Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 21

Thread: Home Raid Server

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    8
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Home Raid Server

    Im looking to build a home server with RAID 5 and connect it via gigabit ethernet and crossover cable to my Mac. I would prefer something that will house around as many sata drives as possible to eventually make 2x RAID 5 setups, be as quiet as possible, and pretty reliable. I intend to start with one RAID, than add another when funds are available. As it is for a home setup mainly for backup, I would like to build a cheaply as possible, but upgrade later on.... What would I need, or should I look on ebay? I was talking to a my sisters boyfriend and he said the processor speed isnt too important, but a good raid card and hard drive space are the things to look out for. Any help would be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    289
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked
    20 times in 20 posts
    • LegacyOne's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4
      • CPU:
      • Intel® Core™ i7 860
      • Memory:
      • 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9-9-9-24 XMP
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gainward GTX 295 V2 1792MB
      • PSU:
      • Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master WaveMaster

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Well if your looking to get a RAID card your looking at spending around £190 for a good card:
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    or you can run RAID off the Motherboard.

    Are you looking to go x2 RAID 5 with 6 or 8 drives?

  3. #3
    YUKIKAZE arthurleung's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    3,280
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    88 times in 83 posts
    • arthurleung's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5E (Rampage Formula 0902)
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 3.6Ghz 1.2V
      • Memory:
      • A-Data DDR2-800 2x2GB CL4
      • Storage:
      • 4x1TB WD1000FYPS @ RAID5 3Ware 9500S-8 / 3x 1TB Samsung Ecogreen F2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • GeCube HD4870 512MB
      • PSU:
      • Corsair VX450
      • Case:
      • Antec P180
      • Operating System:
      • Windows Server 2008 Standard
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell Ultrasharp 2709W + 2001FP
      • Internet:
      • Be*Unlimited 20Mbps

    Re: Home Raid Server

    If you search on Ebay occasionally there are some 3Ware 9500S card available. Those are probably the cheapest best PCI RAID5 card you can get. (Mine topped at 65MB/s over GbE read / write because of slow PCI bus)

    If you really want absolute speed and opt for a PCI Express RAID5 card, expect to pay a lot more to get the same class of card.

    Pick a card out of the following brands:
    Areca, 3Ware, LSI (Sometimes sold as cheap Dell PERC cards), Adaptec.
    Workstation 1: Intel i7 950 @ 3.8Ghz / X58 / 12GB DDR3-1600 / HD4870 512MB / Antec P180
    Workstation 2: Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.6Ghz / X38 / 4GB DDR2-800 / 8400GS 512MB / Open Air
    Workstation 3: Intel Xeon X3350 @ 3.2Ghz / P35 / 4GB DDR2-800 / HD4770 512MB / Shuttle SP35P2
    HTPC: AMD Athlon X4 620 @ 2.6Ghz / 780G / 4GB DDR2-1000 / Antec Mini P180 White
    Mobile Workstation: Intel C2D T8300 @ 2.4Ghz / GM965 / 3GB DDR2-667 / DELL Inspiron 1525 / 6+6+9 Cell Battery

    Display (Monitor): DELL Ultrasharp 2709W + DELL Ultrasharp 2001FP
    Display (Projector): Epson TW-3500 1080p
    Speakers: Creative Megaworks THX550 5.1
    Headphones: Etymotic hf2 / Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro

    Storage: 8x2TB Hitachi @ DELL PERC 6/i RAID6 / 13TB Non-RAID Across 12 HDDs
    Consoles: PS3 Slim 120GB / Xbox 360 Arcade 20GB / PS2

  4. #4
    Senior Member chrestomanci's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Reading
    Posts
    1,614
    Thanks
    94
    Thanked
    96 times in 80 posts
    • chrestomanci's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus AMD AM4 Ryzen PRIME B350M
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 1600 @ stock clocks
      • Memory:
      • 16Gb DDR4 2666MHz
      • Storage:
      • 250Gb Samsung 960 Evo M.2 + 3Tb Western Digital Red
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Basic AMD GPU (OSS linux drivers)
      • PSU:
      • Novatech 500W
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Sugo SG02
      • Operating System:
      • Linux - Latest Xubuntu
      • Monitor(s):
      • BenQ 24" LCD (Thanks: DDY)
      • Internet:
      • Zen FTTC

    Re: Home Raid Server

    I would have thought you would be better off running one RAID volume rather than two in parallel. If you want more redundancy you could consider RAID 6 which will tolerate two drives failing, or one giving false answers.

    If it where me, I would look for a specialised Linux distro for the server OS. I have not checked, but there is almost certainly a stripped down server one around that will run off a 256Mb Compact flash card and allow you to dedicate all your drives for storage. Then just buy a big case with a good PSU, and plenty of fans, and put it somewhere out of sight on the end of a quality Cat 5e Ethernet cable.

  5. #5
    Admin (Ret'd)
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Posts
    18,481
    Thanks
    1,016
    Thanked
    3,208 times in 2,281 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Are you set on RAID? What sort of usable capacity do you need?

    You can argue that RAID is more about resilience than backup, because there are a number of things than can fail that will take out even a RAID 5 array in one go, not least of which is certain PSU or RAID controller failures. RAID gives some reassurance as a backup, but it isn't (IMHO) a substitute for a decent backup strategy, because there are still weak points, and if the cost of a decent RAID 5 is justified, presumably what you're storing on it is important enough that those points of weakness need addressing.

    Unless you need really large capacities, one alternative might be a one/two drive NAS box, but pick one that lets you do a one-button backup to a connected USB or eSATA external drive. If you pick the right unit, you can use the external drive as a sort of pseudo-RAID mirror, and do it with much less chance of losing multiple RAID drives at the same time.

    Or, if you really want a high-end solution (high-end for home, not corporate), a couple a Thecus 5200 Pros, with 5 * 500GB/1TB drives. But you're then looking at £1500-£2000 for the lot, inc drives.

    A decent single-drive NAS box (£150-ish), plus external case (£20-50) plus a couple of 1TB drives gives you 1TB with a mirror for £500-ish.

    All prices exc VAT.

  6. #6
    YUKIKAZE arthurleung's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    3,280
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    88 times in 83 posts
    • arthurleung's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5E (Rampage Formula 0902)
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 3.6Ghz 1.2V
      • Memory:
      • A-Data DDR2-800 2x2GB CL4
      • Storage:
      • 4x1TB WD1000FYPS @ RAID5 3Ware 9500S-8 / 3x 1TB Samsung Ecogreen F2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • GeCube HD4870 512MB
      • PSU:
      • Corsair VX450
      • Case:
      • Antec P180
      • Operating System:
      • Windows Server 2008 Standard
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell Ultrasharp 2709W + 2001FP
      • Internet:
      • Be*Unlimited 20Mbps

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Well, the OP said he wants to connect it to his Mac by GbE. Most single-drive NAS box (I would say even the 5200 Pro) will be way too slow.
    chrestomanci, RAID6 is certainly interesting, but unless you use some specialized linux or get a quality Areca / 3Ware top-of-the-range card you'll be hard pressed to find a cheap way to do it. One of my friend had the luxury of running 8x1TB RAID6 on a 3Ware 9650SE-24M8, will easily do 350MB/s read/write with 8 drives, damn jealous...

    I think the best of (cheap) backup is to have a RAID0 volume for speed and have a RAID5 volume for backup.

    If you want to go for the lazy route, Thecus 5200 Pro + 5x1TB RAID5
    If you want to go for the easy route, 3Ware 9650SE-* + 4x1T RAID5 or 8x1T RAID6
    If you want to go for the cheap easy route, 3Ware 9500S-8 + 4x1T RAID5 or 8x1T RAID5
    If you want to go for the cheapest route, any 6~8 port motherboard + 4x1T software RAID5 or 8x1T software RAID6

    Linux raid might be a bit hard if the OP don't know how to use linux.
    Workstation 1: Intel i7 950 @ 3.8Ghz / X58 / 12GB DDR3-1600 / HD4870 512MB / Antec P180
    Workstation 2: Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.6Ghz / X38 / 4GB DDR2-800 / 8400GS 512MB / Open Air
    Workstation 3: Intel Xeon X3350 @ 3.2Ghz / P35 / 4GB DDR2-800 / HD4770 512MB / Shuttle SP35P2
    HTPC: AMD Athlon X4 620 @ 2.6Ghz / 780G / 4GB DDR2-1000 / Antec Mini P180 White
    Mobile Workstation: Intel C2D T8300 @ 2.4Ghz / GM965 / 3GB DDR2-667 / DELL Inspiron 1525 / 6+6+9 Cell Battery

    Display (Monitor): DELL Ultrasharp 2709W + DELL Ultrasharp 2001FP
    Display (Projector): Epson TW-3500 1080p
    Speakers: Creative Megaworks THX550 5.1
    Headphones: Etymotic hf2 / Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro

    Storage: 8x2TB Hitachi @ DELL PERC 6/i RAID6 / 13TB Non-RAID Across 12 HDDs
    Consoles: PS3 Slim 120GB / Xbox 360 Arcade 20GB / PS2

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Reading
    Posts
    323
    Thanks
    10
    Thanked
    11 times in 11 posts
    • derchris's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Rampage II Extreme
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i7 920@3.4 GHz
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Dominator 6x2GB DDR3
      • Storage:
      • 2x Crucial 80GB SDD Raid0 + 2TB data HDD, 12TB NAS
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 2x HD5970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX750W
      • Case:
      • Antec P182
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2x 28" HansG, 1x 27" Dell
      • Internet:
      • Be.Unlimited 24MBit

    Re: Home Raid Server

    I was also looking for a home NAS.
    And now I'm getting one of these:

    RND4000 - ReadyNASâ„¢ NV+ 4-Bay Gigabit Desktop Network Storage (No Disks)

  8. #8
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    /dev/urandom
    Posts
    17,074
    Thanks
    228
    Thanked
    1,027 times in 678 posts
    • directhex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 64GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Seagate Firecuda 520
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra
      • PSU:
      • EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3
      • Case:
      • NZXT H210i
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34GN850
      • Internet:
      • FIOS

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Quote Originally Posted by LegacyOne View Post
    Well if your looking to get a RAID card your looking at spending around £190 for a good card:
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    or you can run RAID off the Motherboard.

    Are you looking to go x2 RAID 5 with 6 or 8 drives?
    that's not a good card, it's a CPU-bound card like on-motherboard stuff

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    289
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked
    20 times in 20 posts
    • LegacyOne's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4
      • CPU:
      • Intel® Core™ i7 860
      • Memory:
      • 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9-9-9-24 XMP
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gainward GTX 295 V2 1792MB
      • PSU:
      • Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master WaveMaster

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    that's not a good card, it's a CPU-bound card like on-motherboard stuff
    Yep your right I was thinking with 8 SATA ports and at that cost it must be a true hardware RAID card....NOT.

    *Look at the cost of hardware RAID cards....yep they cost a bit more....*

  10. #10
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    133
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked
    2 times in 2 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    I'd just do RAID1 and then backup to an external machine/disk/nas. Gives you redundancy with the initial raid 1 which is cheap anyway, and then you have a proper backup solution as you would still need with raid5 anyway really. I dont see what you get more from out of raid5 really apart from obviously better percentage of the array used as storage the more disks you add. Its unecessary for home use a lot of the time when you consider the minimal gain for the expense.

  11. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    213
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    You need to also consider what happens when your RAID card goes belly up. Usually you will have to get an identical RAID card and if there is an error, to rebuild the raid array.

    If you have enough CPU horsepower you can consider a simple SATA card and use software raid in linux or windows - this makes it easier if your hardware goes.

    True RAID cards usually cost a fortune (ones where the card does the RAID xor calcs).

    Guess also if you need the redundancy of RAID and the various levels of support it provides as well as performance. I had a look at RAID but for my purposes I didn't feel I needed it so I just run a bunch of disks across a SAMBA share - currently up to around 2TB of storage.

  12. #12
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    133
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked
    2 times in 2 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Thats a good point, if the raid card dies you are in trouble, as each raid card will write a different alorithm for the parity differently and wont be recoverable. Really you would need to buy two raid cars if you were paranoid of it going and dont intend to take backups as well. Honestly...RAID1 + backup for the win

  13. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    8
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Thanks for all that. The reason for RAID is that I used to have a 20gb RAID 5 (5 Disk) at work about 10 years ago, and it was pretty reliable, and really useful when a drive died that you just swapped it out and kept going. I have 3, 4 bay enclosures hooked up via firewire and also a couple of 2 Bay RAID 1 enclosures... all on my desk as well as my Quad G5! Ideally having a server means I can get rid of all but one enclosure... and also cut down on the noise from the enclosure power supplies. Thinking about it more I may use the RAID as primary media storage (graphics, audio, video etc) and use a firewire enclosures as a back up.

  14. #14
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    53
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    • azrael's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Rampage II Extreme
      • CPU:
      • I7 920
      • Memory:
      • 6Gb DDR3
      • Storage:
      • 4 x 146Gb 15k U320 SCSI in RAID 0
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 2 x XFX GTX280
      • PSU:
      • Thermaltake 1KW
      • Case:
      • Coolermaster CM Stacker 830
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Ultimate
      • Monitor(s):
      • 3 x 24" Dell Ultrasharp
      • Internet:
      • ADSL Max

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Buy a Coolermaster Stacker Case which houses loads of drives, I've got an the following
    ASUS NCCH-DL Dual Xeon Mobo (Onboard Gigabit NIC)
    2 x 3.2Ghz 800Mhz FSB Xeon (Passively Cooled)
    3Gb RAM
    2x146Gb Raptor (OS)
    Adaptec 21610SA 16Port SATA RAID (Also recommend 2820SA)
    10 x 500Gb Hitachi SATA HDD 2x2TB RAID 5
    64Mb Geforce 4 (Passively Cooled)
    3Com 64Bit PCI-X Gigabit NIC
    580w Tagan U22 PSU
    Thanks to the way the stacker works all HDD's are cooled and the standard fans are quiet. My server Lives in the loft so it is out of the way all the time. I have also cabled the house so have sunk cabling and sockets which helps.

    I am considering changing to the Adaptec 2820SA and 5x1TB drives

    You can obviously play about with the spec but the CM Stacker is a good starting point.

  15. #15
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Looking down & checking on swearing
    Posts
    19,378
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked
    3,403 times in 2,693 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Quote Originally Posted by pendulum666 View Post
    I'd just do RAID1 and then backup to an external machine/disk/nas. Gives you redundancy with the initial raid 1 which is cheap anyway, and then you have a proper backup solution as you would still need with raid5 anyway really. I dont see what you get more from out of raid5 really apart from obviously better percentage of the array used as storage the more disks you add. Its unecessary for home use a lot of the time when you consider the minimal gain for the expense.
    RAID 5 gives you striping of the data as well as redundandcy, so for a server (particularly a database server) there will be an improvement in performance. I'm not sure that it is worth it for a home system though, and as someone else pointed out, a RAID array (of whatever level) is not a substitute for a proper backup strategy - as Saracen (I think) said - it is more about resilience and minimising down time.
    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

    Been helped or just 'Like' a post? Use the Thanks button!
    My broadband speed - 750 Meganibbles/minute

  16. #16
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    133
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked
    2 times in 2 posts

    Re: Home Raid Server

    Quote Originally Posted by azrael View Post
    Buy a Coolermaster Stacker Case which houses loads of drives, I've got an the following
    ASUS NCCH-DL Dual Xeon Mobo (Onboard Gigabit NIC)
    2 x 3.2Ghz 800Mhz FSB Xeon (Passively Cooled)
    3Gb RAM
    2x146Gb Raptor (OS)
    Adaptec 21610SA 16Port SATA RAID (Also recommend 2820SA)
    10 x 500Gb Hitachi SATA HDD 2x2TB RAID 5
    64Mb Geforce 4 (Passively Cooled)
    3Com 64Bit PCI-X Gigabit NIC
    580w Tagan U22 PSU
    Thanks to the way the stacker works all HDD's are cooled and the standard fans are quiet. My server Lives in the loft so it is out of the way all the time. I have also cabled the house so have sunk cabling and sockets which helps.

    I am considering changing to the Adaptec 2820SA and 5x1TB drives

    You can obviously play about with the spec but the CM Stacker is a good starting point.
    Crikey...is that storage all for home use then?

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Network Storage Device
    By Whatsthisdo in forum Networking and Broadband
    Replies: 31
    Last Post: 14-11-2007, 03:37 AM
  2. Revo 64 RAID card and RAID options
    By peterb in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 14-08-2007, 10:00 PM
  3. Windows Home Server Beta...
    By dave87 in forum Software
    Replies: 35
    Last Post: 18-03-2007, 10:21 PM
  4. Windows Home Server Beta...
    By dave87 in forum Software
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 13-03-2007, 02:06 PM
  5. Building a Home Server....
    By EtheAv8r in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 08-12-2004, 08:17 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •