First Nas - Old computer

[Patrosoft]

Hello All,

 

I am hoping you can advise if this would make a good Nas machine. It is a old computer that I was using as a HTPC, but don't use since I got a Roku. I have a some old drives in there, but I would swap them out for some NAS HDDs.

 

The NAS would be mostly used for storing pictures, plex server.  

 

current rig:

AMD A8-3870K Black APU Quad Core Processor W/ Radeon 6550D HD GFX Socket FM1 3.0GHZ 4MB Retail Box 

Gigabyte A75M-D2H mATX AMD FM1 A75 2PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 1PCI DDR3 HDMI DVI SATA3 USB 3.0 Motherboard 

Nmedia HTPC-5000B Desktop Media Centre Case mATX Black 1X5.25 4X3.5INT Card Reader No PS

Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-430CXV2 430W ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan *3 Year Warranty*

Corsair XMS CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit 

[Mohenjo]

For NAS yes, its overkill tbh. For Plex.... Kinda bare minimum but it would probably work.

[Patrosoft]

Thanks Mohenjo. 

 

If I was to make it a plex server, is there anything I can do to improve this build? or will my CPU be a bottleneck?

[Aekim]

It should be fine if you stream the files only and don't change the resolution of the movies. Just try it and if you're not happy get an old i3/i5 ;)

 

Get the wd Red or Seagate nas drives if you upgrade

 

[Patrosoft]

Hey all,

 

I finally setup unraid and got it working. So far it is running good. I have transferred files between different computers and watched movies using roku and plex server and it has been fine. 

 

I got 2 WD red, 3 TB drives and a cosair LE 240 SSD currently in it. I have 2 WD green drives from a older pc build, was thinking of throwing them in the mix, they are 2 and 3 TB. Is that ok? I know they are not NAS ready drives like the Reds, so does it likely mean in a NAS they are ok to use, just they will die sooner then the Reds? 

 

Thanks everyone for the guidance so far. 

[AshleyAshes]

An mATX A75 mobo.  I want it.

[Mark77]

I wouldn't obsess over "NAS" drives.  Just use whatever you got for the time being, and if you need more space, well, then maybe consider them.  Lots of drives not marketed for "NAS" work perfectly fine in such applications, particularly the Toshiba and HGST products. 

 

To put things into perspective, when I was in college, I used a Pentium-66 (yes, that's not a typo, a 5V Pentium-66, an 800nm part, lol) for my NAS/email server.  It even had a RAID-1 with a pair of SCSI disks.  File serving is, in the whole scheme of things, pretty lightweight.  If you're buying "new" components, the emphasis really should be on putting together something that's energy efficient, especially if you're going to be running the machine 24/7/365.