Media Server

Kenjiwing

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
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Here is my current scenario.

I have a WDTV Live - with a WD 1tb hd hooked up to it.

My external HD is full.. I would like to build an enclosure that can either hook up to the network for network sharing or connect via usb. I would like to run raid 5 or raid 6 just for fault tolerance/backup purposes.

Does anyone have any recommendations on cases/devices for this build? I would have at least 4tbs of data on this device.
 
budget?
Do you want a DIY or prebuilt?
What computer parts do you already have?
 
I dont really have any spare parts so this would be a custom build.

I have no problems building pcs and putting things together so a DIY if cheaper would be better but im not afraid of just buying a 1 box if the price was right.
 
Have you checked out Windows Home Server? Load it up on a budget box that has room for more HD's as you need more storage.
 
WHS boxes can be easier to maintain/set-up than a large RAID array, since the failure of a couple of drives doesn't bring down the array but you can still enable an OS-based duplication (basically the OS treats all the drives as one large storage pool but it intelligently duplicates file-folders across multiple drives when you designate specific folders to be duplicated). HP's pre-built boxes are pretty small/quiet and even come w/a plug-in to enable Time Machine backups off Macs, otherwise going the DIY route would be cheaper.
 
WHS boxes can be easier to maintain/set-up than a large RAID array, since the failure of a couple of drives doesn't bring down the array but you can still enable an OS-based duplication (basically the OS treats all the drives as one large storage pool but it intelligently duplicates file-folders across multiple drives when you designate specific folders to be duplicated). HP's pre-built boxes are pretty small/quiet and even come w/a plug-in to enable Time Machine backups off Macs, otherwise going the DIY route would be cheaper.

So create a discrete machine with windows home server on it and run my array from there? Do you all have a suggested part list or should I just go off what I can scrounge up?
 
I believe there's a pretty good FAQ on this topic... But people don't usually run RAID and WHS on the same rig, WHS has it's own drive-spanning technique (which is what I was trying to explain). There's a wealth of WHS info on these boards and elsewhere tho, do some research. You can put together some fairly cheap WHS boxes.
 
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