NAS/media server spec

[Shad]

I've been thinking about buying one of those nice NAS boxes that take 4 drives and will do RAID5, but then I realised it would be cheaper to build a server instead. My only requirements are ~2.7TB storage and RAID5. The server will be running Windows 2003 x64.

I've come up with the following build list from Scan which should come to just under £580 after the Hexus shipping discount. Which I think is pretty good value for nearly 3TB of reasonably safe storage!



What do you guys think? Anywhere I should spend less/more or do things differently?

I thought it would be a sensible idea to have a completely separate drive for the OS and any system software, that way I don't have the hassle of getting Windows to install onto a foreign storage controller and hopefully it will mean I won't need to partition the RAID array either. Nice and simple


(Can't believe I'm talking hardware on Hexus... it's been a while!)

[SiM]

I done this recently with my old 939 components (without RAID though - I decided it was more hassle than its worth)... Ubuntu server is great for this!

My suggestions:
1) Use any old kit you have lying around (Only if it is reliable though)
2) Get a better PSU you don't want it overheating/blowing up. RAID 5 won't protect you from a PSU that is crap. Go for the Corsair VX 450W
3) I would go for a better case too, so you can easily add more drives in the future. Maybe an antec 300...

[alsenior]

if you drop Windows server you can also get rid of smaller hard drive and the Raid controller. In the place of this you could use a LINUX distribution and disk manager raid. This will save you a significant amount on the cost of a server. And would have no performance impact other than slightly higher processor usage, which if you using as a file server would make no difference anyway. I would use the saved money to buy a higher quality power supply as the machine is going to be on all the time. There are a few threads in the operating system's section of the forums that show you how to go about setting up a disk manager raid array LINUX. Other than these few points I is a very good setup for a file server.

[Jay]

why not look at an atom setup? That will cost a lot to run 24/7... I had to stop running my 754 AMD64 3200+ due to the cost. That was only running running 7 hours a day.


I have just built an ITX atom based slingplayer, silent, SSD its about 40W

[Shad]

Thank you chaps

In response...

1. It will stay Windows since that's what I know. The cost of the OS is not an issue since it will also be used as a development staging server so I can employ my MSDN licence here.
2. I don't wan't to go down the software RAID route. I think being tied to an OS/software is a risky move where such a large quantity of data is concerned. That said, the Highpoint card could fail and leave me in a similar position. Nonetheless, I think hardware RAID is the way to go.
3. PSU - I did wonder if it would be man enough to run 5 drives. I'll look into a better one
4. That was the first case I found with 5 bays and nice and cheap, so could definitely look at a better one. It will sit in the loft so ascetics won't come into it (and neither will noise).
5. Atom sounds like a good idea especially since the RAID calculations will be handled by the Highpoint card. But what about future scope for upgrading, would an Atom not limit me to a relatively low performance ceiling? E.g. with the AM2 idea I could change to a faster CPU and double the memory if I found the need to. I'll look into it anyway, lower energy consumption would be a bonus but isn't a real concern.