"Junkyard" NAS Help

[MajorVegas]

So in response to seeing Linus fumble through a junkyard gaming computer build. I'd like to attempt a not so junk junkyard NAS build. 

 

AKA I want a NAS and I have a decent amount of spare parts laying around

 

 

I'm willing to buy whatever I need but I have (what I think) is enough to build a couple computers with a few extra parts.

 

However I literally have no experience with creating or managing a NAS, so I'd appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction.

 

 

 

 

So I'm looking to expand to have roughly 10+TB of straight up storage (might run raid but historically me and raid don't mix)

I'll definately have to buy a couple drives but I get a discount if I buy (3-4? will confirm) drives

 

 

Here is what I have on hand now, what ever isn't used here I plan on spliting between 2 HTPCs:

- I5 4670

- Asus B85m-e/csm

- Like literally 35~45 fans in 120-140 size

- A couple kits of DDR3 ram (I know that I have a kit of 16gb 1600mhz Patriot viper ram around here somewhere)

- A rather old Dell XPS I found in a dumpster. (Has a really old i7, 9800gt, some ram, a s**t power supply)

(will update when I take a full inventory tomorrow)

[d3sl91]

1. Install Windows.

 

2. Make it network accessible (make it use a password if you really want)

 

3. Tell your backup programs to backup on XX shared folder on NAS. 

 

Voila

 

An additional step would be set up backup drives in a RAID1 config for extra protection. 

 

 

if you want a media server, Install and configure PLEX. 

[Williamchan87]

how are you going to fit 35-45 fans? Oh never mind, you got 35-45 fans, not you trying to put 35-45 fans :\

Edited March 28, 2015 by Williamchan87

[MajorVegas]

1. Install Windows.

 

2. Make it network accessible (make it use a password if you really want)

 

3. Tell your backup programs to backup on XX shared folder on NAS. 

 

Voila

 

An additional step would be set up backup drives in a RAID1 config for extra protection. 

 

 

if you want a media server, Install and configure PLEX. 

 

 

Do I just use all the drives together as a simple volume, Then share that volume on the network?

 

Do you know anything about free NAS, apparently that's what a lot of people are using on that storage mega thread. 

 

 

how are you going to fit 35-45 fans? Oh never mind, you got 35-45 fans, not you trying to put 35-45 fans :\

 

Gunna make the case out of fans, it will make it go faster.

[Williamchan87]

Do I just use all the drives together as a simple volume, Then share that volume on the network?

 

Do you know anything about free NAS, apparently that's what a lot of people are using on that storage mega thread. 

 

 

 

Gunna make the case out of fans, it will make it go faster.

I was thinking of that, but I like the setup i always wanted to make, which is get one of those mini fridges, build a 4x 3by120/140 rads with push pull config or something inside the fridge, drill holes to plug into cpu/s+ gpu/s

[alpenwasser]

Do I just use all the drives together as a simple volume, Then share that volume on the network?

It's been a while since I've worked with Windows volumes, but if I remember

correctly, one drive failure inside that spanned volume would mean you lose

all the data, so I would very seriously advise against that (if this has changed

by now, somebody feel free to correct me).

Running them all as individual drives is not necessarily the most convenient

solution (since you need to distribute your stuff over several drives), but

it's also the simplest to set up. In case of drive failure, you lose that one

drive, no more, no less.

 

Aside from that, if you wish to stick with Windows, you could also look

into FlexRAID or Stablebit. Neither of them are free though, and I've never

personally used either of them. @Pancake has however recently made a post

about why they like it, maybe you can get info from there:

 

RAID6 would be better, but I am honestly not a fan of RAID or ZFS

I use Stablebit DrivePool and it can easily max out a 2GB/s link with my current configuration and usage (Just media and files, no VM's or Databases)

Pro's

• You can add and remove drives of any size any time you want, with almost no configuration. SO you can grow as your data does
• You can configure it PER FOLDER for protection against 1 or any higher number drive failure, I love that its per folder or for the whole pool. I don't feel the need in having my movies redundant as they are not important and they are backed up, so this saves me a bunch of space
• If you pull the drives, you can get the data from each drive just by plugging into into any machine and looking in the hidden folder. No need for the software, or any of the other drives
• Read striping on duplicated folders
• Supports any hardware config
• The Stablbit Scanner software protects and avoids bitrot, and will move data off failing hard drives automatically. Its awesome!
• You can have an SSD write cache

The ONLY downsides I can see, is that its $20, so not free. And that you are limited to the speed of the drive the data is on, so if you have data on one drive, its as slow as one drive. 2 x Drive = almost 2 x speed

The support is fantastic too, and you can speak to the maker of the software

You can also have a look around the Website: https://stablebit.com/

And FlexRAID: http://www.flexraid.com/

Aside from these two, unRAID might also be worth a look, but again, not

free, and I think more expensive than Stablebit.

 

Do you know anything about free NAS, apparently that's what a lot of people are using on that storage mega thread.

 

 

I've heard good things about FreeNAS (though again, not personally used it),

however I probably wouldn't recommend it for your hardware. Reason being, you

don't have ECC memory. The FreeNAS guys seem to highly advise using ZFS, and

the ZFS guys highly advise using ECC memory.

What I personally use is Linux + ZFS, and it has been performing great for

me, however, it did require quite some tinkering and a ton of reading until

I had it set up properly.

As another alternative, you could try Linux + mdadm + LVM. Great stuff, but

again, will require you to do quite a bit of reading if you're not already

familiar with it.

 

Gunna make the case out of fans, it will make it go faster.

[ChineseChef]

I was thinking of that, but I like the setup i always wanted to make, which is get one of those mini fridges, build a 4x 3by120/140 rads with push pull config or something inside the fridge, drill holes to plug into cpu/s+ gpu/s

 

Just a heads up, using a fridge to house and cool your computer is extremely inefficient.  A fridge is designed to cool everything in the fridge once, and then simply maintain the cool temp by keep heat out.  By putting the heat source in the fridge, it will run the compressor constantly, and likely won't even be able to keep up.  Such a design can work, but requires much heavier duty cooling parts, designed to run 24/7, but will likely be loud, hot, and expensive to build and run.

[Williamchan87]

Just a heads up, using a fridge to house and cool your computer is extremely inefficient.  A fridge is designed to cool everything in the fridge once, and then simply maintain the cool temp by keep heat out.  By putting the heat source in the fridge, it will run the compressor constantly, and likely won't even be able to keep up.  Such a design can work, but requires much heavier duty cooling parts, designed to run 24/7, but will likely be loud, hot, and expensive to build and run.

I is more of a troll thing then an actual solution.

[flibberdipper]

Use OMV, since it's a really solid (and free) NAS OS. I use it on my old Pentium 4-based Dell and it never has a hiccup.

[Blake]

If your using windows 8+/server2012+ you can use storage spaces, basically just Software RAID. Don't use parity unless your fine with 20MB/s write speeds (its not too bad as a media server, or a file server once you have done the migration of data to the server).

[Eniqmatic]

I would also recommend FreeNas, how valuable is the data going to be out of interest?