NAS vs data server

[rmrfsuperuser]

So I am building a date storage device have order the parts however I am still contemplating a nas or data server like Dropbox but I own. I want to store old files and family photos I want to be able to be able to veiw and edit the files on the hardrives from anywhere in the world because I travel a lot for work and would like to by a smaller computer and not use an external hardrive. 

my specks 

ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Atom C2550 Motherboard

Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ECC

Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

WD red-pro 2Tb disk drive X3

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case

SeaSonic Platinum 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Looks good. Install something like own cloud or a ftp server to acess it whereever.

[rmrfsuperuser]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Looks good. Install something like own cloud or a ftp server to acess it whereever.

so go for free nas and enable ftp 

[Captain_WD]

3 hours ago, rmrfsuperuser said:

~snip~

Hey there Welcome to the community! 

 

The build looks good and should serve your needs well. I would only swap the WD Red Pro drives with regular WD Red drives since the Pro version is designed for heavier and longer workloads and cases with 8 and more (up to 16) drives in the pool. The regular WD Red should suffice. 

 

Another thing I could offer is to simply check out some pre-build NAS devices and see if they can fit your needs. What I could offer is check out the WD My Cloud series, especially the EX and DL series and see if any of them would appeal to your demands and budget. All WD My Cloud devices come with WD Red drives. 

 

Feel free to ask if you need more info on any of the devices.

 

Captain_WD. 

[rmrfsuperuser]

7 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

Hey there Welcome to the community! 

 

The build looks good and should serve your needs well. I would only swap the WD Red Pro drives with regular WD Red drives since the Pro version is designed for heavier and longer workloads and cases with 8 and more (up to 16) drives in the pool. The regular WD Red should suffice. 

 

Another thing I could offer is to simply check out some pre-build NAS devices and see if they can fit your needs. What I could offer is check out the WD My Cloud series, especially the EX and DL series and see if any of them would appeal to your demands and budget. All WD My Cloud devices come with WD Red drives. 

 

Feel free to ask if you need more info on any of the devices.

 

Captain_WD. 

Budget is not a problem I want safe secure cloud storage with no compromises I am going to run the wd reds in raid 5 and plan on putting in a 10 gigabit network card when I get my gaming pc up and running. I also want to learn about free nas. I am very confused the remote secure aces of my files. I also want to be able to send my parents photos of the kids a a link.

[Yamoto42]

2 hours ago, rmrfsuperuser said:

I am going to run the wd reds in raid 5

Don't...just don't.

[rmrfsuperuser]

32 minutes ago, Yamoto42 said:

Don't...just don't.

please explain

[Dark]

I would look at a QNAP (with an x86 process: i5 or above).

 

QNAP cloud access solves the remote issue.

 

8-Bay unit will provide adequate growth with a RAID5 array.

 

You can host VM's off of it if you needed/wanted.

 

The software is proven reliable.

 

Some of the higher end units support 10gb nics.

 

**Don't bother buying 'nas/enterprise' labeled storage, it's not worth the added price and there is little to no proven value**

[rmrfsuperuser]

15 minutes ago, Dark said:

I would look at a QNAP (with an x86 process: i5 or above).

 

QNAP cloud access solves the remote issue.

 

8-Bay unit will provide adequate growth with a RAID5 array.

 

You can host VM's off of it if you needed/wanted.

 

The software is proven reliable.

 

Some of the higher end units support 10gb nics.

 

**Don't bother buying 'nas/enterprise' labeled storage, it's not worth the added price and there is little to no proven value**

I am looking for a software solution not a pre-built solution 

[Dark]

SFTP (setup with dynamic dns if you don't have a static address) or a cloud solution will likely be the most reliable.  

[rmrfsuperuser]

6 minutes ago, Dark said:

SFTP (setup with dynamic dns if you don't have a static address) or a cloud solution will likely be the most reliable.  

thank you this looks like the solution I was looking for

[leadeater]

4 hours ago, rmrfsuperuser said:

I am looking for a software solution not a pre-built solution 

Why? Sure QNAP do cost more than a custom build but they are extremely good and come with a ton of features and software options, and the majority of their product range support 10Gb upgrade.

 

I see by the sounds of it you have already purchased the parts to build the system so a prebuilt NAS really isn't an option, this is more of an informational on QNAP really do make very good NAS's and I've used them a lot as backup targets for Windows Servers using iscsi + Windows Backup.

 

SFTP and a user friendly client should work well for what you want though.

[Captain_WD]

22 hours ago, rmrfsuperuser said:

~snip~

With the proper settings on the WD NAS and if you have created a username and a password for your parents you can use the online tool  to share files and folders as links and even share whole folders for them to view without the need for you to send a link for each of them. You can simply create a separate folder for them to see and they can check it out anytime they want either through the web tool or from the My Cloud application on the computer. Post back if you want more info on that.

 

Captain_WD.

[Isramir]

On 11/7/2016 at 7:59 PM, rmrfsuperuser said:

please explain

You don't wanna go raid 5, because it has very little redundancy and a way to high risk of data loss. Raid 5 with 3x 2tb disk would result in 4tb storage and 1 redundant disk. if one disk fails, you would have to rebuild the array after you replace that disk, when rebuilding you are putting extra strain on the other 2 disks if one of those fail while they are rebuilding you are f*ck. Consider buying another 2tb disk and go raid6 instead. Here you can lose 2 disks without loosing data, also there will be less strain on the disk because of the double parity when rebuilding the array.

Also if you can buy the disks from different vendors, that way you are less likely to get drives from the same batch. If a batch of drives has errors, the likly hood of multple drive failures in a row, potentially destroying your data, is less.

[jowdemanne]

7 hours ago, Isramir said:

You don't wanna go raid 5, because it has very little redundancy and a way to high risk of data loss. Raid 5 with 3x 2tb disk would result in 4tb storage and 1 redundant disk. if one disk fails, you would have to rebuild the array after you replace that disk, when rebuilding you are putting extra strain on the other 2 disks if one of those fail while they are rebuilding you are f*ck. Consider buying another 2tb disk and go raid6 instead. Here you can lose 2 disks without loosing data, also there will be less strain on the disk because of the double parity when rebuilding the array.

Also if you can buy the disks from different vendors, that way you are less likely to get drives from the same batch. If a batch of drives has errors, the likly hood of multple drive failures in a row, potentially destroying your data, is less.

Completely right. I think with 2tb drives the chance of a failure in the midst of a drive rebuilding is around 2%, which is pretty damn high considering you'd lose everything. With the high capacity drives that are available today RAID5 is really obsolete. 

Also, if possible, order your drives from different vendors, as to minimalise the chance of multiple bad drives.