File Server Help

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babyshark31

Gawd
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
775
Hi All,

This summer (in a month to 1.5 months that is) my older brother wants me to help build him a file/media server for all of his tv shows/movies and pictures and everything from vacations. He's moving into a new house and I think his plan is to have to sitting relatively close to his desktop computer and have it feed into one of the monitors he's going to use with his desktop. He doesn't want it to be too large (I'm thinking a mid-tower is going to be the high end on size), but I want him to be able to expand the capacity easily when he wants to. I'm trying to get everything planned/priced out for him so that he can figure out how much space he wants and everything else. Right now, I'm thinking he's going to go for some 2TB drives in order to maximize capacity and I was going to set it up in a RAID 5 array. Other than that, It's pretty much up in the air at this point. I was hoping you all could help me out with the other parts:

Case - like i said, size is the big problem here as he doesn't want it to be too big. I was thinking that I could get a case with a decent amount of internal 3.5" drive space as well as 2-3 open 5.25" bays in order to put either a 5in3 or 3in2 adapter in.
Drives - Like I said, I'm going to plan on using 2TB drives at this point unless he tells me otherwise. I know there were some problems with the WD Green drives in RAID arrays, but I'm not sure if those problems have disappeared at this point. I was think about using the Samsung F3EG EcoGreen drives, but am open to any suggestions. Also, for the OS I was thinking about getting him a small SSD (vertex 30GB or something similar). Does this benefit overal performance at all or is it just a waste of money?
RAID Card - I'm not sure if this would be necessary for him or if just a SATA add-on card would suffice. In general, how is the performance of onboard RAID controllers? He doesn't need anything blazing, but needs enough to be able to stream a couple HD streams around his new place
Motherboard - Obviously he doesn't need anything fancy for this, just something very stable. If i'm not going to get him a RAID card, I would obviously need as many SATA ports as possible in order to accommodate a bunch of drives (off the bat would probably need 3 for HDDS, 1 SSD, and 1 dvd). Also, it would be nice if the board had onboard video, but I think he may have an extra video card laying around somewhere. Now that I'm thinking of it, he may have a motherboard as well. I'll have to ask him about that.
CPU - How powerful of a CPU is he going to need?
RAM - How much is enough? I was planning on putting Windows Server 2008 64-bit on it
OS - Is Windows Server 2008 a good choice? I'm not familiar with Linux at all, but would a Linux setup be more appropriate for him?

His basic needs for the server are the following:

Storing Videos and pictures
Streaming the videos to a couple TVs and his desktop/laptop around the house

Sorry for such a long post, but I hope you all can help me figure some stuff out
 
Had you looked into WHS ? I do some of the things you speak of as he does and wants to do.

Also a few of the syba sata cards from newegg give you upgrade ability later down the road. They work great and are not to hard on the pocket. Could always go with the Supermicro AOC though for 99.99.
 
Software raid is cheaper, considering how cheap CPUs/RAM are now. A SSD for the OS would be a complete waste, regular drive (hell even a flash drive) would be overkill if its just fileserving for the OS drive.

You could do software raid on a windows box with the onboard SATA connectors if you dont need much expandability and alot of speed... Would also save you on liscencing costs, and cut out the learning curve of Linux/Unix.
 
pug71 said:
Had you looked into WHS ? I do some of the things you speak of as he does and wants to do.

Also a few of the syba sata cards from newegg give you upgrade ability later down the road. They work great and are not to hard on the pocket. Could always go with the Supermicro AOC though for 99.99.
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II have looked into WHS, but I don't think it would be the best option since I'm planning on using a RAID array, which doesn't play nice with WHS if IIRC.

Are those cards RAID cards or just SATA? I'll take a look at them and see what they're all about

thanks
 
Tau said:
Software raid is cheaper, considering how cheap CPUs/RAM are now. A SSD for the OS would be a complete waste, regular drive (hell even a flash drive) would be overkill if its just fileserving for the OS drive.
Click to expand...
so are you saying that I don't even need to use a separate drive for the OS?
You could do software raid on a windows box with the onboard SATA connectors if you dont need much expandability and alot of speed... Would also save you on liscencing costs, and cut out the learning curve of Linux/Unix.
Click to expand...
What do you mean licensing costs? Also, is that Windows Server or just Windows 7?
 
Ok, few things. If youre not familiar with Linux I wouldnt mess with it on someone elses system as their file server. I am still a Linux noob myself and have gotten a Minty box running a raid 0 array, but it took a good 6-7 hours to do, ( an *Nix pro could have done it in about 1 but meh, Im learning ) So with that I would consider WHS. Also , kill the SSD, theres no point in it and WHS requires an 80Gb minimum on the boot drive. Also kill the raid card, and just go with an expansion ( non raid ) card like the Supermicro one for $99 especially if youre considering WHS as it just pools the drives anyway and theres no sense in overcomplicating the setup. Spring for a good Intel NIC thats gigabit and then add youre MOBO and CPU of choice. WHS runs well on lower end CPU's. Also, just an FYI its based off of Server 2003, and I believe the next edition of WHS(Vail) will be Server2008 based..... As far as cases go, I would look for a decent midtower atx case. I guess some people NEED hotswap bays, I personally dont so thats up to you.

One more thing to consider. WHS offers duplication and while its nice, I have personally had WHS lose the tombstone, which in turns screws it. So yeah, I have had my data duplicated, but since WHS cant find the tombstone telling it where it should be, it may as well be gone. And FWIW WHS recommends either 1) deleting the data ( haha, delete it? are you crazy??) or 2) reinstalling WHS if something goes wrong (which is just a real pain in the ass) So while its good, WHS isnt perfect, and you should still have some sort of backup plan for really important data. (IMHO duplication in WHS isnt enough)


EDIT : also, once up and running, theres very little reason to see the desktop of a WHS or Freenas, etc box as they have remote admin capabilities, so he doesnt absolutely have to have it close.
 
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jay2472000 said:
One more thing to consider. WHS offers duplication and while its nice, I have personally had WHS lose the tombstone, which in turns screws it. So yeah, I have had my data duplicated, but since WHS cant find the tombstone telling it where it should be, it may as well be gone. And FWIW WHS recommends either 1) deleting the data ( haha, delete it? are you crazy??) or 2) reinstalling WHS if something goes wrong (which is just a real pain in the ass) So while its good, WHS isnt perfect, and you should still have some sort of backup plan for really important data. (IMHO duplication in WHS isnt enough)
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This whole duplication thing is another reason why I don't want to go with WHS, since that kills a lot of space (RAID 1 basically, right?). Does WHS play well with separate RAID arrays? I want to setup a RAID 5 so that he can expand the array in the future as he needs to

Edit:
EDIT : also, once up and running, theres very little reason to see the desktop of a WHS or Freenas, etc box as they have remote admin capabilities, so he doesnt absolutely have to have it close.
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I think he's planning on doing that just because that's the best place it fits. He was going to have it down in the basement, but he and his girlfriend decided to get a different place that doesn't have a basement
 
babyshark31 said:
so are you saying that I don't even need to use a separate drive for the OS?

What do you mean licensing costs? Also, is that Windows Server or just Windows 7?
Click to expand...

You should have a seperate drive for the OS, but what it is does not matter. since speed is not an issue for that drive.


Liscencing i meant a copy of xp/vista/7 is cheaper than the server variants, and most people have a couple COAs kicking around.
 
Tau said:
You should have a seperate drive for the OS, but what it is does not matter. since speed is not an issue for that drive.
Click to expand...
OK that makes sense. I'll plan on picking up a small 80GB or so HDD for him then

Liscencing i meant a copy of xp/vista/7 is cheaper than the server variants, and most people have a couple COAs kicking around.
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I've actually got a copy of Server 2008 around the house somewhere that I was going to use on it so the cost difference doesn't really much matter.

EDIT Right now, no there is not a budget. As long as it is sensible and not outrageous I'll always consider it.
 
If youre comfortable with server2008 and have a copy of it then I would just go with that. As far as raid 5, ( Im assuming you mean true hardware raid) it seems a tad overboard for this but to each his own.

I wouldnt do raid5 AND WHS though. Its possible, but unsupported and would probably be more trouble than its worth due to the way WHS "sees" the hard drives. You would have data protection , but once again, if WHS doesnt like the tombstone or something else, it doesnt exist to it. I have had to yank and transfer 4 Tb over a network thru an external enclosure because WHS "burped" and lost a tombstone. No fun. Like I said, it may work, ( it probably WOULD work actually, ) but WHS can be finicky at times.
 
jay2472000 said:
If youre comfortable with server2008 and have a copy of it then I would just go with that. As far as raid 5, ( Im assuming you mean true hardware raid) it seems a tad overboard for this but to each his own.

I wouldnt do raid5 AND WHS though. Its possible, but unsupported and would probably be more trouble than its worth due to the way WHS "sees" the hard drives. You would have data protection , but once again, if WHS doesnt like the tombstone or something else, it doesnt exist to it. I have had to yank and transfer 4 Tb over a network thru an external enclosure because WHS "burped" and lost a tombstone. No fun. Like I said, it may work, ( it probably WOULD work actually, ) but WHS can be finicky at times.
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Exactly my thoughts on WHS. It seems like it would be too much of a hassle. Also, the reason I want RAID 5 is so that a drive can fail without it affecting his data. If a drive does fail, he can just pull it out and plop in a new one right? And I'm not sure whether I would do hardware RAID or not. I would have to buy a RAID card, which can be very expensive. Can motherboards handle RAID 5 OK? What are the downsides to doing this method?
 
Have you looked at FreeNAS? If you want something easy that does software RAID5 you have either UFS + geom raid5 or ZFS + RAID-Z1/2 available.
 
outspoken said:
what, no delete? =/
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About the Drobo: that certainly sounds interesting, especially with all of those DroboApps. I've got a couple questions though:

Say I put 5 2TB drives in there with one drive fail limit for a total of 8TB of available drive space. When 3TB (and beyond) drives become available, can I throw 3TB drives in there one at a time to increase the storage amount?

When a drive dies, can I just throw a good drive in there and it will rebuild itself?

I didn't look at all the apps, but could it stream to say a XBOX360 to watch a movie on a TV?
 
SBB said:
I'd give unRAID a look too

http://lime-technology.com/

No nonsense NAS, only downside of it for you is that you have to pay to use more than 3 drives
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Ya I think the big downside to that would be the 3 disk limit without having to pay. I'm seriously considering that Drobo FS, since it would be pretty much idiot proof for him to operate. Does anybody have any experience with either the Drobo FS (I know it just came out recently) or just the regular Drobo?
 
babyshark31 said:
Ya I think the big downside to that would be the 3 disk limit without having to pay. I'm seriously considering that Drobo FS, since it would be pretty much idiot proof for him to operate. Does anybody have any experience with either the Drobo FS (I know it just came out recently) or just the regular Drobo?
Click to expand...

build a machine for cheaper, and better functionality.
 
SBB said:
I'd give unRAID a look too

http://lime-technology.com/

No nonsense NAS, only downside of it for you is that you have to pay to use more than 3 drives
Click to expand...

And it is Raid 4... which is pretty much limited to ~8TB (raw) maximum in enterprise applications on purpose built hardware, with purpose built filesystems. I never understood why home users would assume that what enterprise software/ hardware cannot do at 10x the cost, a <$100 software solution can do.
 
Does anyone have any recommendations for 2TB drives? Right now, I'm trying to decide between WD Green EARS or the Samsung F3EGs. I remember a while ago that the WD Green drives didn't play nice with RAID arrays. Is that still the case or have they fixed that issue?

Also, what are the disadvantages of running RAID 5 off the motherboard? If I do run RAID 5 off of the motherboard, can I have add extra SATA ports with the PCI ports and still use the same RAID?
 
A motherboard RAID5 could be less reliable than a RAID0. What i mean with that is: it can fail with all disks being just fine; leaving you with a broken array and at least temporarily loss of access.

RAID5 is a lot more complicated than RAID0 or RAID1, and i wouldn't trust my data solely on some proprietary onboard RAID driver. Broken arrays are also frequent on Windows-based platforms. If you go the Windows route, i highly recommend hardware RAID5 or just use bare disks with the WHS duplication feature.

Your alternative would be something like FreeNAS, where a hardware controller is not necessary. Both the geom raid5 driver and ZFS can do the job for you. ZFS actually prefers bare disks, doing the RAID part itself. Both cannot be expanded like normal hardware RAIDs however.

Also keep in mind you need alignment for your EARS drives, as it is a 4KiB sector drive.
 
Don't get the WD green drives because TLER has been disabled and the firmware update doesn't work on the new drives as far as what read on multiple forums.

I ended up getting Samsung F3EGs 2TB's for my RAID 5 and it works great! very quiet too.

The other question you want to ask yourself... since this is for your brother... does he have experience with RAID? If not your going to be the go to guy when disaster strikes!

With WHS yes you will lose more space since your duplicating but expandability is easy as plug n play.
 
sub.mesa said:
A motherboard RAID5 could be less reliable than a RAID0. What i mean with that is: it can fail with all disks being just fine; leaving you with a broken array and at least temporarily loss of access.

RAID5 is a lot more complicated than RAID0 or RAID1, and i wouldn't trust my data solely on some proprietary onboard RAID driver. Broken arrays are also frequent on Windows-based platforms. If you go the Windows route, i highly recommend hardware RAID5 or just use bare disks with the WHS duplication feature.

Your alternative would be something like FreeNAS, where a hardware controller is not necessary. Both the geom raid5 driver and ZFS can do the job for you. ZFS actually prefers bare disks, doing the RAID part itself. Both cannot be expanded like normal hardware RAIDs however.

Also keep in mind you need alignment for your EARS drives, as it is a 4KiB sector drive.
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Thanks for the quick reply. What I'm reading is that to go RAID 5 I either need to buy a hardware RAID card (expensive) or use software such as FreeNAS or ZFS (which can't be expanded easily). The problem with going the WHS route is that duplication effectively cuts the storage amount in half.

If I go the hardware RAID card route, what card should I be looking at? I'm going to start off with probably 3 2TB drives for 4TB drive space but would like to be able to expand that to say 10TB, which would mean 6 SATA ports.

Also, what do you think of the Drobo FS? it seems like it would be pretty simple for him to use. There are two problems I see with it which are 1) it uses proprietary technology and 2) I would lose out on the commission he's going to pay me to build it (haha i know selfish)

Edit: TLER! that's what it is with the green drives! so that's still an issue with the EARS drives?
 
babyshark31 said:
About the Drobo: that certainly sounds interesting, especially with all of those DroboApps. I've got a couple questions though:

Say I put 5 2TB drives in there with one drive fail limit for a total of 8TB of available drive space. When 3TB (and beyond) drives become available, can I throw 3TB drives in there one at a time to increase the storage amount?

When a drive dies, can I just throw a good drive in there and it will rebuild itself?

I didn't look at all the apps, but could it stream to say a XBOX360 to watch a movie on a TV?
Click to expand...

The Drobo is truly an amazing little piece of hardware. Yes, you can throw in 3tb drives later when they become available. Yes, you can pull out the bad drive, put in a new one and just let it rebuild itself. Yes, you can stream to the XBox 360 directly if you have the right model or you have it hooked up to an appropriate host. There a few flavors of Drobo but the FS model seems like the way to go for stand alone use and what you were thinking. Now, they are different because they use their Beyond RAID setup which is very adaptable but doesn't follow the same rules as say RAID 5. Go to the website because it is explained much better there than how I can here. The drawback? $700 out the door with no drives.
 
You don't need or want TLER if you use it in WHS. Only if you chose a good Hardware RAID controller and using RAID1/5/6.

You also don't need TLER if you are using a FreeNAS/FreeBSD solution, ZFS or otherwise.
 
babyshark31 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. What I'm reading is that to go RAID 5 I either need to buy a hardware RAID card (expensive) or use software such as FreeNAS or ZFS (which can't be expanded easily). The problem with going the WHS route is that duplication effectively cuts the storage amount in half.

If I go the hardware RAID card route, what card should I be looking at? I'm going to start off with probably 3 2TB drives for 4TB drive space but would like to be able to expand that to say 10TB, which would mean 6 SATA ports.

Also, what do you think of the Drobo FS? it seems like it would be pretty simple for him to use. There are two problems I see with it which are 1) it uses proprietary technology and 2) I would lose out on the commission he's going to pay me to build it (haha i know selfish)

Edit: TLER! that's what it is with the green drives! so that's still an issue with the EARS drives?
Click to expand...

So I agree that you probably want a HW raid controller for Raid 5 or Raid 6, but the price is not THAT high. An IOP333 generation controller is fine and is in the $150-250 range.

As for 2TB drives, Hitachi's are great.
 
babyshark31 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. What I'm reading is that to go RAID 5 I either need to buy a hardware RAID card (expensive) or use software such as FreeNAS or ZFS (which can't be expanded easily). The problem with going the WHS route is that duplication effectively cuts the storage amount in half.
Click to expand...
Well i assume you can set duplication on a directory/share basis, meaning you can select which data needs duplication (protection). In most cases that is extremely helpful, but if you care about ALL your data then you would need something like RAID5 indeed.

If you're tight on a budget, i'd say FreeNAS+ZFS is your best option. It would save you from the cost of expensive Hardware RAID and you shouldn't have any 'drive drop-out' problems. You can start with 4 x 1.5TB drives in a RAID-Z, and when you want to expand you add another 4. Then later another 4 if you like, totalling 12. So you have to add disks in groups, with the other consequence of adding another parity disk each time. That also enhances reliability. It would mean the parity overhead is always 25%; still only half that of mirroring/duplication (50%).

The reason i recommend 1.5TB drives is that they are cheaper per GB so it's also easier to add more disks. I did read you wanted a small casing, however. So you'll have to calculate if the total space is sufficient with the number of disks that will fit in there.

If the FreeNAS solution doesn't satify, you could always change your mind and go Linux/OpenSolaris/FreeBSD/Windows Server/WHS instead; you didn't do any big investments like a hardware RAID card yet.

With the FreeNAS solution, you can use all available SATA ports; on your motherboard and of PCI-express add-on controllers. A good 8-port PCI-express x8 HBA is this one, and is supported by FreeNAS/FreeBSD:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-USAS-L8i.cfm

Edit: TLER! that's what it is with the green drives! so that's still an issue with the EARS drives?
Click to expand...
EADS (512-byte sector) disks can use the older firmware which allows enabling of TLER (default is disabled). EARS (4K-sectors) and newer EADS firmware have TLER disabled, without the ability to enable it. It's a commercial/political choice, to give their more expensive RAID edition drives an edge. But you really don't need TLER on a ZFS system, unless its a serious production box that cannot afford a minute downtime, even in rare circumstances which may never occur.
 
Just wanna remind you raid is not a backup, regardless if its hardware or software. You should still try to have some sort of plan for backup no matter what system you use ( except MAYBE zfs file system, IDK, Mesa?? thoughts???)

Id sure hate to see you back in a month asking about recovery options because you tried to save a few bucks on hard drives.
 
Well that's the fun thing; ZFS is RAID and backup, sort of. Of course, if any bug in ZFS screws this up you're dead so its not a PROPER backup in the sense that it is off-site and off-line, which is the best backup but also the least user-friendly regarding maintaining the backup.

The way it can be done with ZFS is incredibly simple:

# start with ZFS array
zpool create tank raidz ad0 ad1 ad2 ad3
zfs create tank/documents
zfs set compression=on tank/documents
(.. fill the documents folder with data ..)
zfs snapshot tank/documents@2010-04-20
(.. day later ..)
zfs snapshot tank/documents@2010-04-21
(.. now u made an error, and want to restore file X because you've overwritten it with another file ..)
cp /tank/documents/.zfs/snapshot/2010-04-21/X /tank/documents/X-document-restored
(.. if you want to roll-back to a snapshot, meaning you revert to the exact state as it was back then, including all files for that dataset, use this command: ..)
zfs rollback tank/documents@2010-04-21

You can setup a (cronjob) script to make a snapshot daily, then you could go back any time back in the future to retrieve a file in case you've made a mistake, a virus infected all drives on the mounted folders or whatever. So the snapshots happen automatically.

Remember, snapshots don't cost you extra space. Only if you change data relative to the earlier snapshot. Example: you start with 10GB data. You snapshot. Now you add 2GB data. You snapshot. Now you overwrite 2GB of data. You snapshot. The total data allocated would be 10+2+2GB=14GB, even though only 12GB of visible data remains on the filesystem. As snapshots get older, more and more data will be change relative to that old snapshot. In that case, you can simply delete them to free up space:

zfs destroy tank@2010-04-20

If the command line stuff turns you off, remember that most of the ZFS stuff you can do with the Web-GUI; though i have no clue about snapshot ability within the GUI. Either way, the commands are pretty straightforward, and you can always check the manpage which explains all options, though in a 'dense' technical language.
 
babyshark31 said:
Can motherboards handle RAID 5 OK? What are the downsides to doing this method?
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Another downside is that it constantly uses the CPU since the CPU is being used to do all of parity calculations. That CPU usage varies between 10% to 65% at all times depending on the CPU and size of the RAID array.

babyshark31 said:
If I go the hardware RAID card route, what card should I be looking at? I'm going to start off with probably 3 2TB drives for 4TB drive space but would like to be able to expand that to say 10TB, which would mean 6 SATA ports.
Click to expand...
Pretty cheap true hardware RAID card:
$356 - HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 PCI-Ex8 8 Port SATA and SAS RAID Card

babyshark31 said:
Also, what do you think of the Drobo FS? it seems like it would be pretty simple for him to use. There are two problems I see with it which are 1) it uses proprietary technology and 2) I would lose out on the commission he's going to pay me to build it (haha i know selfish)
Click to expand...

Another problem:
Because of its proprietary nature, if the Drobo dies, then you're gonna have to buy anoher Drobo in order to recover the data. At least with most RAID implementations, you can access the RAID array from a different controller of the same manufacturer. I.e you can use another Areca controller to access an Areca created RAID array. In addition, there are software out there that can recover data off a RAID array. However such software does not work on Drobo's proprietary implementation IIRC.

A user review of WHS VS Drobo:
http://www.iminstant.com/iminstant/iminstant.nsf/d6plinks/CTYR-7NXQQQ
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone! It's really helping me out (along with giving me a ton of options :) ) I've never worked with a RAID array before so I'm sorry about all of the noob questions I'm throwing out there. I've wanted to do a RAID array, but I've never had enough money to buy three large drives at the same time, so if I do decide to build a RAID array this will be my first time (expect to see some more of me when the time comes to build the thing). I've got a couple questions about arrays though:

1. Once it is set up, how easy is it to maintain? If the card doesn't fail, do drives drop in and out often? Is it something he's going to have to worry about? He's got a pretty demanding job so he doesn't have a lot of time during the week to fiddle around with stuff.
2. Do all the drives have to be identical? In other words would he have to always buy Samsung 2TB F3EG drives? Or could he just buy any old 2TB drive and plug it in?
3. When he runs out of space am I going to have to go fiddle with the computer in order to add another drive? Or is it more of a plug it in and it'll pretty much show up?

As you can see, once I have this set up for him, I want it to be as user friendly as possible for him. I don't want him to have to worry about it getting messed up or anything (which probably means I'm going to have to go with a dedicated RAID card.)

While I definitely understand the benefits of building a server for him, I'm beginning to wonder if a Drobo (even if it is proprietary) would be better suited for him since it is so user friendly. How often do Drobos die? However, I'm definitely still considering building a server for him as long as it isn't too confusing for him to operate.



Edit: What's the difference between the HighPoint 4320 and 2320 cards? Is it simply the faster processor in the 4320? Is the 2320 a good card?
 
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1) Depends on the knowledge of the user. But a tad time consuming if not hard to do. Drives do occasionally drop out of the array. Yes it's something he's gonna have to worry about. No RAID controller card in the world is perfect so there's always the possibility that the card would either kick/drop/remove/ disable/corrupt a drive or two for no reason at all.
2) As long they're 2TB drives, should be fine. With that said, it's generally a good idea to stick wit the same drives.
3) Yes. If the RAID controller supports Online Capacity Expansion, you can add a new drive to the RAID array without losing your data. First you'll have to add the drive to the controller. Then you'll have to rebuild the entire RAID array to accommodate that new drive. During this time, if a drive fails or if an error occurs with the RAID array/controller, you might possibly lose all of the data on the RAID array. However once the RAID array is successfully rebuilt without issue, all of your data is still there plus the added storage. RAID rebuild times can vary from as low as 8 hours to as long as 28 hours and in some extreme cases 48 hours.

So true hardware RAID controller cards aren't exactly perfect.

Still think the Drobo is not a good choice due to the proprietary nature.

The Highpoint 2xxx cards are all software based RAID meaning that they will use the PC's CPU to do all of the parity calculations. The Highpoint 3xxx cards and above are all true hardware RAID meaning that they have an onboard XOR engine to do all of the parity calculations. So in other words: Don't get the 2320 cards.

IMO, the best solution that meets your criteria for "user friendly as possible" would be WHS. WHS is significantly very user friendly, even though less capable than a true Hardware RAID array, FreeNax + ZFS or FreeBSD + ZFS, Linux MDADM RAID, etc.

Remember: No matter what solution you go with, ALWAYS HAVE A SEPERATE BACKUP!
 
Danny Bui said:
1) Depends on the knowledge of the user. But a tad time consuming if not hard to do. Drives do occasionally drop out of the array. Yes it's something he's gonna have to worry about. No RAID controller card in the world is perfect so there's always the possibility that the card would either kick/drop/remove/ disable/corrupt a drive or two for no reason at all.
2) As long they're 2TB drives, should be fine. With that said, it's generally a good idea to stick wit the same drives.
3) Yes. If the RAID controller supports Online Capacity Expansion, you can add a new drive to the RAID array without losing your data. First you'll have to add the drive to the controller. Then you'll have to rebuild the entire RAID array to accommodate that new drive. During this time, if a drive fails or if an error occurs with the RAID array/controller, you might possibly lose all of the data on the RAID array. However once the RAID array is successfully rebuilt without issue, all of your data is still there plus the added storage. RAID rebuild times can vary from as low as 8 hours to as long as 28 hours and in some extreme cases 48 hours.

So true hardware RAID controller cards aren't exactly perfect.

Still think the Drobo is not a good choice due to the proprietary nature.

The Highpoint 2xxx cards are all software based RAID meaning that they will use the PC's CPU to do all of the parity calculations. The Highpoint 3xxx cards and above are all true hardware RAID meaning that they have an onboard XOR engine to do all of the parity calculations. So in other words: Don't get the 2320 cards.

IMO, the best solution that meets your criteria for "user friendly as possible" would be WHS. WHS is significantly very user friendly, even though less capable than a true Hardware RAID array, FreeNax + ZFS or FreeBSD + ZFS, Linux MDADM RAID, etc.

Remember: No matter what solution you go with, ALWAYS HAVE A SEPERATE BACKUP!
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thanks! if I do go the RAID route, I'll definitely be getting a 3xxx series. I"ve got a lot of information to work with here so thanks everyone! I'm starting to think though that unless he really wants it, a RAID array is out of the question for him just for the sake of maintainability on his part. WHS might be the solution, but I'm still worried about drive failures, since I would either have to duplicate everything or just risk losing it all.

Does any one have any suggestions for the case?
 
babyshark31 said:
thanks! if I do go the RAID route, I'll definitely be getting a 3xxx series. I"ve got a lot of information to work with here so thanks everyone! I'm starting to think though that unless he really wants it, a RAID array is out of the question for him just for the sake of maintainability on his part. WHS might be the solution, but I'm still worried about drive failures, since I would either have to duplicate everything or just risk losing it all.

Does any one have any suggestions for the case?
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Just a FYI, the 4xxx series cards are cheaper and are faster IIRC.

As for the case, can't exactly recommend a case if we don't know what's "big" for your bro. Many mid-tower ATX cases are actually considered too big by some. So a frame of reference would help.

In addition, you haven't told us the max amount of drives you plan on adding and whether or not you want hot-swap capability.

But as a start, check out the Coolermaster RC-590. can hold up to 12 drives using 4in3 bays and 15 drives using 5in3 bays.
 
I would think that 6-8 drives would be sufficient for the time being. That CoolerMaster case looks really pretty nice and I might suggest that to him. He's got an Antec P180 (or 82) right now, so something smaller than that would probably be best. How do you guys feel about a Antec 300 case? It seems that it's a little smaller than the CoolerMaster.

Edit: What about a dedicated server chasis? something along the lines of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811123127
 
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The main thing I would worrry about is making sure your drives are going to be cooled well.

The antec 200 would probably be a good choice, you can have 6 hard drives in the front cooled by 2x 120mm fans. Also you can hot swap a drive in the front :D
 
SBB said:
The main thing I would worrry about is making sure your drives are going to be cooled well.

The antec 200 would probably be a good choice, you can have 6 hard drives in the front cooled by 2x 120mm fans. Also you can hot swap a drive in the front :D
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I did look at the 200 and liked what I saw. I'll have to keep that in mind for him
 
jay2472000 said:
Just wanna remind you raid is not a backup, regardless if its hardware or software. You should still try to have some sort of plan for backup no matter what system you use ( except MAYBE zfs file system, IDK, Mesa?? thoughts???)

Id sure hate to see you back in a month asking about recovery options because you tried to save a few bucks on hard drives.
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What's the best way to back up a ton of data like this? Almost seems as if a person would need two servers
 
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