Building a NAS, got some qst!

[OSBK]

So i am a complete newbie when it comes to NAS and servers, i need somewhere to store my files it will be around 20TB nothing too big, i'll use an old PC i have, its an H81 motherboard and a G3220 CPU, 4GB RAM. I think i'll be using rockstor loaded on a usb 3 16gb stick as i wanna use all the SATA connector for the hard drives.
So my questions are:
1. Since hard drives won't exceed 180/200 MBps transfer speed at max, do i need a gigabit switch ? currently i have a router with 4 ports, i believe its 300mpbs. Or is it better to buy a gigabit router instead of a switch?
2. Hard drives mostly fail cause of mechanical issues as they have moving parts, since i won't be using SSDs, i thought about using 2.5 HDDs, thinking that since they're smaller they have less movement, i don't know if im making sense, but if they move or vibrate less that makes them a bit more redundant no? also just to mention they do consume less power and produce less heat too, please correct me. And should i go with 2.5 or 3.5 HDDs since the performance difference isn't that big.
3. Is there an option to hibernate/sleep the NAS in case of idle for like an hour or something, to conserve power and more importantly HDDs life span.
4. Should i use raid ? if yes which one and which config, i'll be buying 5 pairs of 4TB HDDs, if i want security/backup do i need to buy more ?
5. If im just hosting files through lan, there will be no streaming or encoding, is 4GB of ram (2x2gb 1600mhz) and G3220 enough ? as i prefer not to spend since i already have those.
6. I have an extra win7 license but i thought Linux is better to install on a USB, and i came across this rockstor distro, anyone tried it before ? do you recommend me using it ?

Any other things you'd like to mention im all ears, i'm not that rich and those 20TB already gonna cost a lot so anything that won't make me spend much is welcomed
Thanks all.

[flibberdipper]

1. MB/s and Mbps are totally different measurements. A single (even moderately old) SATA HDD is enough to saturate gigabit.

2. Thinking 2.5" drives fail less from less parts moving is dumb, plain and simple.

3. Leaving drives running 24/7 puts less wear and tear on them than constantly spinning them up and down.

4. RAID 1 is probably the most sensible, albeit the least spacious. RAID 6 would probably be the happy middle ground between speed, space, and redundancy.

5. If you're just doing plain network shares you can get away with fuckall ram (depending on what OS you're using, of course). Though bare minimum would probably be 4GB.

6. Haven't tried what you're talking about, but setting up shares in Windows is braindead easy, but for that matter so is setting them up in FreeNAS or OpenMediaVault.

[OSBK]

12 minutes ago, tmcclelland455 said:

1. MB/s and Mbps are totally different measurements. A single (even moderately old) SATA HDD is enough to saturate gigabit.

2. Thinking 2.5" drives fail less from less parts moving is dumb, plain and simple.

3. Leaving drives running 24/7 puts less wear and tear on them than constantly spinning them up and down.

4. RAID 1 is probably the most sensible, albeit the least spacious. RAID 6 would probably be the happy middle ground between speed and redundancy.

5. If you're just doing plain network shares you can get away with fuckall ram (depending on what OS you're using, of course). Though bare minimum would probably be 4GB.

6. Haven't tried what you're talking about, but setting up shares in Windows is braindead easy, but for that matter so is setting them up in FreeNAS or OpenMediaVault.

So thanks a lot for the reply,
1. yes i know they're different, i thought i can stay away of buying a new router or a network switch if i can just put an extra network card on the PC and run two lines to the router but even that would be both slow and dumb i guess.
You think i should buy a gigabit switch and plug the router and PC to it or just get a gigabit router directly ?
2. Sir yes sir!
3. I actually didn't know that, thought the more they spin the less the life span, so 24h/7 with good cooling should be better right ?
4. RAID1 which is mirroring i believe would make buy a second 20TB and i do not ever think i can afford that. I don't know but I think I saw before somewhere on YT or idk, a setup where all the drives are backed up with one single drive but I might be just imagining.
5. Satisfies me well then.
6. FreeNas is better than Rockstor ?, I never heard of OpenMediaVault so i can't tell.
Again, thank you so much.

[flibberdipper]

1 hour ago, Salazar said:

So thanks a lot for the reply,
1. yes i know they're different, i thought i can stay away of buying a new router or a network switch if i can just put an extra network card on the PC and run two lines to the router but even that would be both slow and dumb i guess.
You think i should buy a gigabit switch and plug the router and PC to it or just get a gigabit router directly ?
2. Sir yes sir!
3. I actually didn't know that, thought the more they spin the less the life span, so 24h/7 with good cooling should be better right ?
4. RAID1 which is mirroring i believe would make buy a second 20TB and i do not ever think i can afford that. I don't know but I think I saw before somewhere on YT or idk, a setup where all the drives are backed up with one single drive but I might be just imagining.
5. Satisfies me well then.
6. FreeNas is better than Rockstor ?, I never heard of OpenMediaVault so i can't tell.
Again, thank you so much.

1. Really as long as you can pull at least 300Mbps it'd be bearable unless you're transferring tons of multi-gig files every single day (like I do).

3. Yep, ideally keeping them closer to ambient is always better (obviously).

4. Kinda sounds like RAID 5 or 6, although neither one of those has one drive dedicated to parity.

6. Again, never heard of Rockstor so best advice is to try all three and figure out for yourself which one you like best. Personally I'm biased towards using Windows or OpenMediaVault as they're both super easy to get up and running (Windows obviously taking a bit less effort).

[OSBK]

Thanks a billion, this should insure i spend correctly without regretting later. Thank you!