I have 5 1TB Western Digital drives- I want to build a storage array and need advice

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sir jman

Limp Gawd
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Mar 14, 2006
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I just want to make a nice big raid 5 storage system in an external enclosure that is reliable and fast. Basically I need security to keep my important school files safe and then most of the storage space will be used for music, tv shows, and movies. It needs to be fast enough to stream HD content.

Now I was looking at enclosures and there don't seem to be many option. The Thecus N5200B Pro looked okay but reading reviews doesn't seem fast or reliable enough. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822102016

I looked at Drobo and even though it is 4 drives it looks cool and functional but I have no idea why they would limit it to USB 2.0. I think I really need esata. Other than those I didn't really see anything.

Right now I have a huge full tower PC with my old 5x 500gb storage system but I want to switch to a Micro ATX system with a separate 4-5 drive storage system that I can hook to a network to be used by a couple other people in my apartment.
 
I am using a Thecus N5200 and it runs fine. I have lots of audio on it and it works great (5 Western Digital 750's in it). I've been happy with it. The only issue I have is that with the system nearly full, the speed is isn't all that hot when writing (readying is fine). Other than that, it works great. No corrupt files, easy to set up.
 
You could just kick solaris/linux on an old pc with a web gui, that would do the trick.
 
That thecus is really well priced. But you can build a cheap amd x2 lower power to same price or less, that can do so much more. Maybe I'm wrong here.
Thanks
 
If you're looking for something eSata (and not Network connected directly), this is an inexpensive option:

http://www.tecvine.com/5bayespostap.html

Uses a port multiplier, so that it only requires a single eSata port to hook it up. Even comes with a 2-port eSata controller card if you don't have any ports already.
 
cyberdeity said:
Oooh, didn't see this one before! You could spend a bit more ($336), and have room to grow :)

http://www.tecvine.com/cf8bayespomu.html
Click to expand...

hmm those are cool. Yeah networking isn't important to me and I would probably prefera direct attched solution. I did some reading and the drobo is a slow piece of junk and the thecus NASes are unreliable with no support.

So I guess an esata attched enclosure would be perfect. I'm just curious how they work because that 8 bay one would definitely be awesome... I have an asus p5k with two esata ports so that looks like it would be sick. So does it just run 4 drives off one esata connection ? the drives will still show up normally as individual drives with no spanning or anything right?

I was also wondering if it was easy to make something like that. i want something sleek looking so is there a way to make one of those from a nice lian li case with a couple 5 in 3 hot swap cages without building a full file server?
 
becuase its only a esata enclosure with a port multiplier. Its direct attached storage.
 
ring.of.steel said:
becuase its only a esata enclosure with a port multiplier. Its direct attached storage.
Click to expand...

alright that is interesting. i guess i don't really have any need for raid since i'll just be storing a lot of media and i can manually back up what is important to me.

are there any really sleek looking units like this? i like that 8 drive one and it is a bit more than i need but i could easly fill it (hell right now out of my computer i have 6 1tb drives and 2 500s i could stick in plus two more 320s and then 5 more 500s in my desktop). on second thought maybe i do want 8 bays and maybe even more.

i'm going to look around for these but i would be open to building one if i don't find one that fits my needs.

or maybe i'll just build a nas with freenas and two 5 in 3 cages and find an old computer to use.
 
I have an Infrant/NetGear readyNAS and it kicks major arse. I would recommend it highly. I am getting 35+mbps read and 30+ write on the raid5 array. The best part is the management features and the sechsee enclosure.

Plus, if you are in a fire and trapped upstairs, the weight of the readynas along with the size make it perfect for breaking thick reinforced glass when you need to climb out of a jammed window.....or bludgeoning intruders.

JA
 
I have an older Infrant/Netgear ReadyNAS that ran 4 x 500GB and served up video throughout the house. With the latest firmware/os build, I was able to upgrade to 4 x 1TB and expand my storage needs fairly easily. The hard part was importing all my previous settings through the newer, slower webgui. The new netgear gui appears to be java based and is slower to respond... That netgear gui is my only major complaint about it. However, I can also ssh into the box and do some administration tasks that way.
I also run a separate linux based file server running lvm+raid5 on a spare pc that cost less than $100 and runs great for a basic file server. It currently has 8 x 500GB and i will be replacing 4 x 500s with 1TB this weekend.
I am testing out freenas and openfiler on 2 separate boxes.
I plan on picking up some big esata 8+drive enclosure to expand and backup my exisiting servers.

The only downside on sitting on hard drives, is by the time u get to using them a month later, the price has gone down by 20+%... ie, the WD 1TB was $250 on black friday... now u can find 1TB drives for $180ish...

I'm waiting for the 500GB 2.5" drives to drop in price... so I can fit 2TB in a 5.25" bay
 
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