My New NAS Build

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reikoshea

HS Troll...And Mod
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So I just built a new NAS so I could get some space to record TV shows on my other machines, and not be riding the ragged edge all the time when it comes to disk space in my house.

I bought a pretty pimp LSI card to go with it that makes sure my NIC remains my bottle neck and not my other PCs.

Some Benchmark Data between software RAID and hardware RAID attached, parts list below.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Celeron G1850 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.89 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.89 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.89 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.89 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($50.10 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i 6Gb/s ($329.99)
Total: $1084.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 15:28 EDT-0400
 

Attachments

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I have WMC on my media center, workstation and laptop for recording TV and then set it all up to use the NAS as the primary media directory. I use a Ceton InfiniTV6 for TV tuning.

I obviously setup the NAS in Linux and everything is just exposed as a Samba share because my Windows install on my main workstation is kinda fucked up and I can't load the NFS extension.

I have Yammm to do all the DVD box arts and categories for the movies and stuff. My only complaint so far is things with subtitle tracks take a while to load because the program I use for subs in WMC is kinda bleh.

Ripping DVDs with handbrake doesn't even max out the NIC on my media center (since it has a BluRay drive), so it does everything I expect and couldn't be happier with the purchase.
 
I went with a Synology. Although the CPU is slow it has been fantastic. Super small case, quiet fan for low noise and low power consumer. I <3 my NAS.
 
So, had I not opted for the LSI card (which you can see from the benchmarks was not actually needed) my NAS is cheaper than the synology and in practice only draws about 130w from the wall.

Granted I had to do all the configuration and raid setup, so there's the time spent setting it all up correctly, but for me I really just wanted to test out the LSI card, so that extra cash spent was worth it for me...and it doubles as a linux box when I need one.
 
That's a pretty cool idea. I just don't have anywhere near that amount of need for data storage. I barely own any MP3's or movies. i stream all my music. I don't really record anything. other then my games which are all basically purchased from Steam so i can DL them anytime i need to, I've got nothing lol.

thats why with my PC build i only went with a 120GB SSD and a 500GB Data drive..

But definitely a cool idea, seems like a nifty alternative to the Cloud, though an expense one.

Could you not have done the same with a Cloud service? Just curious?
 
Not and have the ease of access I was looking for. This is to replace local storage on my devices, and I don't get 700Mbps internet speed.
 
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Are they? they were 180 2 weeks ago...Thats why I bought the 3TBs...that and that URE thing my facebook wall exploded about.
 
$130 @ Fry's, WD
http://slickdeals.net/f/7139516-wes...ternal-hard-drive-for-129-pickup-at-fry-s?v=1

$135 @ Newegg (dead), Seagate
http://slickdeals.net/f/7137864-4tb-seagate-barracuda-internal-hdd-st4000dm000-134-99-newegg?v=1

$145 @ Tiger Direct, Seagate with 8GB SSD cache
http://slickdeals.net/f/7147122-sea...h-7200rpm-64mb-cache-144-99-free-shipping?v=1

They're not all "NAS/server rated" drives, but I honestly don't see the need for those ratings on a home server level. I've never had issues with desktop drives running 24/7 for years on end in my servers. You also really don't need 8GB of memory in your server, but since you can't really buy small sticks of DDR3 anymore, you might as well. I only have 2GB of RAM in mine, and it has zero issues running torrents and serving 8TB of data across the network, along with managing all my backups. I don't do any serious processing on the server anyway, and it doesn't look like you plan to either. All my data crunching happens on my main machine and my HTPC (barely).
 
The only reason I bought WDs and specifically WD Reds was for the warranty. WD has a no questions asked policy on their drives.
 
i'll have to detail my optiplex "freebie" all i added was 4gb ram and a 1tb drive.
 
The only reason I bought WDs and specifically WD Reds was for the warranty. WD has a no questions asked policy on their drives.

Yeah I hear ya- WD's drive replacement routine is the easiest I've ever had to deal with. At these prices and the reliability rates of all the top tier hard drive manufacturers though, I don't really worry about the warranty.

i'll have to detail my optiplex "freebie" all i added was 4gb ram and a 1tb drive.

Do it!
 
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