

Yes I am aware of Google Drive, Dropbox, ... I wanted something more versatile, that had no extra fees and that has for only limitation my HDD space.

[Hyydrah]

Yes I am aware of Google Drive, Dropbox, ... I wanted something more versatile, that had no extra fees and that has for only limitation my HDD space.

I'm not sure if a cloud storage-like server is feasible, or even possible at all. You also have to consider that it won't be nearly as fast as many of the popular cloud servers, which will become increasingly more evident once higher resolution content will become more popular.

[Vitalius]

I suggest setting up a FreeNAS box.

It has the functionality of being accessible anywhere in the world over the internet, if you set it up correctly (there are guides, it's very simple).

Lifehacker has a guide to get you started. The FreeNAS forums can get you the rest of the way.

I suggest the Seagate 4TB drive. I have it in my FreeNAS computer now. This computer must always be one but you can reboot/shutdown it via the web interface (so from anywhere at any time). It just can't be booted up.

"Maybe some way to power only the drives, chipset (or whatever part of the Mobo is needed for W/R) and ethernet adapter ?"

That's the entire computer. Seriously. Chipset = Motherboard = CPU (they work together). Drives + ethernet adapter is pretty much all of it. The PSU works to power it, and so is necessary obviously.

FreeNAS works directly from the web interface. You won't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse for managing it. At all.

It has file compression and encryption options.

Yes, it can be accessed with anything that can handle SSH, FTP, or any other form of those, which just about anything can handle them.

FreeNAS, using ZFS rather than UFS (ZFS has more features and is more reliable) needs a lot of RAM (minimum: 8GB).

Anything else you need to know, just ask.

 

[Virgule]

I'm not sure if a cloud storage-like server is feasible, or even possible at all. You also have to consider that it won't be nearly as fast as many of the popular cloud servers, which will become increasingly more evident once higher resolution content will become more popular.

I don't care much about speed since I would use it to access an excel file, an image and maybe worst case scenario, copy 2-3 Gb of music or movies, which could be done over some time. As for reduced speed you're talking about, wouldn't that be limited to my network's upload speed ?

[T.Vengeance]

http://labs.bittorrent.com/experiments/sync-hero99371.html

 

Read about bittorrent sync a few months ago. I haven't given it a try but you could. As for having your computer not always on, you could use wake on lan in conjunction with Tomato

 

http://lifehacker.com/348197/access-your-computer-anytime-and-save-energy-with-wake+on+lan

[Virgule]

I suggest setting up a FreeNAS box.

It has the functionality of being accessible anywhere in the world over the internet, if you set it up correctly (there are guides, it's very simple).

Lifehacker has a guide to get you started. The FreeNAS forums can get you the rest of the way.

I suggest the Seagate 4TB drive. I have it in my FreeNAS computer now. This computer must always be one but you can reboot/shutdown it via the web interface (so from anywhere at any time). It just can't be booted up.

"Maybe some way to power only the drives, chipset (or whatever part of the Mobo is needed for W/R) and ethernet adapter ?"

That's the entire computer. Seriously. Chipset = Motherboard = CPU (they work together). Drives + ethernet adapter is pretty much all of it. The PSU works to power it, and so is necessary obviously.

FreeNAS works directly from the web interface. You won't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse for managing it. At all.

It has file compression and encryption options.

Yes, it can be accessed with anything that can handle SSH, FTP, or any other form of those, which just about anything can handle them.

FreeNAS, using ZFS rather than UFS (ZFS has more features and is more reliable) needs a lot of RAM (minimum: 8GB).

Anything else you need to know, just ask.

 

Wow thanks alot for the hints, I will surely look into that. 

[Virgule]

http://labs.bittorrent.com/experiments/sync-hero99371.html

 

Read about bittorrent sync a few months ago. I haven't given it a try but you could. As for having your computer not always on, you could use wake on lan in conjunction with Tomato

 

http://lifehacker.com/348197/access-your-computer-anytime-and-save-energy-with-wake+on+lan

Yeah I would like a way to boot up if I need always on. The thing is it has to work over any platform. Will look into your solution.

[Hyydrah]

I don't care much about speed since I would use it to access an excel file, an image and maybe worst case scenario, copy 2-3 Gb of music or movies, which could be done over some time. As for reduced speed you're talking about, wouldn't that be limited to my network's upload speed ?

Upload speeds would only be a bottleneck if you were sending more than what your upload speed is. If you were to access files (not upload, but download) from your server, your download speed would be the determining factor.

 

It should be noted that the download speeds offered by ISPs are generally much faster than the upload speeds. For instance my download speed is usually 40-50 times greater consistently.

[Vitalius]

Wow thanks alot for the hints, I will surely look into that. 

Awesome.

If you need a build suggestion, I have a few set up. Some as low as $400 or so (you can use parts you already have or extra computers). 

FreeNAS can also be set up with plugins to do just about anything you could want for a file/streaming/media/storage/backup server.

Mine can stream pictures, movies, and music to any TV in my house over my Direct TV receivers. It downloads Bit Torrents on it's own which I and anyone else on my network can access freely (or sparingly, based on how I set up their accounts and restrictions). It's great for emulators (I love playing SNES games off it). 

The only problem I've run into is finding an encoding to MPEG-2 for the Direct TV receivers to play the movies. 

It can connect to Linux, Mac, and Windows.

[Virgule]

Upload speeds would only be a bottleneck if you were sending more than what your upload speed is. If you were to access files (not upload, but download) from your server, your download speed would be the determining factor.

 

It should be noted that the download speeds offered by ISPs are generally much faster than the upload speeds. For instance my download speed is usually 40-50 times greater consistently.

Yeah, that's why I talked about my ISP's upload speed being the bottleneck. In my case I usually get 1.3 Mbs d/l and 0.6 Mbs u/l on speedtest.net.

[Hyydrah]

Yeah, that's why I talked about my ISP's upload speed being the bottleneck. In my case I usually get 1.3 Mbs d/l and 0.6 Mbs u/l on speedtest.net.

Have you considered upgrading your internet plan?

[Virgule]

How often will you be uploading data though? Usually, cloud servers are used for long term storage in which case upload speeds have much less of an impact on the experience.

If I understand it correctly, I would be uploading from my home anytime I am browsing the hdd or dowloading from it from another computer/phone. Files would be modified on my home hdd everytime I make a OS drive backup or add a file on it. That would require no upload until I am using another computer/phone to read/write the content or just view the tree (minimal upload).

[Vitalius]

If I understand it correctly, I would be uploading from my home anytime I am browsing the hdd or dowloading from it from another computer/phone. Files would be modified on my home hdd everytime I make a OS drive backup or add a file on it. That would require no upload until I am using another computer/phone to read/write the content or just view the tree (minimal upload).

Yes. You putting something on the server away from home would use your Download speed. You getting something from the server away from home would be using your upload speed.

[Hyydrah]

If I understand it correctly, I would be uploading from my home anytime I am browsing the hdd or dowloading from it from another computer/phone. Files would be modified on my home hdd everytime I make a OS drive backup or add a file on it. That would require no upload until I am using another computer/phone to read/write the content or just view the tree (minimal upload).

Hmm, I'm not sure how it would work but it sounds like it might be very upload-intensive, though I really don't know.

[Hyydrah]

Yes. You putting something on the server away from home would use your Download speed. You getting something from the server away from home would be using your upload speed.

It's the other way around (if you're talking about the devices itself, not the server).

[Virgule]

Awesome.

If you need a build suggestion, I have a few set up. Some as low as $400 or so (you can use parts you already have or extra computers). 

FreeNAS can also be set up with plugins to do just about anything you could want for a file/streaming/media/storage/backup server.

Mine can stream pictures, movies, and music to any TV in my house over my Direct TV receivers. It downloads Bit Torrents on it's own which I and anyone else on my network can access freely (or sparingly, based on how I set up their accounts and restrictions). It's great for emulators (I love playing SNES games off it). 

The only problem I've run into is finding an encoding to MPEG-2 for the Direct TV receivers to play the movies. 

It can connect to Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Wow that's a great setup. As you point out, the problem is the receiver. Could you just use a wireless audio/video input (like Apple TV or whatever that is packaged as) on your TV to have your PC directly generate the signals ?

[Vitalius]

It's the other way around.  :P

Are we talking about if his server is at his home?

If his server is at his home, then yes, when he's putting something on it away from home, he's using the download speed. When he's getting something off of it away from home, he's using the upload speed.

Note that when I say using upload/download speeds, I mean of his home. Not where he is. Two different things.

[Vitalius]

Wow that's a great setup. As you point out, the problem is the receiver. Could you just use a wireless audio/video input (like Apple TV or whatever that is packaged as) on your TV to have your PC directly generate the signals ?

Thanks.

Yes. It works with anything that uses DLNA, as that's the plugin it uses. You can use other plugins, that's just the default streaming plugin. 

Pretty much everything "home media" uses DLNA. Like Roku, Apple TV, Hulu box, etc.

The article I linked explains it.

[Virgule]

It's the other way around.  :P

I think he meant to say that if I put something new on my HDD from a distance, my network needs to D/L it to write it on the HDD (of course after having it U/Led from another location) and that if I open something existing on my HDD from a distance, my network needs to U/L it in order for me to D/L it. 

 

In both cases, U/L speeds are the bottleneck.

 

edit : by network I mean home network.

[Hyydrah]

I think he meant to say that if I put something new on my HDD from a distance, my network needs to D/L it to write it on the HDD (of course after having it U/Led from another location) and that if I open something existing on my HDD from a distance, my network needs to U/L it in order for me to D/L it. 

 

In both cases, U/L speeds are the bottleneck.

 

edit : by network I mean home network.

For the home network, yes. I meant that the device being used (such as a phone) would be the opposite. That's where the upload/download speeds become the largest bottleneck since phones, for instance, will probably have the lowest speeds.

[Virgule]

Thanks.

Yes. It works with anything that uses DLNA, as that's the plugin it uses. You can use other plugins, that's just the default streaming plugin. 

Pretty much everything "home media" uses DLNA. Like Roku, Apple TV, Hulu box, etc.

The article I linked explains it.

Yeah, will look into that eventually, when I get a working and stable setup. It would be awesome to play anything from videos, music, emulators, browser, ... on my TV. Now if they can only come up with working recent consoles emulators, the PC can prevail once and for all (if that wasn't already clear).

[Hyydrah]

Are we talking about if his server is at his home?

If his server is at his home, then yes, when he's putting something on it away from home, he's using the download speed. When he's getting something off of it away from home, he's using the upload speed.

Note that when I say using upload/download speeds, I mean of his home. Not where he is. Two different things.

Yes, it just wasn't clear because you didn't specify.  :)

[Virgule]

Wow thanks for all the input guys. I will mark this thread as solved and will open up a new one or contact you guys directly if I encounter other problems or questions along the way. Thank you so much.