Low Powered NAS

[ZeusXI]

Budget, 600$

-Not for gaming at all

-Storage for 4 people (3 laptops, 250GB-500GB each, 1 desktop 1TB)

-Thinking Raid 5 for backing up data as well

-60,64,120GB ssd for just the OS and other apps and software

-Low wattage (server will only be up during wake hours. So 6am-9pm Eastern)

 

-4 Private folders for each user

-1 Public folder for movies, and music for 4 people

 

Im thinking 4TB (before raid) would do, but im asking what you guys think.

I dont really care about the size of the HDD

 

 

[Huntsman]

This can be easily done, the only problem here is the connection between NAS and the devices. Make sure it is fast enough to avoid frustration and keyboard bashing with face.

 

Tips:

1. Better make it a 5TB before raid because raid 5 dislikes even number of drives.

2. 60GB SSD is more than enough for something like a FreeNAS or linux installation. Windows server will need more.

3. You could get away with something like a J1800 board which is imo low power and gets the job done. Also, you could skip the need to power it on and off to save power.

[bobhays]

Do you have a specific OS in mind? and do you care about ECC?

 

If you just want a standard NAS with that budget it would probably be best to set a 3x3TB RAID 5. you get 6TB of storage, it's pretty cost efficient, and its odd number for RAID 5. For hardware, i'd suggest a low powered pentium/celeron and cheapo motherboard, probably used.

 

EDIT: link to cheapest embedded mobo/cpu with 3 stata ports I could find on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153257

[Huntsman]

48 minutes ago, bobhays said:

Do you have a specific OS in mind? and do you care about ECC?

 

If you just want a standard NAS with that budget it would probably be best to set a 3x3TB RAID 5. you get 6TB of storage, it's pretty cost efficient, and its odd number for RAID 5. For hardware, i'd suggest a low powered pentium/celeron and cheapo motherboard, probably used.

 

EDIT: link to cheap combo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138426

 

I linked a j1800 combo but it only 2 sata ports and I found this one instead.

The AMD board also has 2 sata ports..

[Klingon00]

Keep in mind that parity is not backup. It is redundancy. If backup is at all important to you, then you will want an actual, separate backup solution which allows for you to restore that accidentally deleted file you didn't realize for a week. Parity will not do this for you. It can only provide some security in the event that a drive fails.

 

If file sharing and cloud services are all you need, with no requirements for ECC memory, no gaming and no virtualization that requires hardware pass through, then a low power CPU like a G3260 or a G4400 will be more than enough. Such a system will probably only average around 50 watts under most circumstances which is less than it takes to run an incandescent light bulb. Such a system will also be inexpensive, less than $300 for the base system (before drives) easily.

[bobhays]

9 hours ago, Huntsman said:

The AMD board also has 2 sata ports..

Woops updated.