Building a NAS Box

[Jako]

After looking at some NAS solutions, I've figured building my own would be the cheapest way.

Just to give you guys some knowledge on what I'm using it for. I've been ripping my SD and HD-DVDs lately to my hard drives. These fill up quickly, so I wanted to go with a 4-bay NAS box that I can put on my network rather than filling up my external HD's I currently have.

As far as hardware...I guess I will need a case (would like it to be on the smaller size), mobo, processor, hard drive, raid controller, gigabit ethernet card, fans, psu. Pretty much everything a normal computer would need.

I don't really know what to look for as far as a mother board and which processor to get for a NAS setup. Any suggestions?

As far as the OS, I'm thinking about going with FreeNAS. Any comments or other suggestions on the OS?

Let me know if you think I'm missing anything. I'm pretty new to this kind of stuff.

Thanks

[Danny Bui]

- What's your budget for this NAS?
- How much space do you want?
- Will you be using RAID 5?
- If using RAID, do you want hardware RAID or software RAID?

[Jako]

- What's your budget for this NAS?
- How much space do you want?
- Will you be using RAID 5?
- If using RAID, do you want hardware RAID or software RAID?
Thanks for the questions and taking your time to help me.

IF I have to spend the ~ $500 for one of those premade boxes I linked I don't mind doing so, but I figured I could probably build a pretty good one myself for cheaper, it's just finding the right hard ware.

Most of the ones I've been looking at mention RAID 5. And when I tried to look into it I didn't really understand how it worked. Can you put it into layman's terms ;)

What exactly is the difference between a hardware and software raid and the benefits of each?

Sorry for all the questions, maybe the things I'm looking at is too complicated haha. I just want a lot of space, I mean those HD-movies I own are around 25GB's each.

[Danny Bui]

Here are a few good links that best explain RAID IMO:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/06/11/understanding_raid/1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks

But basically RAID 5 is this:
- RAID combines multiple drives into one.
- It requires a minimum of 3 hard drives
- At least one hard drive worth of space is used to store the data necessary to restore/rebuild the RAID array. So this means that if you use three 500GB drives in RAID 5, you'll only be able to use 1TB, rather than 1.5TB. However if one of your hard drives die, you'll still have all of your data. Though if a second drive dies, you lose all your data.
- RAID provides uptime, not backup. Meaning that if you want your data available no matter what, RAID is a good choice though it does cost you storage space though.

As for hardware VS software RAID, it's simple:
Hardware RAID:
Pros:
- Faster transfer speeds,
- If motherboard dies, you won't lose your data. Just move the hardware RAID controller plus drives to another system and you'll be set

Cons:
- True hardware RAID cards are pretty expensive. Usually $300+

Software RAID
Pros:
- Cheap, usually comes with most motherboards these days.

Cons:
- Slow transfer speeds
- Will use up CPU power making the system slightly sluggish. However modern day systems should be able to handle a small RAID setup pretty well, I think.
- If motherboard dies, your RAID array goes with it (usually)

That's the basic gist of it. Anyway, if all you care is about pure storage, don't bother with RAID then.

Now you really don't need much for a simple NAS/File server:
Antec NSK4480 ATX Case With Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006030) - $70
AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ CPU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103774) - $60
ASUS M2A-VM AMD 690G mATX Motherboard (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA23614) - $64
Kingston KVR667D2N5/1G 1GB DDR2 667 RAM (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820134045) - $20
2 x Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101259) - $198 ($99 each)
----------
Total: $412 Plus tax and shipping.

The motherboard has onboard NIC is Gigabit. 1GB of RAM and a dual-core CPU should be more than enough for a NAS. You do get 1TB of storage. Limited RAID options though.

[skriefal]

Software RAID

Cons:
- If motherboard dies, your RAID array goes with it (usually)


This is true only if you're using the firmware-based, proprietary RAID support provided by your motherboard chipset's manufacturer. Use the software RAID provided in Linux (the 'md' driver), Windows 2003 or 2008, or similar and you'll avoid this issue. And it'll work at least as well as the mobo chipset's RAID support.

The recommended hardware is good. Perhaps a bit more than strictly needed for a simple file server, but it leaves plenty of room if you decide to run other items on the file server -- e.g. streaming media servers, etc.

[Danny Bui]

This is true only if you're using the firmware-based, proprietary RAID support provided by your motherboard chipset's manufacturer. Use the software RAID provided in Linux (the 'md' driver), Windows 2003 or 2008, or similar and you'll avoid this issue. And it'll work at least as well as the mobo chipset's RAID support..

Oh, did not know that. Thank you for the heads up!

[mikesm]

Linux software RAID isn't slow at all. Very fast in fact. For RAID5 and RAID6 configs, that AMD or Intel CPU is WAY faster than the little io processor on the card doing all those XOR's. The management tools are generally much better on hardware raid, but then it's also a lot more expensive.

The new P45 based Intel motherboards that are supposed to be out in APril will be paired with the ICH10 southbridge, which supports FIS switching when used with port multipliers on it's motherboard ports. And it's supposed to be really fast.

With 6 onboard ports, you could connect 30 SATA drives (using 5:1 port multipliers), and be able to run the disks VERY fast for a pittance. Again, at least with linux software raid.

And unlike with windows software raid, you can do online capacity expansion. If you have 4 drives in RAID5, you can add a 5th, etc..., expand the array, then expand the filesystem, and do all of this while maintaining service to clients. Very cool.

[Jako]

Not only will I use this NAS for storage of my ripped movies I own, but also for streaming to my Apple TV. Will the provided hardware above be sufficient?

[Danny Bui]

Not only will I use this NAS for storage of my ripped movies I own, but also for streaming to my Apple TV. Will the provided hardware above be sufficient?

Should be sufficient. The 1GB of RAM and dual core CPU should suffice to stream SD and HD content. Is your Apple TV connected wirelessly or is it wired?

[Jako]

Right now I'm streaming wirelessly on a G network from USB hard drives connected to my Macbook Pro. I plan on getting a draft N router in the future.

[Mathemabeat]

Not only will I use this NAS for storage of my ripped movies I own, but also for streaming to my Apple TV. Will the provided hardware above be sufficient?


Honestly, for your intended usage, that hardware is way beyond overkill.


I got a Pentium 3 800MHz box with a gigabit nic, 512 megs ram and a single 400 gig hard drive (attached to a SATA card) sitting in my closet for my file server. I can stream high def stuff like its going out of style.

Over gigabit I get speeds of between 25 to 30 megabytes per second copying to the server and about 25 megabytes per second from the server. My box runs Server 2003, but I imagine it would get similiar results running Linux. My results with FreeNas has been a little slower speeds, but still far more than needed for streaming HD content. I can easily stream all sorts of video to both my PS3 and my XBox 360 (at the same time even!).


Not saying that hardware isn't a good choice, especially if you are buying new and don't have an older machine to use.


I am getting ready to update my fileserver from the Pentium 3 setup to a 1.7 GHz P4 with 1.5 gigs of ram that I am getting cheap from someone local. Only reason I am doing this is because I need a motherboard with more expansion ability. Plus I may run VMWare Server on it.



Perhaps I will post back my results after the upgrade.

[Ockie]

You should grab yourelf a basic box (AMD X2 or something cheaper, 1gb memory or less), toss your favorite flavor of operating system on there, share out the drives, and enjoy.

If you must have raid, grab a simple cheap raid controller and enable raid on the controller.

Cheap, simple, and works. Easy as pie.


For your use you don't need anything serious, you don't need anything niche (rackmount cases, hotswaps, etc)... a basic box with some gigabit attached to it should be more than you ever dreamed of.

[detzx]

I did this out the other day, a simple box was $215 without drives. It's a small box that can hold three drives so my plan was to boot off USB using FreeNas and have three drives in RAID 5. If you didn't want raid you could use 1-3 drives for up to 3TB of data. So, simple case...a complete NAS box with 640GB of storage is $345(newegg)...a lot better than the ones that are being sold plus it's still a BSD box so you can pretty much add anything you want.

This is the small easy way...if you wanted more you just need a bigger case and more drives so add another $50 for a bigger case and $xxx for each additiona l drive. I forget the specs but this is with 1GB/ram, decent motherboard/cpu so it should do pretty much a NAS box should do.

[DigitalMP]

Taking all of these posts in, what do you guys think of D-Link's DNS-323 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509), in comparison to building your own box?

[Danny Bui]

Taking all of these posts in, what do you guys think of D-Link's DNS-323 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509), in comparison to building your own box?

D-Link:

Pros:
- Smaller in size
- Most likely uses less power
- Relatively simple to set up and running
- Cheaper price (just $28 cheaper than my DIY NAS without drives)
Cons:
- Can't expand beyond more than two drives
- No RAID 5 option (relates to the above)


DIY NAS (Going from the parts I listed above):

Pros:
- Can add as many drives as you wish
- Greater number of RAID options
- Simple to set up and running. Just add any OS, share the drives and there you go.
- Can also be used as a print server, FTP server, web server, domain controller, etc. In other words, customizable.
Cons:
- Not as small sized
- Higher price (just $28 more than the Dlink without drives)

[DigitalMP]

DIY NAS (Going from the parts I listed above):

Pros:
- Simple to set up and running. Just add any OS, share the drives and there you go.


How much more difficult is the D-Link NAS to set up and get going? Is there already an OS on it?

[Danny Bui]

How much more difficult is the D-Link NAS to set up and get going? Is there already an OS on it?

There's already an OS installed on the DLink NAS. As for ease of set-up, from what I can tell so far, it's not that hard. Read this review of it:
http://techgage.com/article/d-link_dns-323_nas/