DIY NAS

[Gibraltar]

I've been watching linus' video 'Reliable Data Storage on the Cheap!'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_B8AFvguqo&t=491s

I want to do something similar, but smaller.

 

So my plan was Raid 5 or 6, with a mini ITX board and a few high-capacity drives.

 

No matter how much I try to understand, Linus loses me when he starts talking about NAS OS and HBA (Host Bus Adaptors) and RAID cards.

 

I don't really want to put it into a server chassis or anything big like that.

 

I'd just like it to be small and compact, with the ability to hold my stuff on it so I can connect from my TV, Laptop, Phone or Desktop.

 

Can anyone please give me some guidance? If you have any information you to better help, I will try my best to explain.

 

Thank you very much.

[Zagna]

Maybe something like, Inter-Tech IPC SC-4004 for a case and power, with a ASRock J4205-ITX as a motherboard. That would a simple 4 bay setup.

[Fullmental]

1 hour ago, Zagna said:

Maybe something like, Inter-Tech IPC SC-4004 for a case and power, with a ASRock J4205-ITX as a motherboard. That would a simple 4 bay setup.

For that price wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just get a dedicated NAS device, like a Synology or Qnap diskless setup? The TS431-P and DS418J come to mind. 

 

Of course if OP wants to build it themselves for the fun of it then more power to ya, but if the goal is just low-cost reliable data storage, DIY isn't the only option.

[KrYpToCiD]

On 8/2/2018 at 3:39 PM, Gibraltar said:

I've been watching linus' video 'Reliable Data Storage on the Cheap!'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_B8AFvguqo&t=491s

I want to do something similar, but smaller.

 

So my plan was Raid 5 or 6, with a mini ITX board and a few high-capacity drives.

 

No matter how much I try to understand, Linus loses me when he starts talking about NAS OS and HBA (Host Bus Adaptors) and RAID cards.

 

I don't really want to put it into a server chassis or anything big like that.

 

I'd just like it to be small and compact, with the ability to hold my stuff on it so I can connect from my TV, Laptop, Phone or Desktop.

 

Can anyone please give me some guidance? If you have any information you to better help, I will try my best to explain.

 

Thank you very much.

I'll try to explain you what he meant with those statements and after that I think you'll be on the right track.

 

Let's take the bear out of the room and explain first the HBA and RAID cards part.

 RAID card is the equivalent for software RAID but it is more safe owerall. On the other hand HBA is a card that is more like a power-squid, it enable you to have more HDDs or SSDs over one conection and that is all. The RAID and HBA cards have some properties like max data speeds they can process and RAID have a battery like the CMOS one witch helps keeping in card's memory the RAID map. Some RAID cards can be firmware flashed to act like HBA. If you want to use just the connections from MoBo you don't need those cards.

 

Now the tricky and int the same time the simplest part is the OS. You can unRaid, freeNas, centOS or even ubuntu (from what I've heard) but you need to do some research to find out what is worth it for you.