RAID 5 Media Server on the Cheap

[MySongRanHills]

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
It will primarily be a media/file server and run some automated newsgroup applications. It will be on 24/7 and always running Sabnzbd, Sickbeard, Headphones, CouchPotato, PS3MediaServer. Also will be used for light web design and light video editing(ripping/compressing blu-ray and other 1080p streams)

2) What's your budget?
I'd like to shoot for 400-700 including tax & shipping, but am flexible depending on "bang for the buck"

3) Which country do you live in?
USA-Houston, TX

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
Mobo, CPU, RAM, at least 2 hard drives, RAID 5 controller if not on mobo, PSU, case

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
Bluray burner
2TB external HDD going to convert to internal
I have a old Dell case and 300 watt PSU that I wasn't planning on reusing but will if some one thinks it is feasible.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes if very stable.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
15' 1024x768 VGA will upgrade in next year or 2

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Immediately, but can wait if some nice parts are expected in the next few months

9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
Would like RAID 5 if possible , but may need an add in card, USB 3, Onboard Video, but would like at least 1 16x slot for possible upgrade.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium

Thank you!

 

[Dangman]

Have you worked with RAID 5 before?

 

[MySongRanHills]

No, but I have done 0 & 1. I know I need at least 3 drives and If I use (3) 2TB drives my available space will be aprox 4TB. I plan on adding drives over time. So I'd like to start with 3-4 drives.

 

[PTNL]

You'll want at least 4 drives for RAID-5. Also read up on how the drives can be configured, and why you need more than 3 drives.

Scrap the idea of the old Dell case, and probably the power supply as well. Get something easier to work with, possibly even something with a hotswap bay or can accommodate a number of hotswap bays.

For the controller card, there's a significant price jump going from 4 to 8 drives. So decide now whether you'll want more than 6 TBs of storage (RAID-5 of four 2TB.) If you plan on using drives with an individual capacity above 2TB, then make sure that the RAID controller card supports that.

 

[MySongRanHills]

You'll want at least 4 drives for RAID-5. Also read up on how the drives can be configured, and why you need more than 3 drives.

From what I read there is no a reason to use 4 over 3 except for a possible increase in write speed. Seeing as I'm not real concerned about write speed this shouldn't be a big deal, or have I missed the point?

The only reason I was going to run with 2TB drives was because I already have 1 and it would prevent me from having to buy a 3rd hard drive right away. Are you saying it would be possible to use my 2TB and buy (2) 3TBs and have available storage of 5TBs with one 3TB drive used for parity? If that is possible, I would want that feature.

As for 4 port or 8, I had no idea of the price difference. Thanks for the heads up. I cruised around newegg looking at RAID cards and prices. I found a huge difference between SATA II and SATA III. Seeing how 3TB drives are unlikely(I think :/) to fully saturate SATA II, I could possibly fit an 8 port into my budget. If SATA III is needed or strongly recommended then I think I'd have to go with 4 or 5.

 

[PTNL]

From what I read there is no a reason to use 4 over 3 except for a possible increase in write speed. Seeing as I'm not real concerned about write speed this shouldn't be a big deal, or have I missed the point?

The reason to get four is so that if (or, more directly, when) one of the drives fails, your array still functions intact and buys you time to replace the failed drive and allow the array to merge in the replacement drive after it is installed. If you're fine without that aspect, then three drives is fine.

The only reason I was going to run with 2TB drives was because I already have 1 and it would prevent me from having to buy a 3rd hard drive right away. Are you saying it would be possible to use my 2TB and buy (2) 3TBs and have available storage of 5TBs with one 3TB drive used for parity? If that is possible, I would want that feature.

I'm not saying that at all. My point was to keep the drive sizes consistent, and that if you were going to use 3 TB drives, then ensure your drive controller supports that.

As for 4 port or 8, I had no idea of the price difference. Thanks for the heads up. I cruised around newegg looking at RAID cards and prices. I found a huge difference between SATA II and SATA III. Seeing how 3TB drives are unlikely(I think :/) to fully saturate SATA II, I could possibly fit an 8 port into my budget. If SATA III is needed or strongly recommended then I think I'd have to go with 4 or 5.

Only you can know if 4 drives is enough for right now, or if it's better to get the 8 port controller now.
You'll want to cruise through the storage forum here for thoughts on that. Even searching through that forum may yield additional insights, ideas, and hidden gotchas that you hadn't considered. That forum will also yield some often suggested brands of controller cards to focus on.

 

[Dangman]

No, but I have done 0 & 1. I know I need at least 3 drives and If I use (3) 2TB drives my available space will be aprox 4TB. I plan on adding drives over time. So I'd like to start with 3-4 drives.

What's the max amount of drives you plan on?

The only reason I was going to run with 2TB drives was because I already have 1 and it would prevent me from having to buy a 3rd hard drive right away. Are you saying it would be possible to use my 2TB and buy (2) 3TBs and have available storage of 5TBs with one 3TB drive used for parity? If that is possible, I would want that feature.

No that's not possible with the traditional RAID 5 route. Remember that data is striped in a RAID 5 with the data being spread across all drives. So none of the parity data is concentrated on a single drive In addition, the smallest Hard drive size determines the overall RAID array size. So if you use your current 2TB with two 3TB drives, you'd only get 4TB of space in a traditional/standard RAID 5 setup.

Now about that 2TB drive you have now: What drive is it? Also, do you already have data on that 2TB drive that you cannot backup anywhere else? Here's the deal: that 2TB drive may not work with some external RAID controllers. Especially if it's a Western Digital Green drive. In addition, if you have data on the 2TB drive, you must back it up somewhere else as that data will be wiped clean when it's added to a RAID array.

As for 4 port or 8, I had no idea of the price difference. Thanks for the heads up. I cruised around newegg looking at RAID cards and prices. I found a huge difference between SATA II and SATA III. Seeing how 3TB drives are unlikely(I think :/) to fully saturate SATA II, I could possibly fit an 8 port into my budget. If SATA III is needed or strongly recommended then I think I'd have to go with 4 or 5.

If performance (if 100MB/s writes are fine for you) isn't a big deal for you and if you're capable of learning on how to tweak a RAID 5 array for optimal performance (google and search through the SSD + Data storage subforum are your friends here), then the onboard RAID will be enough.

If you do care about performance and if you're capable of learning on how to tweak a RAID 5 array for optimal performance (google and search through the SSD + Data storage subforum are your friends here), then a seperate RAID controller is needed.

On the other hand, if you don't need to use Windows and know a little bit about Linux, want performance, and don't want to spend the $300+ for a solid 8 port RAID card, then Linux plus MDADM RAID is your best bet for that.

As for whether or not SATA 6.0Gb/s is needed, not really per se as current mechanical drives don't need it. With that said, SATA 6.0Gb/s will be newer and therefore have better support for a wider range of HDDs than some SATA 3.0Gb/s controllers.

 

[MySongRanHills]

What's the max amount of drives you plan on?

I would say 5, but If my RAID card only has 4 or 5 ports and if run out of space there is no way to expand with out finding somewhere to back up 9-12TBs of data-which for me would be impossible. So I'd like the most ports I can afford.

No that's not possible with the traditional RAID 5 route. Remember that data is striped in a RAID 5 with the data being spread across all drives. So none of the parity data is concentrated on a single drive In addition, the smallest Hard drive size determines the overall RAID array size. So if you use your current 2TB with two 3TB drives, you'd only get 4TB of space in a traditional/standard RAID 5 setup.

That is what I thought, but the other poster's comment made me think otherwise.

Now about that 2TB drive you have now: What drive is it?

I think is is a WD green drive now that I look at it. I'll just scrap the idea of using it and go with new 3TB drives.

If performance (if 100MB/s writes are fine for you) isn't a big deal for you and if you're capable of learning on how to tweak a RAID 5 array for optimal performance (google and search through the SSD + Data storage subforum are your friends here), then the onboard RAID will be enough.

I haven't spotted any motherboards with on board RAID 5 for the processors I was considering. Are there motherboards with on board RAID 5 for processors under 150? The only tweaking I've done in the past is adjusting stripe sizes. I'm sure I could easily learn more with need. Honestly? 50MB reads and 25MB writes are probably more then enough for what I'm doing. I'll take more sure, probably benefit from it as well, just not enough that it is worth spending more cash on it IMO.

On the other hand, if you don't need to use Windows and know a little bit about Linux, want performance, and don't want to spend the $300+ for a solid 8 port RAID card, then Linux plus MDADM RAID is your best bet for that.

Used Ubuntu 12.04 for a few months and hated it. Made my old P4 run slower then it did on XP.....or Win 7. Plus any OS that requires you to enter terminal for basic things just needs to go away IMO. That said if it is back to Linux or 300$ out of my pocket I'd have to at least consider it.

 

[Dangman]

I think is is a WD green drive now that I look at it. I'll just scrap the idea of using it and go with new 3TB drives.

Do you already have another external hard drive for backup duty? Or is that external 2TB your only external hard drive?

I haven't spotted any motherboards with on board RAID 5 for the processors I was considering. Are there motherboards with on board RAID 5 for processors under 150?

Totally. Any Z77/H77 mobo with the ICH10R southbridge will support RAID 5.

EDIT: Here's a build anyway:

$72 - Intel Pentium G850 CPU
$145 - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard + G.Skill F3-1600C9D-8GAB 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM Combo
$70 - Hitachi Desktar Deskstar 7K1000.C 0F10383 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$342 - 3 x Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$57 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
----
Total: $736 shipped

Notes:
- Buy that mobo today as it comes with a free 8GB RAM set. You're essentially saving $42 right there. The CPU is also on sale as well so get that today too.
- That case can hold up to 8 hard drives without issue.
- In case you're wondering why there's that 1TB drive, that's for the OS. When it comes to RAID 5, you never want the RAID 5 array to hold the OS as well. If you keep them seperate, if there is any issue with the RAID 5 array, you can still boot and use the server from that OS drive. If there's any issue with the OS drive, the data on the RAID 5 array should still be ok.
- The ICH10R southbridge only supports up to six hard drives. As such, the extra two SATA ports on that Gigabyte mobo will come in handy as one of those extra SATA ports can be used for the OS drive and the six ports on the ICH10R can be totally used for the RAID 5 array. So theoretically, you're looking at 15TB of storage in a RAID 5 array.

 

[MySongRanHills]

Do you already have another external hard drive for backup duty? Or is that external 2TB your only external hard drive?

I have some other assorted drives with free space totaling maybe 1-1.5TB. Figure I'll save a lot of head ache by keeping all my data on the 2TB external and buying 3TB drives for the RAID 5 array.

Totally. Any Z77/H77 mobo with the ICH10R southbridge will support RAID 5.

From what I can see see all the socket 1155 procs in my price range are all dual core. I usually prefer intel, but for this build I had been thinking AMD 6 or 8 core processors b/c i need ps3mediaserver to transcode 1080p video on the fly so I can get subtitles burned in. For some reason the idiots that came up with the DLNA standard left out support for embedded subs in mkvs. Anyway for that and the photoshop and other video work I just thought the extra cores made sense.

Edit:

Just saw your edit

Thanks! So do you think I'm over playing the importance of extra cores here?

 

[Dangman]

Thanks! So do you think I'm over playing the importance of extra cores here?

The extra cores should help with transcoding but the problem is that the integrated RAID found on AMD mobos aren't as well documented as that of Intel's ICH10R. So if you have any issue with AMD's RAID 5 implementation, you might have a hard time finding help.