DIY NAS or Synology?

[Balward]

So I have been thinking about doing a dedicated NAS for sometime now.  I currently use a Raspberry Pi 2 as a file sever/Usenet box with 2 external hard drives hooked up to it. 7TB total.  All of the data is media (Movies and TV shows).  This has worked like a charm, but my biggest concern obviously is redundancy. At this point the 7TB of space is almost completely filled, probably 6.8TB,  so a good amount of storage is a must.  Either going to start with 2 x 4GB WD Reds, or 2 x 6GB Reds for now, get my data copied over, then down the road fill the other bays.  I'm thinking a 4 Bay minimum if I go the Synology route.

 

My question is, should I go with a DIY NAS or a Synology setup? I've put this together for my DIY build, any thoughts would be much appreciated.  Plan on using FreeNAS but that to is open to change.   Also must be able to run NZBGet, Sonarr, and Couch Potato. I'm using Kodi on Raspberry Pi's as a frontend and don't see that changing.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($69.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($35.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.00 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $610.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-07 15:00 EST-0500

[leadeater]

 

 

I have a couple of friends who have built custom nas systems but use the Synology OS rather than FreeNAS. Can find out more if you are interested.

[Balward]

I am definitely leaning more towards the DIY.  As you said it is much more cost effective.  The cost of my build with drives is just a little more than a 4 Bay Diskless Synology.  I guess my main issue is whether or not the build I put together is a good fit for either FreeNAS or the Synology OS.

[R0hm]

+1 for the DIY solution. THE argument is the same as in the "PC vs. Console" debate : you can upgrade every single component.
FYI, here is what I have (the OS is Ubuntu Server on a 16 GB USB thumb drive) :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A6-6420K 4.0GHz Dual-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate NAS HDD 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate NAS HDD 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone DS380B Mini ITX Tower Case  ($147.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Silverstone 300W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply  ($48.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $522.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-07 16:02 EST-0500

 

As for the choice of the OS, note that the FreeNAS Community strongly discourage the use of FreeNAS without ECC RAM. Which would definitly add cost to your build.

Otherwise, something like a server version of some Linux distro or OpenMediaVault could be a good choice.

 

Hope that helps

[Balward]

As for the choice of the OS, note that the FreeNAS Community strongly discourage the use of FreeNAS without ECC RAM. Which would definitly add cost to your build.

Otherwise, something like a server version of some Linux distro or OpenMediaVault could be a good choice.

 

I've seen quite a bit of talk about the ECC Ram and thats always an option, but like I said I'm not set on FreeNAS. 

 

Is Ubuntu Server pretty straight forward?  I don't have a ton of experience with Linux.  I'm just looking for a solution that enables me to stream the files to my frontends, as well as have NZBGet, Sonarr and Couch Potato installed.  I currently have that set up on Raspbian on my Pi file server, but obviously that distro won't work for this set up.

[alex75871]

Go DIY

 

On a budget:

i3 processor (has ECC support)

entry level Supermicro server board

4-8 GB of ECC RAM (16GB+ with FreeNAS)

NAS grade HDDS

A RAID card if not using FreeNAS or other NAS variant

A Quality PSU (doesn't need 1 billion watts) e.g. seagate

 

This setup would work well with PLEX media server for encoding streams to different devices and organizing your media.

 

If you want to go fancy then you can go entry level Xeon and do virtualization for game servers, development etc etc. Requires more RAM also.

 

The opportunities are limitless

 

Check out my DIY NAS here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/21948-ltt-10tb-storage-show-off-topic/?p=6508990

[Guest]

From someone who used to run a SuperMicro 20 bay server with an E3 in it, I actually swapped to a 4 bay QNAP. The main reason behind this was power consumption closely followed by ease of use. Easier file sharing and cross platform compatibility with my devices.

[braneopbru]

I've seen quite a bit of talk about the ECC Ram and thats always an option, but like I said I'm not set on FreeNAS. 

 

Is Ubuntu Server pretty straight forward?  I don't have a ton of experience with Linux.  I'm just looking for a solution that enables me to stream the files to my frontends, as well as have NZBGet, Sonarr and Couch Potato installed.  I currently have that set up on Raspbian on my Pi file server, but obviously that distro won't work for this set up.

Not only FreeNAS, but any OS that runs ZFS, ECC is a REQUIREMENT. Sooner or later you will lose your entire pool to corruption if you run ZFS without ECC.

 

That said, there are plenty of NAS OS options out there that don't use ZFS.

[Balward]

Check out my DIY NAS here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/21948-ltt-10tb-storage-show-off-topic/?p=6508990

 

That is a beauty of a rig.  Unfortunately, that isn't quite in the budget right now.  Whats the power consumption like on something like that though any idea?

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there Balward

 

I could suggest checking what WD can offer just to widen your view on this. You can check out WD My Cloud EX4 as a 4-bay solution that has many useful features and RAID0, RAID1, RAID5 and RAID10 support as well as JBOD. Here's a link with more info on this one: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vU4Aj3

 

A few advantages that pre-built NAS devices have are the whole warranty of the device, official support regarding the whole product, very simple and easy setup and managing as well as no potential compatibility issues.

Advantages of self-built NAS devices would be easier upgrade-ability, possible longer warranty on some of the parts, customization according to your preference and not strictly limited expansion of the number of used drives.

 

Captain_WD.

[R0hm]

Is Ubuntu Server pretty straight forward?  I don't have a ton of experience with Linux.  I'm just looking for a solution that enables me to stream the files to my frontends, as well as have NZBGet, Sonarr and Couch Potato installed.  I currently have that set up on Raspbian on my Pi file server, but obviously that distro won't work for this set up.

It is. There are tons of tutorials out there.

If NZBGet, Sonarr and Couch Potato  work on Raspbian, chances are they will work as well on any other Linux distro.

OpenMediaVault is based on Debian, its main advantage is that you have a web UI, just like with FreeNAS. I've never used it, though.

[ObilvionNizer]

 

As much as a love the DIY NAS idea, another option is the WD MyCloud NAS.

You are able to get a 8TB MyCloud for $592.23. http://www.amazon.ca/Cloud-Mirror-personal-cloud-storage/dp/B00ITI054G/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1449570230&sr=1-3&keywords=wd+my+cloud

[Balward]

As much as a love the DIY NAS idea, another option is the WD MyCloud NAS.

You are able to get a 8TB MyCloud for $592.23. http://www.amazon.ca/Cloud-Mirror-personal-cloud-storage/dp/B00ITI054G/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1449570230&sr=1-3&keywords=wd+my+cloud

I was looking at the 12TB version on Amazon.  What I'mmost concerned about with these is the ability to load things like NZBGet, CouchPoato and Sonarr.  The price definitely isn't terrible, but I'm just not sure it is going to flexible enough for me.  If anyone has an experience with this, maybe they could help me out with some info.

[alex75871]

That is a beauty of a rig.  Unfortunately, that isn't quite in the budget right now.  Whats the power consumption like on something like that though any idea?

Thanks

 

I am not too sure sorry as I have both my gaming rig and server connected to the same UPS. The PSU is a seasonic 450w gold certified which contributes to reducing running costs. I will disconnect my gaming rig some time to test the power consumption, I will keep you posted