Building a NAS/Server

[s_kinton]

I need to build or buy a NAS/server to hold all my films, music and recorded TV. I already have 2x 1TB HDDs, plus a couple of smaller ones I might use - so looking at 2 HDD bays at least.

My current house setup is:
- Two HTPCs (see sig)
- Main PC
- PS3 (DLNA)
- House has gigabit LAN (CAT5e) with sockets in every room

I'd like the system to act as an itunes server, record TV to it from the HTPCs (using media centre), act as BT download box and it MUST spin down the HDDs when not in use.

I'd be happy to build a system but have no idea of the level of hardware or software required? Suggestions of pre-built NAS boxes are also welcome. I want to keep this as cheap and low power as poss.

[killie99]

HP do a very nice home server (EX490) and was on sale before christmas for around £300 but sadly is now more expensive (damn I should have bought it!).
I've been trying out Microsoft Home Server (there's a 30 day free trial available from MS) for a couple of weeks and after a very shaky start it seems to have settled down (was doing all sorts of funny things, droping network connection, rebooting, hanging) but after a complete re-install it has been working for about 3 days with no issues (wouldn't go longer than 12 hours previously!). It doesn't have any great requirements to run and has very good automated backup.
Check out this for an idea of what it's capable of: http://www.wegotserved.com/
I've been using an HP MV2020 NAS for a couple of years to do backups and although adequate it's slow and clunky - biggest issue is I now need more disk space and the MV2020 can't cope, hence the resaon for looking at MHS. I'm hoping with MHS I can do away with the NAS and my music server and do everything from the one box.

[peterb]

I built a similar system on a mini-itx box, running linux. Firefly will stream music (and is iI tunes compatable) and Amarok makes an extremely good Itunes substitute if you want to use the server as a PC as well. There are other music streaming Open Source applications.

Having said that, the HP unit is very small and quite dinky - but not cheap!

[jim]

Tranquil are the alternative to HP if you consider a Home Server. They'll generally be more expensive than a NAS, but they are also more functional.

[trungdong]

I recently thought about the same and stumbled upon some useful guides for building NAS at smallnetbuilder com

Personally, I think the Chenbro mini server chassis ES34069 with 4 hot-swap HDD bays is a good candidate if you want to build your own NAS. In your case, it'd have 2 extra bays for future expansion.

Software-wise, I heard good recommendation from friends about FreeNAS, check it out.

PS: Sorry, I can't post links being a new member, but you can google the above if you want. There is a NAS section at smallnetbuilder with lots of info.