Looking to setup a media server

T

tdktank59

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
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Hey i dont know all the lingo i just know what im looking for...

So here we go...

Ive come across around 10 hard drives and im planing on hooking them all up. However i dont have a computer that can handle that many at the moment...

So the whole thing would be to setup a media server to handle all these drives....

Im mainly looking for a case that has a networked raid controller so that i can put these 10+ drives into it and plug then into power, raid controller, and access them from anywhere in my house (and outside (passworded))

Any suggestions?

Also im not necessarily looking for server gear to do this...
 
- Are these 10 hard drives SATA or PATA?
- Are these drives all of the same capacity?
- Do you actually want a RAID setup?
- How much are you willing to spend on this?
- Know anything about Linux
 
tdktank59 said:
Hey i dont know all the lingo i just know what im looking for...

So here we go...

Ive come across around 10 hard drives and im planing on hooking them all up. However i dont have a computer that can handle that many at the moment...

So the whole thing would be to setup a media server to handle all these drives....

Im mainly looking for a case that has a networked raid controller so that i can put these 10+ drives into it and plug then into power, raid controller, and access them from anywhere in my house (and outside (passworded))

Any suggestions?

Also im not necessarily looking for server gear to do this...
Click to expand...

This seems a bit contradictory... you want to create a media server, but you don't have a computer that can do it... but you're looking for a case to build it in... :confused:

First off- there's no such thing as a networked raid controller where you can just plug in the drives to the controller and power and off you go, at least not for the home. Second- if you're trying to build a machine with 10 drives, you're pretty much going to have to get server/enterprise grade gear to do it as you won't find a controller that will handle that many drives in consumer gear.

Moral of the story: You're going to have to build a full-blown PC with a large enough case to hold the majority of your drives (assuming they're identical, if not, now you have a whole new problem). Make 1 drive the OS drive, get a HW RAID controller and plug it into the next 4 or 6 drives, and make it RAID 5, put on the server OS of your flavor and off you go. You're going to need a beefy PSU to run this as well, so don't forget that.
 
Basicaly you want a NAS
I know of a fantastic piece of software that can turn almost any older pc
into a dedicated storage facility

It supports pata and sata drives, hardware raidcontrollers and normal ide and sata controllers

If you have a mobo that boots from usb, you won't even loose a place for a harddrive

I'm talking about Naslite 2.06
the cost: $30 and it's worth every cent

before you shop for hardware raidcontrollers or sata controllers, check if they are supported
in the hardware reference guide


I got mine running for over a year and I love it
I found it encredibly easy to setup
 
Other good NAS OS choices:
FreeNAS (Free)
Windows Home Server ($160)
Any Linux distro if you want to do a little more in depth configuration
 
They drives are SATA, and yes they are all same capacity

So the best bet would be to just buy some raid cards (like 4 port ones (since they dont break the bank???) and just hook up the hard drives that way?

What are some good raid/controller cards? links would be apperciated (in the sub 100 market)

4+ Sata ports and works with debian and or centos
 
If you don't mind used, get a Dell PERC 5/i off eBay for $110 or so with two of these SFF-8484 to 4 x SATA Cables for $24. Thus, you get 8 ports and a true hardware RAID controller for around $135 or so. Not a bad deal considering that a new true hardware RAID controller is around $300 (Areca ARC-1210) for 4 ports

Read these threads:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1298815
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1301566

Also, since you have 10 drives, I recommend getting this PSU since it's such a good deal for a great 750W PSU:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $99

And please answer the rest of my questions.
 
- Are these 10 hard drives SATA or PATA?
SATA

- Are these drives all of the same capacity?
Yes all 250gb

- Do you actually want a RAID setup?
Yes raid 5 (striping with 1 backup)

- How much are you willing to spend on this?
As cheap as possible... No real set price yet...

- Know anything about Linux
Yes, What i don't know my dad will help since its our project...
 
Well again, I recommend the used Dell Perc 5/i route. Good relatively cheap way of getting great performance without the need of getting a high performance CPU. Check out the two threads I linked to for more info.

Though if you want new and don't mind significantly lower performance with high CPU usage, you can get a 8 port hardware RAID assisted card (the card setups and maintains the RAID but the CPU handles all of the calculations. Major performance hit from what I've been told and seen) for $240:
HighPoint RocketRAID 2320 PCI-Ex4 8 Port SATA II RAID Card (Software RAID) - $240

The 4 port version is $140:
HighPoint RocketRAID 2310 PCI-Ex4 4 Port SATA II RAID Card (Software RAID) - $140

So it basically it comes down to whether you want hardware or software RAID and whether you want new or used hardware.
 
All the computer would be doing is storing the info so a software raid vs a hardware raid will prove no different...

The computer will not be used for playing back content it might stream content but imagine this as the central hub for all files on our home network Thats its purpose

It dosnt do dns dosnt do domain controller or any of that fun stuff just stores data and transmits data

Currently we have a server setup with raid cards but its an old 478 or w/e P4's where on before lg775 And we are limited with a 2 sata card... and want to expand since the mobo only has ide its all through PCI slots no pci-e or anything fancy (well agp but thats for the vid card)

Depending on pricing we might upgrade the mobo and processor to at least a pD or somthing on a lg775 and later down the road upgrade it as we need more power for misc things...

So any ideas of how this should work out. As of right now theres no set budget but its not going to be much less than $200 bucks is what im thinking lol
 
Sell the drives and buy 2 or 3 1TB ones. Then you have no need for any large RAID controllers etc, and you can just plug them into an existing system and share them.
 
tdktank59 said:
All the computer would be doing is storing the info so a software raid vs a hardware raid will prove no different...
Click to expand...

Ok, now do you want new or used hardware? Used gets you an actual hardware RAID card while new gets you a card where software RAID is needed. Since performance is of no matter for you, you can use this 8 port PCI-X (it'll work on regular PCI but with a slight performance hit) controller card with a Linux software RAID5 setup:
SuperMicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz SATA Controller Card - $95

But for an extra $40, you can get the hardware RAID card I've talked about earlier. But getting the SuperMicro card above would let you keep your existing server. However, that P4 CPU may be stress as a result of the software RAID.

Do you also need a new case with room for expansion as well?
 
so for the Dell PERC 5/i its a pci express x8 slot or w/e that is

Will that work in a pci express 1x? or a pci slot???

Let me know Thanks
 
which manual the dell manual for the raid card? or my mobos manual (ive got the DS3 from gigbyte)
 
tdktank59 said:
so for the Dell PERC 5/i its a pci express x8 slot or w/e that is

Will that work in a pci express 1x? or a pci slot???
Click to expand...

It physically won't work with the PCI-E x1 unless that PCI-Ex1 is actually a phy

Electrically it should work albeit with some performance hits since x1 is slower than x8. However it may not physically fit onto a PCI-E x1 slot unless that PCI-Ex1 slot was physically a PCI-E x16 slot but PCI-E x1 electrically.

Are you planning on using that Perc 5/i card with that DS3 mobo? If so,which DS3 did you get? There are many different Gigabyte mobos with the DS3 designation or some variation of it.

Also make sure that whatever mobo you use for the server is compatible:
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=84882

If you're going with an Intel chipset, check out this link:
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=90200

I think Phate meant check the manual for the RAID card.
 
on to revive the old thread...

So heres the update!

Ended up moving this project on fast track a bit!

(well since a few days ago)

Anyways the mobo is going in for repairs however heres the mobo id use the dell perc5 raid card

Gigabyte p965-DS3 revision 3.3

There is a pci-e x16 slot (normaly used for graphics cards) that will be free. Otherwise theres a few x1's and some pci slots.

So If i understand correctly it will not work in a pci or a x1 however it should work in the x16.

Edit:
Looked at that mobotherboard compatibility list you posted a few posts above.

Looks like the 5/i does not work on the ds3.... Guess i gotta find other stuff...
 
It should work in the x16 slot, not the x1 slot or PCI. Just make sure to have a PCI video card since that mobo does not have onboard video.
 
I was reading through and they never tested it...
however they did try it in ever other slot...

Would the x16 make the difference?
 
Danny Bui said:
Windows Home Server ($160)
Click to expand...
I'd personally do that and not bother about running them as a raid array but just get a few (really cheap) PCI or PCI-E sata cards, as many as you need to get all 10 HD's in the case. WHS would save you having to setup the media server too since it's all pretty automated.

Thats unless you specifically wanted to run another OS. I can't imagine buying the OS and a few cheap sata cards would cost any more than getting a fully fledged raid card to take all those drives.
 
Ive changed the media server to a web server for work...

So im going to setup a 4 drive raid with the supermicro sata hotswap box (5 port) and throw a boot drive into the 5th slot or something random in there

Total cost since I have 3 250s already is around 400 including the box, raid card, and 1 hard drive

Also can it be any 250gb drives? i think my other ones are WD...

btw going to use centos or debian
 
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