Opinions on NAS System Build

[kjv1611]

I'm considering building a small NAS for my home, using a really cheap barebones PC I found at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856110056

But what I want to consider doing would help the performance a little, and I was wanting to see if anyone had any suggestions as to whether or not this would work as far as the amount of power from the PSU.

The PSU is rated at 165 Watts.

Also, from reading the reviews, others have setup configurations with 2 and 3 hard drives.

What I am wanting to do is this:
Use the system as it is, but with the following:
[ul]
[li]Possibly 1 Gig of RAM (I believe I still a matched pair sitting around of 2 512 sticks, and I believe it should be compatible with this system.[/li]
[li]PCI Hardware RAID Card - PNY S-CURE 5 port card - found here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816110002

I already have this card, but I have it installed in my current desktop PC - I'm thinking I can save money on power bill, and save space in my "main" computer case this way, which will increase airflow, and take a little pressure off that system. [/li]
[li]Use at least 3, possibly 5 hard drives, running in RAID 3. The drives are SATA2, but run as SATA1 b/c of the RAID card - no problem in my opinion.[/li]
[li]If I use 3 hard drives, then I'll install an optical drive, but if I end up being able to use 5, I'll have to leave the optical drive out - I would like to possibly start with 3, and just later expand to 5 (the RAID card allows for "expanding" the data if/when you add new drives - I forget the exact term at the moment,... maybe migrating? But that just doesn't seem correct... anyhow, hopefully you can follow the thought.[/li][/ul]

Or if someone knows of a setup that would be even cheaper, or about same price, and better, let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice, information, links, etc.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kmcferrin]

Ah. I built my in-laws a PC out of old Athlon XP parts and an ASUS terminator Socket A barebones. It works very well for what they use it for. Some things to consider:

1. The case is very, very cramped. You're not going to fit a lot into this sytem, and if you do manage to shoehorn it then it will be crowded and airflow will be poor. I personally hate working on it.

2. There are only 2 3.5" drive bays, one is externally available. So in order to mount more hard disks you will need to find some way to convert the 5.25" bays to make them suitable.

If you're intended to put in 5 hard disks, you might want to spend a little more money and get a slightly larger enclosure. I have to believe that you can do better than this box.

 

[kjv1611]

Okay. How do you think one of the cheap MSI MBOX systems would compare? I think I still have a Pentium 4 processor that will still work, if I just have a motherboard for it. So, for one of those, that I saw on NewEgg, here is what I found:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101237

And bear in mind that this is more just to have a cheap file storage setup, nothing that I'd actually do anything on - just store files for access accross my home network - backups, pictures, etc.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

Oh... and I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I said 5 drives! . I forgot that it only had a total of 4 bays - so I'd just do the one optical drive, and then a 3 drive RAID configuration (assuming I can get the PCI card to fit). [WINK]

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kmcferrin]

Don't know anything about that box specifically since I have never used it, but the reviews don't look very favorable.

 

[kjv1611]

Yeah, I'm really wanting to just try and find something cheap, and that can more or less sit out of the way. That's why I thought of that super-el-cheapo box.

But, depending upon some other things, I may do something different. We shall see. It's not a necessity, anyway.

If anyone has any other thoughts/suggestions (cheap), let me know. I'm open to any suggestions, of course.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[ArizonaGeek]

I'd like to find something like this but in something that offers a RAID 5 configuration and minus the hard drives. I've got plenty of drives (or can certainly get them cheaper than what they offer, even RAID certified drives) but would like a RAID 5 for sure.

That website has quite a few solutions ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. But it appears none of the websites I looked at for these types of enclosures offer them without drives. It also seems like only the expensive ones are offer a RAID 5 config, although the one in my link offers RAID 10, I just don't want to lose half my drives to RAID when I do regular back ups and can't imagine more than one drive going at the same time. Not that it can't happen, but it is rare and for a home use not cost practical.

Ok I got almost 1TB of music and movies backed up on my home system, I am running out of room.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[BadBigBen]

As for the case look at this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156167

it has 4 5.25" bays and 8 (if you leave out the FDD) 3.5" bays, comes with a 380w psu... $35

and for that P4 (assuming it is a Socket 478) you could get a cheap mainboard, ie.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135025

for $24...

I use an old Arena (Maxtronic) One Ultra160 SCSI to IDE enclosure, actually got it as a gift, albeit it has only 5 bays with 20gig drives yet... and uses a 486dx controller board... = ANCIENT

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[kjv1611]

I have another possible idea on this possible situation. I was thinking about basically building a new machine - all but the hard drives and optical drives, and then a small NAS as well from used parts, maybe a barebone or new small case....

Buuuut, my main reason for wanting to use a small other system for the NAS was to save on power consumption, as I don't think I'll need to be concerned about performance on that NAS.

So, I've another thought as well. If/when I do for sure upgrade my main system, how feasible would it be to use an Athlon XP 3200+ processor and motherboard for the NAS? What I am thinking is that I could just underclock the processor - which makes it appear to Windows more like an 2600+ if I remember correctly from trying before. So, it's not as fast, but I don't guess it would need to be.

In that case, would using that help a little with the power consumption on that one machine?

Thoughts along this line?

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[axslinger]

I run FreeNAS on a junk eMachine at my shop. Works great. The upside is that it runs completely off a CD. I have the config floppy in the drive all the time (when you make changes it saves them to the floppy).

It supports several variations of raid including JBOD. Since the system is set to boot from the CD, if it needs to be restarted, I just hit the power button and let it reboot, (which is seldom) w/the config floppy always in the drive. As long as nobodys writing to the drives, theres nothing to corrupt since its booting from CD.

 

[kjv1611]

Interesting concept. I've used Ubuntu Linux from CD before, but never thought of using it permanantly in a machine.

So, even with doing that, you don't see any performance loss, or nothing noticeable anyway?

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[axslinger]

No, it doesn't take a performance hit becaue the functionality is loaded into RAM. Once loaded, it doesn't use the CD.

Brian

 

[kjv1611]

I'll have to keep that in mind, as well, in case I do end up putting my storage in a separate unit. It seems there are just mind-boggling limitless possibilities today. Just wow! When I think of all the possibilities...

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

Just thought I'd post back here as well. I've been busy with other matters at the same time, so I've not done as much as I'd like in this area.

I ended up building a new system (Core 2 Duo setup), and I believe I have enough older parts to just toss a computer together. I'm not talking slow as the CIA processor old, I'm talking one of the P4 setups - maybe, or more likely an Athlon XP.

I'll probably put the 500 gig hard drives into a RAID configuration with the S-CURE card(s) in this NAS idea. I'll hopefully be able to get around to that sometime in the next week or two. And I think I'll try to set that machine - maybe - over in the closet in the same room, out of the way, and maybe just remote control it from my "main" computer when necessary. I also won't leave it on all of the time, as I won't have any need to do so. And, I may under-clock the processor in that setup to save on power a little, but we'll see.

Anyway, much to decide on. For the RAID, I'll have to use 3 500 Gig drives in a RAID 3 setup, or either 2 RAID 1 setups of 2 drives each. I could always buy a 5th hard drive to do a RAID 3 with all of them, but I'm just holding off on new drives for now for sure.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me