NAS + HTPC Help/Suggestions

[CottonEye]

Hi,

I need a second opion, suggestions and improvements please.

My Current Setup:

HP Microserver N36L + 8GB RAM + 2 x 2TB HDD (RAID 0), 80GB SSD (Windows 2008 R2)
This runs SABnzbd, SickBeard, CouchPotato, Plex Media Server (iPad Streaming). PS3 Media Server, Windows Shares, ExtremeZ-IP (Time Machine Backups), FingerPrint (AirPrint), Dropbox (PDF to iPad)

Has been working pretty well however I need more storage, some form of redundancy and expand my storage easily without having to go through the hassle of moving around exsisting files.

I’ve spent countless weeks going through all the various NAS software offerings, FreeNas, Openfiler, OpenMediaVault, Nexentastor, Greyhole, Debian (Software RAID) to name just a few.

Until I came across unRAID which ticks all the boxes for me, allows me to expand the array, use harddrives of various sizes and perfect for media files storage.

The issue I have is do I run one machine, (N36L) which does all of the above or do I deploy two HP Microsevers, one for storage and the other to handle all the apps? I have tried SABnzbd on unRAID and because it’s written in Python the performance isn’t brilliant in comparsion to my Windows machine ~7mb/sec downloads vs ~11mb/sec.

I’m stuck because I could probably run all those bits of software on my MBP without needing an additional machine however maybe I need an *always on* machine.

I also have a 50” telly which connects to PMS so I could possibly get one of those nano machines (Foxconn Nettop- nT-A3500) and have XMBC running with those apps in the backgroud, idle when watching movies etc.

Thanks for all your help

 

[ghostdunks]

Just to toss in a couple other options if you haven't tried em, both of which are snapshot RAID options: SnapRAID and FlexRAID.

 

[Xonim]

I've been kind of going back and forth with this same situation - I'm looking for something similar, as a storage option only with some sort of redundancy. I need it to function solely as a NAS.

I keep coming back to Flexraid installed on my HTPC or a separate unraid box (probably a N40L on next sale with the modded bios for the added ports). It seems like they'd do the same thing, but I feel like unraid would be the more stable option as far as set it and forget it. Haven't made a decision yet.

EDIT: Hasn't been a priority for now, but I'm hardwiring my house this weekend so it'll jump up the priority list a bit.