DIY NAS advise

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boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#151825 6-Sep-2014 15:56

Hi, right now I've a QNAP TS412 NAS, but it doesn't perform well enough anymore.
So, I'm looking to build my own NAS, because the prefab NAS-es lack CPU power I think.

I have been googling a lot and have come to this list:

Motherboard
Case
2x4GB memory
Cheapest PSU

I'll reuse the 2x 2TB HDD from my current NAS.

I want to use the NAS for SabNZBD, Sickbeard and Couchpotato, besides of course as file share. Perhaps some small website. So, CPU is rather important, but no high end stuff.
I am looking at Freenas as the NAS software, which requires 8GB memory.

Anyone a suggestion regarding my setup?

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61 posts

Master Geek

#1123309 6-Sep-2014 19:48

Sounds OK to me, though I'm not particularly familiar with current Celerons (tend to stick to C2D or i3/i5/i7).

BTW you might want to double check that RAM, the motherboard uses SODIMMs which is the laptop form factor, which is physically smaller and has quite a different pin out from desktop DIMMs.

The only other thing I would consider is an ESATA or more USB 3.0 ports for future HDs and a small SSD system drive.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
12999 posts

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#1123336 6-Sep-2014 20:36

as an alternative Operating System, Unraid could do you well.

dont cheap out on your PSU.. especially if your planning on loading it up heavy with disks....

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1123474 7-Sep-2014 07:30

Thanks! Indeed wrong memory, need this one (SO-DIMM).

No experience either with those cpu's. Anyone else who has?
I just need a better cpu than my qnap, current load on my qnap is on average 6, spikes to 12...

I'll only have 2 disks, 420w cheap psu is not enough? A Cooler Master 400w seems better perhaps?

Unraid seems okay, but there are no plugins for Sabnzbd and so forth. I like Freenas, because it has all plugins I require.

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1123504 7-Sep-2014 09:23

Another question, what is the easiest way to migrate? I've got RAID-1 now. Converting to JBOD is not possible.
I don't have another disk available with enough space, so not sure what to do. Only thing I can think of is:
- remove 1 disk from the QNAP. This will generate warnings, but all data should be accessible.
- Put that disk in the new NAS, set it as JBOD.
- Copy all data to single disk in new NAS.
- Remove 2nd disk from QNAP
- Put it into new NAS and convert to RAID 1.

However, it sounds all a bit tricky. Of course I have backups of my important photo's and video's and I can make another one of these important documents, but still... Anyone a tip here?

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
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#1123507 7-Sep-2014 09:30

save some pennies for another disk?

otherwise you will have to do a werid act of move data, convert disk... i took this route with my fileserver, what a PITA it was!

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1123518 7-Sep-2014 09:45

hio77: save some pennies for another disk?

otherwise you will have to do a werid act of move data, convert disk... i took this route with my fileserver, what a PITA it was!

Well, I'd need 2 extra disks then, to create a RAID 1 volume... There should be some other solution?

hio77

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#1123519 7-Sep-2014 09:46

boland:
hio77: save some pennies for another disk?

otherwise you will have to do a werid act of move data, convert disk... i took this route with my fileserver, what a PITA it was!

Well, I'd need 2 extra disks then, to create a RAID 1 volume... There should be some other solution?

unless you can magically store the data in thin air, not really. it needs to go somewhere....

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1123565 7-Sep-2014 10:53

Approximately how much data are we talking about here?

Trunks2

224 posts

Master Geek

#1123607 7-Sep-2014 13:11

Another option is the AM1 platform:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157491
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113364

Just got these to use as plex box and seems to perform well, only using ~55 watt when in use with 3 HDDs.

driller2000

935 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#1123614 7-Sep-2014 13:54

boland: Thanks! Indeed wrong memory, need this one (SO-DIMM).

No experience either with those cpu's. Anyone else who has?
I just need a better cpu than my qnap, current load on my qnap is on average 6, spikes to 12...

I'll only have 2 disks, 420w cheap psu is not enough? A Cooler Master 400w seems better perhaps?

Unraid seems okay, but there are no plugins for Sabnzbd and so forth. I like Freenas, because it has all plugins I require.

i have unraid and it has been flawless for 2yrs now....easy to extend array size, no data loss so far, low power usage and perfect for my desired use as media storage for xbmc clients...now have 28tb of storage

as to plugins i don't use the ones you specified - but i believe they can be installed?

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Setting_Up_SABnzbd,_SickBeard,_and_CouchPotoato

you could also trial it with the free license and any spare hw you had to see if it fits your needs

at any rate - have fun with your build :)

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1123699 7-Sep-2014 17:14

JimmyH: Approximately how much data are we talking about here?

1 - 1.5TB.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1123755 7-Sep-2014 18:39

OK then. That's a lot less than I thought it would be. Most people I know with 4 bay NASes are in the 8-12TB range.

Buy a 2TB USB external drive for circa $100. Copy the files off the raid array to it. Then reformat the array to what you want and copy the files back.

You should get something like this anyway if you care about the data, and always have a backup copy of the NAS files somewhere else. RAID is not a backup, and hardware does fail. If it would be a nuisance to lose, you should buy 2 external drives, and duplicate the backup first.

Duplicate backups of such a small amount of data is fairly cheap in the scheme of things - esp if it's stuff you value.

lomenak

119 posts

Master Geek

#1124187 8-Sep-2014 12:04

Sorry for a bit of a hijack but still relevant. Can you use any of the soft (Freenas,unRAID etc.) to play media? Or better can you run this software simultaneously with Win to be able to do web browsing, games etc. too? I am considering getting a NAS and was thinking that a DIY unit could also replace my HTPC.

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1124189 8-Sep-2014 12:11

lomenak: Sorry for a bit of a hijack but still relevant. Can you use any of the soft (Freenas,unRAID etc.) to play media? Or better can you run this software simultaneously with Win to be able to do web browsing, games etc. too? I am considering getting a NAS and was thinking that a DIY unit could also replace my HTPC.

That was one idea I had as well, to run it as both a NAS and HTPC. That is however almost impossible with Freenas. Besides that, it's good to keep those things separated.

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1124197 8-Sep-2014 12:24

Depends on what you are expecting your nas to do. If you just use it for a basic file share, then a simple shared folder/drive on your HTPC is probably fine. If you are installing an out of the box NAS OS to get more advanced features, then you won't be able to have an HTPC with it.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

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