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Building External Hardware Array

ferchkc09
By ferchkc09
in Storage Devices
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I am extremely new to the world of building PC's however I have a need to that I am trying to solve.  Currently I'm running an old mac mini with OS X server.  Basically this is essentially a file server for all of our music, documents, videos, whatever else you can think of.  Right now I just have a couple of old 1TB external HDD's attached to the mac mini to increase storage.

 

What I really want to do is have some kind of external RAID array attached to the mini.  I know there are a lot of "over the counter" RAID enclosures, however, the price tags seem hefty.  My use of the RAID is to have some redundancy on the data incase of a drive failure.  Ideally I would like to do RAID 5.

 

Would it be beneficial to build something like this considering most RAID 5 enclosures are > $500? If it would be beneficial to build, what would a typical component list look like?

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Building your own is always a good bet. It gives the awesome experience of building a PC, and you know exactly how its put together incase there is a problem and you need to do maintenance to it.

Long time Linus fan with too many different forums to keep track of LTT's. 
 

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might be worth doing yourself, not sure how nor how many drives you plan on using but make a build log or something about it if you dedcide to do it :D

I spent $2500 on building my PC and all i do with it is play no games atm & watch anime at 1080p(finally) watch YT and write essays...  nothing, it just sits there collecting dust...

Builds:

The Toaster Project! Northern Bee!

 

The original LAN PC build log! (Old, dead and replaced by The Toaster Project & 5.0)

Spoiler

"Here is some advice that might have gotten lost somewhere along the way in your life. 

 

#1. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

#2. It's best to keep your mouth shut; and appear to be stupid, rather than open it and remove all doubt.

#3. There is nothing "wrong" with being wrong. Learning from a mistake can be more valuable than not making one in the first place.

 

Follow these simple rules in life, and I promise you, things magically get easier. " - MageTank 31-10-2016

 

 

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If by "build", you mean, "some assembly / modification required", you can probably get away with something like this : http://amzn.com/B00PZ7347E

 

It supports eSATA I/II/III and USB 2/3, so it will work with your Mac Mini, plus any system you decide to connect it to down the road.  It also supports multiple RAID levels.  If you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, you can take a normal empty PC case, cut a hole somewhere in it to mount this interface, install your drives and a PC power supply, and you're good to go.  

 

I didn't use that specific card (I didn't need the USB / RAID capability), but I used one similar, for my build.  I mounted the device in an empty PCI backplate slot (I used a couple screws with some washers to hold the device securely in place).  I then modified a PC power supply to be always on (there are instructions for how to do this all over the place).  I made sure the power supply I used had an external switch so I could still power it on/off.  :)

 

Worked great, and it cost less than buying a NAS enclosure, but that's only because I happened to have an empty PC case and good power supply laying around.

 

This could still be an option for you, though. :)
 

I am extremely new to the world of building PC's however I have a need to that I am trying to solve.  Currently I'm running an old mac mini with OS X server.  Basically this is essentially a file server for all of our music, documents, videos, whatever else you can think of.  Right now I just have a couple of old 1TB external HDD's attached to the mac mini to increase storage.

 

What I really want to do is have some kind of external RAID array attached to the mini.  I know there are a lot of "over the counter" RAID enclosures, however, the price tags seem hefty.  My use of the RAID is to have some redundancy on the data incase of a drive failure.  Ideally I would like to do RAID 5.

 

Would it be beneficial to build something like this considering most RAID 5 enclosures are > $500? If it would be beneficial to build, what would a typical component list look like?

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