Network Storage Options?

[Daynja]

I currently have four 160GB drives in a RAID 5 array in the computer I use every day. I have started to think that this is not ideal because:

1. They are not SATA and ribbon cables are everywhere
2. Too much heat because of combination of less airflow, hot video card and hot processor
3. Extra hardware issues to deal with on a computer I want to be stable

So I have come to the crazy idea that it might be better to put this RAID array in a separate computer. While this solves some problems it seems to create even more problems. And that is why I am here.

Here are my issues:

1. Is this even a good idea? Is there something else I should consider?
2. Network. I suppose I'm looking at gigabit network here. 100mbit would not be acceptable. Can I maintain the same speed over gigabit? How much will it affect performance?
3. Operating System. I'm sure there are several operating systems out there to handle this task. Any that I should be looking at? While I think it would be nice to have some sort of user login and rights to specific folders, that is not neccessary.

I suppose I should say that this drive is mainly used for archiving general files, sometimes DVD's and I do watch the VOB files directly sometimes. I use a different single drive for OS, games and programs.

 

[drizzt81]

Here are my issues:

1. Is this even a good idea? Is there something else I should consider?

certainly sounds reasonably smart to me.

2. Network. I suppose I'm looking at gigabit network here. 100mbit would not be acceptable. Can I maintain the same speed over gigabit? How much will it affect performance?

that depends on the network, the controllers (interface cards) and how fast your RAID array is now. I would assume that the speed should be the same, but you never know. For small file accesses it may be slow!?

3. Operating System. I'm sure there are several operating systems out there to handle this task. Any that I should be looking at? While I think it would be nice to have some sort of user login and rights to specific folders, that is not neccessary.

I heard that Linux may be able to do what you want. Also, there appears to be a OS called freeNAS, which is supposedly designed towards your idea, however its software raid support is rather poor.