Cheapo NAS

belkun · December 24, 2015

I've been thinking about building a NAS for quite some time, since I need more storage for backing up lots of work files, and I'm a little bit unsure whether to buy a pre build NAS from Synology for example, or building my own. From what I sorta managed to work out, the build I have in mind would cost around the same as a Synology 2 bay enclosure without any drives, so it would be quite cheaper, although I'm not sure about the performance. It's really just mainly for storage, but if possible, could also probably be used as a media PC. Here are the parts I have in mind from PCPartPicker:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A4-7300 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($84.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair ValueSelect 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($21.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair ValueSelect 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($21.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $372.93

The price is a bit higher on my country, so I don't think it should really be that important, but it's still good to have an idea of how much I plan to spend.

My main concerns about the build are: is that CPU enough for that, or should I step up a little bit just to make sure? I'm looking for something that is low powered and low heat. Is the case good for a build like that? The Elite 130 is way too big, but the 110 looks quite nice, even though it doesn't have any front expansion options as far as I can tell. Should I get an SSD for the OS, or just maybe an extra WD Red 2TB drive to max out the bays? I already have a PSU, so I didn't include it on the list. Also I believe 8GB RAM should be enough for 4/6TB, though I'm not sure if the speed/model is that important.

As an extra, as I believe this motherboard supports Gigabit LAN, I'd probably need a new router. Are there any threads around here with information like that, or can anyone give recommendations for home office access points?

Thanks!

GalacticRuler · December 24, 2015

I've been thinking about building a NAS for quite some time, since I need more storage for backing up lots of work files, and I'm a little bit unsure whether to buy a pre build NAS from Synology for example, or building my own. From what I sorta managed to work out, the build I have in mind would cost around the same as a Synology 2 bay enclosure without any drives, so it would be quite cheaper, although I'm not sure about the performance. It's really just mainly for storage, but if possible, could also probably be used as a media PC. Here are the parts I have in mind from PCPartPicker:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A4-7300 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($84.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair ValueSelect 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($21.99 @ Amazon)

Memory: Corsair ValueSelect 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($21.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.00 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.00 @ Amazon)

Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $372.93

The price is a bit higher on my country, so I don't think it should really be that important, but it's still good to have an idea of how much I plan to spend.

My main concerns about the build are: is that CPU enough for that, or should I step up a little bit just to make sure? I'm looking for something that is low powered and low heat. Is the case good for a build like that? The Elite 130 is way too big, but the 110 looks quite nice, even though it doesn't have any front expansion options as far as I can tell. Should I get an SSD for the OS, or just maybe an extra WD Red 2TB drive to max out the bays? I already have a PSU, so I didn't include it on the list. Also I believe 8GB RAM should be enough for 4/6TB, though I'm not sure if the speed/model is that important.

As an extra, as I believe this motherboard supports Gigabit LAN, I'd probably need a new router. Are there any threads around here with information like that, or can anyone give recommendations for home office access points?

Thanks!

You don't want to put your OS on your storage drives. It will screw up a RAID array if you choose to do one.

December 24, 2015

-snip-

If you're going to get just 2 drives, I'd just go for a readymade solution, like one of Synology or Qnap products, unless you REALLY want to build your own for some reason.

Also, for a NAS that will be used as a home server, you can easily go with Atom motherboard like http://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/A330ION/ It will be more than enough.

Building your own NAS gets good when you need more than 4 drives. Up to that point it's almost pointless. At least for me.