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NAS Build

  • Thread starter Deleted member 88227
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 88227

Guest
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Server/NAS, Possibly running a Plex Server on the system as well
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

High Point, NC (Amazon Prime member)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, CASE, PSU, MOBO
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Hard drives (3TB RED, 2x3TB GREEN)
6) Will you be overclocking?
Nah
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Will run this headless.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Before April
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Will need some form of RAID either HW or SW. I want a total of about ~20TB of storage
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit License

Will be ordering/adding more 3TB RED drives as I need more storage.
 
Do you prefer a smaller footprint for your NAS or the ability to hold more HDDs over the long run?
 
Also, is that 20TB of raw storage or 20TB in RAIDZ2/RAID6? FYI, for large sized RAID arrays, it's generally recommended that you go with RAID 6 or RAIDZ2 if using ZFS due to the greater stress of rebuilding a large RAID array.

How comfortable are you with non-Windows OSes?
 
tiraides said:
Do you prefer a smaller footprint for your NAS or the ability to hold more HDDs over the long run?
Click to expand...

The size of the build wont matter. The last NAS I built that I sold due to moving was with a Source 210 case. Not really looking for a server chassis though as I don't really have any room for them.

Dangman said:
Also, is that 20TB of raw storage or 20TB in RAIDZ2/RAID6? FYI, for large sized RAID arrays, it's generally recommended that you go with RAID 6 or RAIDZ2 if using ZFS due to the greater stress of rebuilding a large RAID array.

How comfortable are you with non-Windows OSes?
Click to expand...

I basically plan to have 8x3TB drives. I only have 3x3TB drives now, but I will be buying them slowly over the course of the next few months. Two of the drives are green drives and they'll get swapped out for RED drives at some point. I've had them for a while and they've been great so far. I use them in my HTPC to store the media/files that I am going to transfer to the NAS so I don't foresee them getting any more or less work load than they're getting right now.

RAID 6 IIRC requires at least 4 drives to get started. I only have 3, so if that's the route I intend to go then another 3TB drive will need to be part of that $500 budget. I'm not sure how much actual storage that'll give me with 8x3TB drives, but I imagine it's less than 15TB? As long as in the end I have more than 10TB I should be fine. I have ~9TB of storage between the three drives I have now and two of the three are around 50% full while another one is probably closer to like 99% full. Not sure how I can go about on moving data around to build the array though. While some of it is stored on physical media, most of it is just stored across multiple drives.

My dedicated server is Linux where I host a bunch of game servers and a couple web sites, but for ease of cross-platform use I prefer to keep almost everything on my home network Windows based. Makes file sharing so much easier. Unless they have a "install and go" setup where I don't have to deal with setting up Samba. I hate Samba. I really do. lol
 
Skillz said:
The size of the build wont matter. The last NAS I built that I sold due to moving was with a Source 210 case. Not really looking for a server chassis though as I don't really have any room for them.
Click to expand...
Well good thing I'm about to recommend the Source 210 Elite case again for your server :D


Skillz said:
T
I basically plan to have 8x3TB drives. I only have 3x3TB drives now, but I will be buying them slowly over the course of the next few months. Two of the drives are green drives and they'll get swapped out for RED drives at some point. I've had them for a while and they've been great so far. I use them in my HTPC to store the media/files that I am going to transfer to the NAS so I don't foresee them getting any more or less work load than they're getting right now.

RAID 6 IIRC requires at least 4 drives to get started. I only have 3, so if that's the route I intend to go then another 3TB drive will need to be part of that $500 budget. I'm not sure how much actual storage that'll give me with 8x3TB drives, but I imagine it's less than 15TB? As long as in the end I have more than 10TB I should be fine. I have ~9TB of storage between the three drives I have now and two of the three are around 50% full while another one is probably closer to like 99% full. Not sure how I can go about on moving data around to build the array though. While some of it is stored on physical media, most of it is just stored across multiple drives.

My dedicated server is Linux where I host a bunch of game servers and a couple web sites, but for ease of cross-platform use I prefer to keep almost everything on my home network Windows based. Makes file sharing so much easier. Unless they have a "install and go" setup where I don't have to deal with setting up Samba. I hate Samba. I really do. lol
Click to expand...

Considering that you want to use Windows, want to avoid non-Windows OSes, and your budget, forget about the traditional RAIDs for now. I recommend looking up SnapRAID for your data:
http://snapraid.sourceforge.net/

So here's a build:
$95 - AMD A8-6600K APU
$64 - Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H AMD A88X mATX Motherboard
$58 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$120 - Western Digital Red WD30EFRX 3TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$62 - XFX TS Series 550W PSU
$33 - Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Gigabit NIC
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
----
Total: $482 shipped plus tax

There's so much room left in your budget that I added in another 3TB RED drive for you. The Intel NIC is there because it allows for faster data transfers on your LAN between the server and any other clients. If you feel like you don't need the Intel NIC or hard drive yet want a quieter system, I recommend the following:
$84 - Fractal Design Define R4 Black ATX Case
$40 - Scythe SCKTT-1000 HSF
 
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SnapRAID looks interesting. From what I can gather it basically makes all the drives appear as one single large drive, but data is stored grouped together on each drive individually? How is the performance of that?

That Fractal case looks sexy!
 
Skillz said:
SnapRAID looks interesting. From what I can gather it basically makes all the drives appear as one single large drive, but data is stored grouped together on each drive individually? How is the performance of that?

That Fractal case looks sexy!
Click to expand...

From what I can tell, the performance is suppose to be a little less than the actual full speed of the drive.

Yes the Fractal Design case is sexy. It's only $34 more than the Source 210 Elite....

Then again, the Fractal Design R5 is available as well:
$124 - Fractal Design Define R5 Black ATX Case
 
Hey Dangman,

Something came up and I wasn't able to complete this build. I did buy the Fractal Design R5 case, NIC and I got 2x8GB of DDR3 memory. All of which I bought shortly after making this thread.

The CPU AMD A8-6600K APU says it's been discontinued and a newer CPU has taken it's place, but they claim it's the AMD A10-5800K which I think is an older design...

Any idea on what CPU/MB combo I should go with?
 
While I would strongly recommend you not to go Windows on this especially without ECC memory it's up to you. As for motherboard and CPU I'd highly recommend you going Intel, it's much more proven and you get very good and stable drivers.

Having value in mind but still getting the essentials...
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-...8&qid=1434822069&sr=8-2&keywords=MSI+B85M+Eco

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-I3-4160...e=UTF8&qid=1434823331&sr=8-3&keywords=i3-4130

Even if the motherboard and CPU are a bit more expensive you get built in Intel NIC so no need to get one additionally, unfortunately I see that you already got it :-/

That said, I would highly recommend you to run FreeBSD, ZFS and Samba on this build.
//Danne
 
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Skillz said:
I'm gonna need at least 8 SATA ports.
Click to expand...
I'm actually using the IBM M1015 right now in my AMD server. I actually bought it off the forums:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1862945

Might want to inquire about the above seller's return policy.

As for the CPU and mobo, the MSI mobo that diizzy recommended has no real track record. As such, I can't second that recommendation at all. I would probably go with this AsRock if you do go the Intel route:
$82 - ASRock H97M Pro4 Intel H97 mATX Motherboard

It doesn't have an Intel NIC but its track record is significantly longer than the MSI. In addition, you already bought an Intel NIC so no real issue there.
 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8746/msi-b85m-eco-review-aiming-green-at-73
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130798
http://www.pureoverclock.com/Review-detail/msi-b85m-eco-board-review/
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hardware/mainboards/33290-msi-b85m-eco-im-test.html
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...enthusiastic-nas-build.4855/page-2#post-41504
People actually using it for exactly NAS...

Don't really see what you have against the MSI board, also I would love to see your "track record" stats as both was released around the same time. Apart from being more expensive that ASRock doesn't really bring anything to the table in this case.
//Danne
 
Don't,
Slower performance
More heat
Worse AHCI controller
Worse drivers
//Danne
 
diizzy said:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8746/msi-b85m-eco-review-aiming-green-at-73
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130798
http://www.pureoverclock.com/Review-detail/msi-b85m-eco-board-review/
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hardware/mainboards/33290-msi-b85m-eco-im-test.html
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...enthusiastic-nas-build.4855/page-2#post-41504
People actually using it for exactly NAS...

Don't really see what you have against the MSI board, also I would love to see your "track record" stats as both was released around the same time. Apart from being more expensive that ASRock doesn't really bring anything to the table in this case.
//Danne
Click to expand...
By track record, I was talking about the number of Newegg user reviews that particular AsRock motherboard had. As of this post, the AsRock has 75 user reviews on Newegg and 27 reviews on Amazon.com. Both sites show that the average rating of that AsRock motherboard is around 4.5 to 5 stars which means to me that there's a really good chance that when you buy that AsRock motherboard, you'll get a working solid motherboard. Compare that to the MSI motherboard which only two user reviews on Newegg and zero reviews on Amazon.com. To me, there's no solid or even semi-solid indicators showing that particular MSI motherboard will be a good choice on average. Sure you have a few forum posts showing that MSI mobo being used in systems but I'm sure that I can dig up a lot more forum posts showing that AsRock mobo being used in a lot of systems.

Now my google-fu hasn't been the best lately so I haven't found the exact release dates of either motherboards. But the earliest known review of that ASRock was in May 2014. Whereas the earliest known review I could find of that MSI motherboard was November 2014. So I doubting that those two motherboards were released around the same time.

When it comes to computer parts in general, I prefer to err on the side of caution. In addition, I'd rather make a recommendation based on some data/information rather than limited to no data/information at all. So what I have against the MSI should be clear: There isn't enough solid information showing that if you buy that MSI, you'll receive a good working motherboard. In addition, there also isn't enough solid information that what the MSI mobo does bring to table is worth the substantial risk. As such, that extra $10 gets you significantly closer to peace of mind.
 
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You have a lot of reviews, you have users (Google) that uses it for exactly this purpose what more do you want? Buying an inferior product just because you have more reviews on Newegg seems like a very non-logical choice when you have a bunch of other sources stating that it's a good buy.
There are quite a few more users than just Newegg and Amazon ones...
//Danne
 
diizzy said:
You have a lot of reviews, you have users (Google) that uses it for exactly this purpose what more do you want? Buying an inferior product just because you have more reviews on Newegg seems like a very non-logical choice when you have a bunch of other sources stating that it's a good buy.
There are quite a few more users than just Newegg and Amazon ones...
//Danne
Click to expand...
I don't know how to make this any more simpler than what I've written so far: Those handful of reviews aren't enough to show me that a large number of buyers have been happy with their purchase. Whereas the ASRock has a large number of users who have reported good success with their purchase. Nor have those handful of reviews shown me that the MSI motherboard is that much better than the AsRock to warrant ignoring or diminishing the large number of reported satisfied users.

If we were talking about power supplies, I'd absolutely agree that a handful of proper PSU reviews trumps or diminishes majority user reviews. But we're talking consumer motherboards here. Consumer motherboards aren't so technically complicated to determine whether or not the consumer will receive a working motherboard.

To repeat myself: When it comes to computer parts in general, I prefer to err on the side of caution. In addition, I'd rather make a recommendation based on some data/information rather than limited to no data/information at all. So what I have against the MSI should be clear: There isn't enough solid information showing that if you buy that MSI, you'll receive a good working motherboard. In addition, there also isn't enough solid information that what the MSI mobo does bring to table is worth the substantial risk. As such, that extra $10 gets you significantly closer to peace of mind.
 
I'm just asking how you come to that conclusion since you obviously have data, if you want to disregard it for some reason do say so. If you want more Google has a lot more to offer...
Unless you can't find any more sources I would agree but you surely can in this case.
//Danne
 
Update with this.

I ended up going with a used motherboard/cpu combo, but I got the R5 case, added another 3x3TB drives for a total of 6x3TB drives.I also had a 2.5" 250G hdd laying around that I am using as a OS drive.

I checked out SnapRAID but it's command line interface steered me away. Don't have time to fool around with that. So I went with FlexRAID's RAID-F setup. I've got all six drives in a drive pool that I was able to build with data on 3 of the drives. They're all in a drive pool acting as a single drive and I just finished re-configuring KODI to the new drive location on the HTPC.

Only thing I need to do now is put the Intel NIC in the NAS. I kind of wish I went with a 4 port SATA controller card though. I've got one SATA port open and I intend to fill it up real soon. Wish I had a second free one.
 
Hey Dizzy,

Any suggestions on a 4-port SATA controller card? I need more SATA ports, but more than 2. I only have one available x1 slot. I already used up the remaining SATA port on the controller card I have with a 3TB cache drive for "stuff."

Also I need to convert the two 5.25" external bays to 3.5" internal bays. I intend to get this:
$27.32 - Lian Li EX-23NA Silver HDD Extension Kit

Seems a little pricey, but it's literally the only 2x5.25" bay to internal 3.5" hdd bay I could find. All the others were either hot swap external bays or required 3x5.25" bays. I also hate the color since my case is black, but lucky the door on the front will keep it hidden.
 
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PCIe1x and 4x SATA? Hmm... I'm going to say pass on that one, if you find anything it's going to some crappy Marvell or SiliconImage-controller.

This controller card looks very interesting from a technical point of view, http://www.addonics.com/products/ad10sa6gpx2.php
Unforunately it's 2x and probably not the fastest card around but should work pretty decently.

If you want more than 2x-ports unless you can find a controller card that uses several ASMedia-based controllers (AHCI) I'd say go for the LSI controller cards (or a rebrand by Intel, IBM, Fujitsu etc) but they're picky about hardware and need a 8x slot.
//Danne
 
Skillz said:
Damn that is expensive.
Click to expand...

That's average pricing give or take. As diizzy said, really check eBay. Before I bought my M1015 off the forums, I saw a few of them on eBay that was already flashed to IT mode and included the bracket. Considering that the actual LSI models cost like $200 to $300 brand new, the used + flashing it on your own route looks pretty good considering the potential $100 to $200 savings.

But the forum deal was better considering that $105 total got me the card and the two SFF-8087 to 4 SATA multi-lane cables I needed. The card works fine with my older AMD GA-890GPA-D3H motherboard.
 
After looking it up it appears is basically strips away most of the software so the controller runs with as minimum software as possible to prevent issues. Correct?
 
Correct :)
The Addonics card should work OOTB however
//Danne
 
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I think I might end up going with the Addonics card then.

Any other suggestions for turning 2x5.25" external bays into 3.5" internal bays for HDDs? I suppose a can of spray paint could fix the color issue on the Lian Li.
 
Happened to run across this gem.

$21 - EverCool Dual 5.25 in. Drive Bay to Triple 3.5 in. HDD Cooling Box

Think I will go with this one instead!
 
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I don't really have any use for a hotswap bay, once the drives go in they stay in. If I need to troubleshoot a drive or grab something off a bare drive quickly my main PC has a hot swap slot built into the top that I use.

I am running W7 Pro. Currently I only have BitTorrent and FlexRAID running on it, but I intend to put Plex Media Server on it as well in the near future. That's about all I intend to run on it.
 
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