Cheapest NAS Build?

[Tmt97]

So a while ago I moved my PC into a new case, and ran into a storage problem. To install the 120mm radiator for my AIO cooler I had to remove the drive bay leaving only 1 space above the 5.25" bays for a single hard drive. While this was sufficient to run the computer, it restricts my access to my data as I have a stack of hard drives worth of it that I can no longer easily access. This got me thinking, is it maybe time to build a NAS to move my stack of hard drives into? I really don't know much about how to pick the parts for one. I understand they can use normal computer components, but I wouldn't know what to pick as I don't really know what hardware a NAS would benefit from: better cpu? more memory? So I'm wondering how much would it cost to build like the cheapest NAS possible(minus the cost of hard drives of course) so that I can decide if that's a realistic solution for me at the moment. Thanks!

[79wjd]

Anywhere from $200-$300 is a pretty good range for an entry level NAS depending on what kind of functionality you want (both now and in the future). Would you want to run a Plex server or something similar or would it just be for file access? What kind of data is being stored -- do you have backups of the data elsewhere? How many users (and what types of users) will be accessing the data? Do you want to run some kind of RAID or not? 

[Tmt97]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

Anywhere from $100-$300 is a pretty good range for an entry level NAS depending on what kind of functionality you want (both now and in the future). Would you want to run a Plex server? What kind of data is being stored -- do you have backups of the data elsewhere? How many users (and what types of users) will be accessing the data? Do you want to run some kind of RAID or not? 

The data is just movies, photos, some old documents, ect... I do have a backup, as far as users, it would be just be myself, and RAID would be nice but I don't think it would work so well trying to set that up on hard drives of varying capacity's that are already full of data. I really just need a place to shove my old hard drives that I can easily access from my main computer, and I'm trying to find the cheapest way to do that. Do you think building a NAS for this would be best, or are there other options I should consider?

[79wjd]

8 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

The data is just movies, photos, some old documents, ect... I do have a backup, as far as users, it would be just be myself, and RAID would be nice but I don't think it would work so well trying to set that up on hard drives of varying capacity's that are already full of data. I really just need a place to shove my old hard drives that I can easily access from my main computer, and I'm trying to find the cheapest way to do that. Do you think building a NAS for this would be best, or are there other options I should consider?

You could buy a prebuilt NAS (without drives) or build a custom NAS, but a custom NAS would be cheaper (albeit while consuming more electricity) and give you more upgradability/expandability. 

 

Would you want to stream those movies with Plex or would it just be for file access (think about the future too). Something like this would be able to handle 1-2 transcoded 1080p streams (basically infinite non-transcoded streams): http://pcpartpicker.com/p/P2BFwP. Although I would consider spending an extra $100 and getting something with ECC memory, but since you want to go as cheap as possible, that may not be for you. For basic file access basically any hardware will be powerful enough (so used is also a good choice).

[Tmt97]

2 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

You could buy a prebuilt NAS (without drives) or build a custom NAS, but a custom NAS would be cheaper (albeit while consuming more electricity) and give you more upgradability/expandability. 

 

Would you want to stream those movies with Plex or would it just be for file access (think about the future too). Something like this would be able to handle 1-2 transcoded 1080p streams (basically infinite non-transcoded streams): http://pcpartpicker.com/p/P2BFwP. Although I would consider spending an extra $100 and getting something with ECC memory, but since you want to go as cheap as possible, that may not be for you. 

I just looked into Plex since you mentioned it, that would actually be really handy since I could stream it to my roku. Didn't know anything like that existed, thanks! Well as long as building it is still gonna be cheaper, I guess Ill go with that, might be able to bring the cost down further by using some of the spare parts I got.

[wpirobotbuilder]

1 hour ago, Tmt97 said:

So a while ago I moved my PC into a new case, and ran into a storage problem. To install the 120mm radiator for my AIO cooler I had to remove the drive bay leaving only 1 space above the 5.25" bays for a single hard drive. While this was sufficient to run the computer, it restricts my access to my data as I have a stack of hard drives worth of it that I can no longer easily access. This got me thinking, is it maybe time to build a NAS to move my stack of hard drives into? I really don't know much about how to pick the parts for one. I understand they can use normal computer components, but I wouldn't know what to pick as I don't really know what hardware a NAS would benefit from: better cpu? more memory? So I'm wondering how much would it cost to build like the cheapest NAS possible(minus the cost of hard drives of course) so that I can decide if that's a realistic solution for me at the moment. Thanks!

The cheapest you can get is a prebuilt, depending on the number of drives.

 

Here's one for $100 USD -- http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Attached-DS210j/dp/B002XQ3C0E. It's really hard to beat that with computer parts, unless you have an old computer lying around.

 

However, if you have many hard drives the prebuilt NAS units tend to have more features, some of which aren't always useful to the consumer, and cost more -- see this one, for example. In this case, building your own makes economic sense.

 

[Tmt97]

54 minutes ago, wpirobotbuilder said:

The cheapest you can get is a prebuilt, depending on the number of drives.

 

Here's one for $100 USD -- http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Attached-DS210j/dp/B002XQ3C0E. It's really hard to beat that with computer parts, unless you have an old computer lying around.

 

However, if you have many hard drives the prebuilt NAS units tend to have more features, some of which aren't always useful to the consumer, and cost more -- see this one, for example. In this case, building your own makes economic sense.

 

Yea, that one wouldn't work really. It says its 2-bay, and I need to store at least 4 if not 5 hard drives.

 

edit: Never thought itd be this hard/expensive just to find something I can shove a stack of hard drives into...

[Renderz]

Hi, if budget is your main concern, then I suggest buying an old outdated desktop PC for around $50. I've just looked on eBay and there are plenty of old computers with enough 3.5 slots for your needs. A NAS does not require much processing power, however something like FreeNas might require more ram depending on the size of your array. 

[79wjd]

12 minutes ago, Renderz said:

Hi, if budget is your main concern, then I suggest buying an old outdated desktop PC for around $50. I've just looked on eBay and there are plenty of old computers with enough 3.5 slots for your needs. A NAS does not require much processing power, however something like FreeNas might require more ram depending on the size of your array. 

You have to be careful when buying older hardware as idle states used to be significantly higher than they are today (iirc Nehalem or Sandy Bridge changed that and made idle states actually low).