Home made NAS/file server

[lcdguy]

i currently run a 6tb whs at home and use it mostly for the backup feature (and it does work rather well) I like it since it's the easiest to setup and can be done fairly cheaply. If i ever run out of the 6TB (or 3TB with FD turned on) i can can always upgerade to a larger chassis with a SAS controller card :)

[Blu]

Originally Posted by Rison

yeah, for the average user - WHS is a good solution. It isn't very efficient with hard drive space, but easier and cheaper to setup than a raid system, and easier to recover from if hard drives die.
Sans Digital has a line of external drive bays - from 4-8 hard drives, and includes a PCIe drive expansion card that is needed to connect to the unit.
NCIX.com - Buy Sans Digital TR4X-B TowerRAID 4 Bay SAS/SATA to SF-8088 Mini SAS RAID0/1/5/6/10/JBOD Black - TR4X-B In Canada.

Yes I would like to go with a 8 bay sans digital raid tower, but I would like to connect it via eSata to the system (filled with hard drives itself) and would free NAS allow me to have the 8bay tower run raid 5/6 and let the system that's filled with say 8 hard drives in raid 5/6 and then would I just be able to connect this whole system to my router via a ethernet cable? Also if a HD dies in raid 5/6 shouldn't it be pretty simple to replace? Basically I just need to replace and let it rebuild the raid on the card right? I also am aware about using WD Greens I would need to turn the idle park off correct?

[Nexitus]

Replacing a drive in a raid is as simple as taking out the fault and popping in a new and rebuilding the raid. However, as everyone has stated if a raid rebuild fails, all your data is lost. I heard WD Greens, even with Idle park off is terrible for raid.

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by Blu

Yes I would like to go with a 8 bay sans digital raid tower, but I would like to connect it via eSata to the system (filled with hard drives itself) and would free NAS allow me to have the 8bay tower run raid 5/6 and let the system that's filled with say 8 hard drives in raid 5/6 and then would I just be able to connect this whole system to my router via a ethernet cable? Also if a HD dies in raid 5/6 shouldn't it be pretty simple to replace? Basically I just need to replace and let it rebuild the raid on the card right? I also am aware about using WD Greens I would need to turn the idle park off correct?

You wouldn't run FreeNAS with that system at all.

You would just plug that tower into an available esata port on your computer and have all your data available.

You could then put the data into directories that you setup to share, and thus, everyone on your local network can have access to the files.

[DCCV44.2223]

Originally Posted by Blu

Yes I would like to go with a 8 bay sans digital raid tower,

Maybe this is the wrong way round to do things? When considering storage solutions the decision usually hinges on the usage pattern and amount of data you are dealing with now and what you think you'll need in the next 2-3 years.

So what are your needs? For example, if you anticipate needing lots of storage down the road I wouldn't spend a lot of money on anything that wouldn't support >2TB drives. Also if you need an 8 bay RAID tower, is your network fast enough?

[Blu]

Originally Posted by Perineum

You wouldn't run FreeNAS with that system at all.

You would just plug that tower into an available esata port on your computer and have all your data available.

You could then put the data into directories that you setup to share, and thus, everyone on your local network can have access to the files.

What would be a good idea to run on that type of system? Also your talking about just basically dragging the hard drives under "my computer" to the "shared files/folders" area?

@DCCV44.2223, I hope everything is fast enough. This will be connected via the network and I sort of plan to make this eSata or USB 3.0 (The 8bay) to the fileserver pc and that will be connected to the network via a gigabyte line (atleast the router says it can push gigabyte). So what OS would be the best to run this all on?

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by Blu

What would be a good idea to run on that type of system? Also your talking about just basically dragging the hard drives under "my computer" to the "shared files/folders" area?

No.

That type of setup that you're looking at would just have all the harddrives accessible in "my computer" just like if they were installed in the system.

You can make any HD shared on a network by using windows shares.

[DCCV44.2223]

Originally Posted by Blu

This will be connected via the network and I sort of plan to make this eSata or USB 3.0 (The 8bay) to the fileserver pc and that will be connected to the network via a gigabyte line (atleast the router says it can push gigabyte). So what OS would be the best to run this all on?

Do you already have a file server that has no more room for HDDs? Is that why you're looking at external RAID enclosures?

It's usually difficult to give advice on file server/storage without first knowing the amount of data involved. What's the amount of data you have now 1TB? 5TB? 10TB? What do you anticipate you'll need in 2-3 years time 20TB? 40TB?

[Blu]

Originally Posted by DCCV44.2223

Do you already have a file server that has no more room for HDDs? Is that why you're looking at external RAID enclosures?

It's usually difficult to give advice on file server/storage without first knowing the amount of data involved. What's the amount of data you have now 1TB? 5TB? 10TB? What do you anticipate you'll need in 2-3 years time 20TB? 40TB?

Currently I would need to guess how much data I have and I would guess it's around 14TB-18TB and growing everyday. I'm just going to copy / paste my post from ncix here as well,

I'm looking for a motherboard with a TON of sata2/3 connectors to make a freeNAS system. I would really like to find maybe a motherboard with 10 ports? If that's possible and then possibly go to a card, I do want to do hardware raid of either raid5/6 and plan to turn off WDIDLE. (Yes I will be using 2TB Green drives for this) So if anyone knows of any motherboard that will fit my needs please feel free to post it up here! Or should I just go with a card that supports 10 hard drives? Also I need to find a case that will fit 10 hard drives so if you want to help me find that as well, please post your picks!

This is a nice case - NCIX.com - Buy Fractal Design Define XL Black E-ATX Mid Tower Silent Computer Case 4X5.25 10X3.5INT No PS - DEFINE-XL-BLACK In Canada. but it's expensive.... I'm also willing to get one of those 3 5.25 to 4 3.5 bay adapters as well.

[botat29]

10 ports = ASUS Maximus III Formula , Gigabyte also build a AMD board with 10, but I don't remember the model