[Cross-posted at SPCR]
I want to build some really reliable storage for my data, and it seems that ZFS is the only filesystem at the moment that does live checksumming. That rules out DroboPro, so I'm looking to building a quiet ZFS NAS that would start with 6 1TB or larger hard drives. I'd like this system to be very reliable and relatively future-proof for a few years, so I'm willing to invest some serious $$$.
Case: I think I've settled on the Antec Twelve Hundred case because it's good at cooling, quiet, and simply has 12 bays that allow elastic mounting. The SilverStone Raven is its counter-candidate, but I find its construction quite odd.
For the PSU, I'm torn between Antec CP-850 and Nexus RX-8500. The Nexus has a very uniform power profile, and I'd rather not have the Antec spin up and down based on load. On the other hand, I'm not sure how often my file server will draw more than 400W under use.
For the hard drives, I've read that WD Black drives are actually WD RE3 with a software setting changed. I'd also like to buy *different* drive types, not just 6 WDs. Maybe 2 WDs, 2 Seagates and 2 other drives. Recommendations?
For the motherboard, CPU and RAM I have no idea, other than the CPU has to be 64-bit and the RAM must be ECC.
Advice please?
Lastly, I'm wondering if I can make this PC into a media server by adding a Blu-ray drive and a good sound card. But I have no idea of the OpenSolaris support for such multimedia usage, or if Windows 7 on VirtualBox would get sufficient hardware access to output HDMI or SPDIFF signals. (Running OpenSolaris virtualized is not an option because of the reliability risk)
Suggestions on that would be highly appreciated as well.
I want to build some really reliable storage for my data, and it seems that ZFS is the only filesystem at the moment that does live checksumming. That rules out DroboPro, so I'm looking to building a quiet ZFS NAS that would start with 6 1TB or larger hard drives. I'd like this system to be very reliable and relatively future-proof for a few years, so I'm willing to invest some serious $$$.
Case: I think I've settled on the Antec Twelve Hundred case because it's good at cooling, quiet, and simply has 12 bays that allow elastic mounting. The SilverStone Raven is its counter-candidate, but I find its construction quite odd.
For the PSU, I'm torn between Antec CP-850 and Nexus RX-8500. The Nexus has a very uniform power profile, and I'd rather not have the Antec spin up and down based on load. On the other hand, I'm not sure how often my file server will draw more than 400W under use.
For the hard drives, I've read that WD Black drives are actually WD RE3 with a software setting changed. I'd also like to buy *different* drive types, not just 6 WDs. Maybe 2 WDs, 2 Seagates and 2 other drives. Recommendations?
For the motherboard, CPU and RAM I have no idea, other than the CPU has to be 64-bit and the RAM must be ECC.
Advice please?
Lastly, I'm wondering if I can make this PC into a media server by adding a Blu-ray drive and a good sound card. But I have no idea of the OpenSolaris support for such multimedia usage, or if Windows 7 on VirtualBox would get sufficient hardware access to output HDMI or SPDIFF signals. (Running OpenSolaris virtualized is not an option because of the reliability risk)
Suggestions on that would be highly appreciated as well.
Last edited: