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I'm currently running two systems with a total of about 13TB between them as my "media server". My second box's PSU failed on me, so I'm looking to revamp the setup. I'm ready to either get a dedicated WHS box or buy into something like a Synology NAS (I'm open to other brands, but these have a beautiful UI and all the tools I need). Currently I'm leaning towards the NAS as it will be more hands off, and while I loved configuring boxes in the past, time is not something I have much of lately. What I'm looking for from this post is what I will lose and what I will gain between the two systems around my needs. I think I know what I'm going to go with, but I want to hear other's more experienced opinions.
Lets start with what I want out of this system:
1. Steam 1080p movies, 1080i/720p tv shows to 3 different devices at one time. Primarily my BoxeBox in the living room, a few laptops (OSX & Windows 7), and possibly iPads, but the latter is not required. There should never be more than three devices pulling from the media at one time.
2. 24/7 Torrenting
3. Room to grow in regard to space
4. FTP host for personal use (Photos, Documents, Etc.)
5. Nice to have - JBOD to make media browsing easier
6. Nice to have - Redundancy of important documents, but just pictures and document
#1 & #2 are the most important to me. I've gotten pretty good about deleting content I won't watch again, so I've managed to not buy a new hard drive in a year or two. It also doesn't help that I'm out of SATA ports. That being said, I would like the option to expand if necessary. I was looking at something like the Synology DS1512+ because you can add on another 5-bay expansion if need be down the road. At the same time, if I went the route of the WHS I would either get either a Norco 4220 or a Fractal Design Define XL. Either of those would obviously allow me more than 5-10 drives.
I have approximately 3 2TB and 2 1.5TB drives along with a lot of 1TB disks. I'm willing to let go of the smaller discs, but I definitely want to still use the 2TB drives. If I went the route of the WHS box, I would likely use all of them for now.
I also have an older mobo/cpu/ram combo that was previously my HTPC that I would like to recycle at least initially if I did build a WHS box. So this build would require an un-raid sata card (only one if I want to use pcix), case, PSU, and cables.
The WHS is the cheaper option (barely), but I'm still leaning toward the Synology just for the footpint, ease of maintenance, and power consumption. I'm sure I didn't fill in all of the blanks here, but please pick apart anything you can. Price isn't as important to me as time, but I don't want to break the bank on this project.
Thanks in advance for the comments!
Lets start with what I want out of this system:
1. Steam 1080p movies, 1080i/720p tv shows to 3 different devices at one time. Primarily my BoxeBox in the living room, a few laptops (OSX & Windows 7), and possibly iPads, but the latter is not required. There should never be more than three devices pulling from the media at one time.
2. 24/7 Torrenting
3. Room to grow in regard to space
4. FTP host for personal use (Photos, Documents, Etc.)
5. Nice to have - JBOD to make media browsing easier
6. Nice to have - Redundancy of important documents, but just pictures and document
#1 & #2 are the most important to me. I've gotten pretty good about deleting content I won't watch again, so I've managed to not buy a new hard drive in a year or two. It also doesn't help that I'm out of SATA ports. That being said, I would like the option to expand if necessary. I was looking at something like the Synology DS1512+ because you can add on another 5-bay expansion if need be down the road. At the same time, if I went the route of the WHS I would either get either a Norco 4220 or a Fractal Design Define XL. Either of those would obviously allow me more than 5-10 drives.
I have approximately 3 2TB and 2 1.5TB drives along with a lot of 1TB disks. I'm willing to let go of the smaller discs, but I definitely want to still use the 2TB drives. If I went the route of the WHS box, I would likely use all of them for now.
I also have an older mobo/cpu/ram combo that was previously my HTPC that I would like to recycle at least initially if I did build a WHS box. So this build would require an un-raid sata card (only one if I want to use pcix), case, PSU, and cables.
The WHS is the cheaper option (barely), but I'm still leaning toward the Synology just for the footpint, ease of maintenance, and power consumption. I'm sure I didn't fill in all of the blanks here, but please pick apart anything you can. Price isn't as important to me as time, but I don't want to break the bank on this project.
Thanks in advance for the comments!