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Media Center Storage Array

T

thecaptainjs

n00b
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
56
I am looking to put together an array of hard drives for my Media Center PC.
I'd like to start with 6TB of useable space, with the ability to upgrade to 12TB or so as needed.

Options:
NAS - $300-400 + Cost of HD's - Limited Upgradability
Raid Card + 4x 2TB Drives in Raid 5

When it comes to a Raid Card setup, I am uncertain which cards/ HD's to get, and I know desktop hard drives don't always work that well in Raid 5.

Suggestions?
Which should I go with, NAS or Raid Setup?
 
Its super easy. I use NexentaStor Communty edition. You do not need hardly any linux experience.
 
Sorry if this is a little OT, What's the min specs needed to run NexentaStor? I have some old computers lying around...and I am in need of a Media Center Storage solution as well.
 
Deathwish238 said:
Sorry if this is a little OT, What's the min specs needed to run NexentaStor? I have some old computers lying around...and I am in need of a Media Center Storage solution as well.
Click to expand...

With linux...it isn't so much the spec as the driver support. The HP box is well loved for ZFS and thus has a lot of support from various communities who put packages together. An HP Box + 8GB RAM upgrade + 4x3TB drives (@$105 each) is an amaizng amount of storage (9TB usable) for ~$800 complete.

Breaking $100/TB is actually not that easy for a fairly robust system....sad to say.
 
Deathwish238 said:
Sorry if this is a little OT, What's the min specs needed to run NexentaStor? I have some old computers lying around...and I am in need of a Media Center Storage solution as well.
Click to expand...
Its not much for NexentaStor, but ZFS is another story. I would say a decent Core 2 or X2 AMD dual core, 4GB ram, and a good Intel PCI-E Network card. Other than that, should be fine.
 
I use unRAID and love it. The guy sells prebuilt servers but I just bought the unRAID os and built my own server. Depending on how much you have laying around, you can build an unRAID server for free to very cheap. Even if buying everything, you can get better hardware for what a prebuilt NAS cost. Read up on it and see if it'll suit your needs...

http://www.lime-technology.com/
 
Let me put it this way:

I have a PC setup and working as a media server.
I want 6TB of usable space for now with the ability to upgrade in the future. Not to say I know I'll use all of that 6TB, but I don't like the idea of spending $X now and then having to go with a different solution down the line.

Personally the first thing that comes to mind for me is to just get a raid card and some 2/3tb hd's and raid them up in raid 5. The concern is finding a raid card that wont have issues with desktop class drives.
So based on that, it seems getting an HP Microcenter might not be a bad idea.
I am just trying to get a gauge for what the different options will cost me so I can figure out which is worth it.

It seems that option number 3 is to put together my one NAS and use a software level raid.
 
raid controllers dont have issues with consumer drives...
there are certain consumer drives that have issues with raid in general.
 
ripken204 said:
samsungs f4's and the hitachi's are the recommended drives for 2-3TB
Click to expand...

^^ This

Areca 1220 or 1230 would work great. Stable performance with above mentioned drives and offers ability to expand raid volume. I've expanded mine twice (each time added 2 new drives) over the past year using a 1230 and everything went very smooth.
 
I have an Adaptec 5445 Raid Controller and 4 Hitachi 5k3000 2TB drives. The Hard Drives are on the Adaptec Compatibility List for their 5000 series and work great together.

If you use an Adaptec 5805 you can expand to 8 drives.

8 drives in raid 5 will get you over 12TB space, raid 6 will get you over 10TB and give you a 2 drive margin if 2 drives go bad. Raid 5 will give you a 1 drive margin.
 
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