Help me with my NAS Project

[Skydiver]

SO I am in the process of planning my NAS build for my family. For a long time they have been backing up their files on single portable drives and I decided to reorganise evrything by building a NAS.

For this I am going to use old components (CPU+MOBO+GPU as the mobo has no integrated graphics) from a prebuild PC and buying what I am missing. Now the questions:

 

1.) I decided I would use FreeNas to manage my NAS, it this a good idea?

2.) I am planning on either using WD reds or seagate NAS HDD, any thoughts?

3.) In case my mobo is fried, what cpu+mobo would you recommend?

4.) Do I need a dedicated ethernet card?

5.) Will I be able to access my NAS wirelessly with my phone if I plug the NAS to my router?

 

I apologise in advance for the very dumb questions but I am a total noob concerning servers and the community here has been very helpful until now ^.^

[TheGeeker]

1. Yes, I use FREENAS its great.

2. WD Reds if the budget allows but I am getting away with Seagate barracudas in RAID 5 (4x2)

3. G3258+ Cheap Mobo with 1Gbs Nic

4. If the mobo does not have 1Gbs or you plan to do link aggregation, if not no 

5. Dunno, I would like that too but have not researched in depth at all

[Skydiver]

Just now, TheGeeker said:

1. Yes, I use FREENAS its great.

2. WD Reds if the budget allows but I am getting away with Seagate barracudas in RAID 5 (4x2)

3. G3258+ Cheap Mobo with 1Gbs Nic

4. If the mobo does not have 1Gbs or you plan to do link aggregation, if not no 

5. Dunno, I would like that too but have not researched in depth at all

Thank you very much for these answers, but could you please explain to me what a link aggregation is?

[TheGeeker]

Just now, Skydiver said:

Thank you very much for these answers, but could you please explain to me what a link aggregation is?

In computer networking, the term link aggregation applies to various methods of combining (aggregating) multiple network connections in parallel in order to increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, and to provide redundancy in case one of the links should fail.

[Blaxow]

14 minutes ago, TheGeeker said:

1. Yes, I use FREENAS its great.

2. WD Reds if the budget allows but I am getting away with Seagate barracudas in RAID 5 (4x2)

3. G3258+ Cheap Mobo with 1Gbs Nic

4. If the mobo does not have 1Gbs or you plan to do link aggregation, if not no 

5. Dunno, I would like that too but have not researched in depth at all

Nothing to add on this one... Have also Seagate in my Nass and a Raid 5 is just perfect.

 

And it should be possible if your router support it. like my linksys can be available as mediaserver and FTP server.

[TheGeeker]

57 minutes ago, Blaxow said:

Nothing to add on this one... Have also Seagate in my Nass and a Raid 5 is just perfect.

 

And it should be possible if your router support it. like my linksys can be available as mediaserver and FTP server.

us cheapos. Hey dude.. RAID 5 means if a drive dies you are fine so why need the expensive stuff?? 

[Blaxow]

1 minute ago, TheGeeker said:

us cheapos. Hey dude.. RAID 5 means if a drive dies you are fine so why need the expensive stuff?? 

Expensive stuff?

[TheGeeker]

3 minutes ago, Blaxow said:

Expensive stuff?

I use them in RAID 5 because if a drive fails I can just rebuild the array. So why spend the money on WD Reds when I can just rebuild cheap drives. (I am just saying because I already had the cheap drives) 

[Blaxow]

1 minute ago, TheGeeker said:

I use them in RAID 5 because if a drive fails I can just rebuild the array. So why spend the money on WD Reds when I can just rebuild cheap drives. (I am just saying because I already had the cheap drives) 

All my HDD's are Seagates at home.

Still happy about them, never had 1 failing on me (just yet, who knows)

 

[Jarsky]

58 minutes ago, TheGeeker said:

I use them in RAID 5 because if a drive fails I can just rebuild the array. So why spend the money on WD Reds when I can just rebuild cheap drives. (I am just saying because I already had the cheap drives) 

 

A few reasons that come to mind:

 

a) The REDs/NAS/Enterprise have TLER, so if they hit a read error, they will automatically timeout and re-join the array without having to be manually reactivated and the array  resynced, which causes array degradation during the resync and for a big array like mine can take a week or more to resync.

b) The REDs/NAS/Enterprise have a much higher tolerance to vibration/turbulance, so less likely to have a drive just drop for no reason

c) What do you do if a second 'cheap' drive drops while you're resyncing? Bye-bye data.

 

Cheap drives most certainly work, but you also face risks by running them without some of the more advanced features.

If you have important data on the array, you'd ideally want at least a RAID 6 - it's really more weighting up what you can afford to lose, and the level of protection you want vs the cost.

[TheGeeker]

2 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

 

A few reasons that come to mind:

 

a) The REDs/NAS/Enterprise have TLER, so if they hit a read error, they will automatically timeout and re-join the array without having to be manually reactivated and the array  resynced, which causes array degradation during the resync and for a big array like mine can take a week or more to resync.

b) The REDs/NAS/Enterprise have a much higher tolerance to vibration/turbulance, so less likely to have a drive just drop for no reason

c) What do you do if a second 'cheap' drive drops while you're resyncing? Bye-bye data.

 

Cheap drives most certainly work, but you also face risks by running them without some of the more advanced features.

If you have important data on the array, you'd ideally want at least a RAID 6 - it's really more weighting up what you can afford to lose, and the level of protection you want vs the cost.

Yes. I know. I would much rather have Reds and know why they are better. But for my use do I need them? No! For home do you really need them? Nah. But I do agree that they have great benefits that are worth it if its for work but not for my family pictures.