Need input for a new NAS setup

[Katana]

Hello!

I'm new to this forum and to NAS as well.

I am looking for some input to my planned NAS. I am currently using a bunch of portable HDDs, and this has maybe seen its glory days. Now I'm looking into building myself a raid system.

My situation: I am an independent contractor producing video material and I'm also programming a bit. This NAS should also function as a private media server for my MP3-collection and video-stuff.
Probably gonna be max 4 people working on this server at max, mostly only 1 or 2 guys.

As I've allready told you I'm a noob on NAS and I had actually set my mind on the Thecus N5200Pro, but now I've discovered the N7700 as well.

1: +2 drives and more CPU/RAM...OK, but are there more reasons for going for the N7700? E.g. does the iSCSI let you stream content, and does this work?

2: I've followed the N7700/Seagate 1.5TB discussions. Is this case resolved or is it still "in progress"? I have set my mind on these drives, but do they work OK in the N5200 o the N7700?

3: This is my first experience with RAID and I am interested in different opinions regarding RAID-setups. I was thinking on going for a safe RAID-5 solution, however Im willing to think new here, and for me max storage is prioritized. Any cool setups out there thats worth concidering?

4: How do you guys back up our stuff? if I end up with 6,5 TB (N7700 + 7 x 1,5TB) what kind of backup system handles these amounts of data for a normal guy (kep in mind Im not made out of the green stuff here).

Thanks for all feed back and thoughts...

[glotgering]

Hello!
1: +2 drives and more CPU/RAM...OK, but are there more reasons for going for the N7700? E.g. does the iSCSI let you stream content, and does this work?

2: I've followed the N7700/Seagate 1.5TB discussions. Is this case resolved or is it still "in progress"? I have set my mind on these drives, but do they work OK in the N5200 o the N7700?

3: This is my first experience with RAID and I am interested in different opinions regarding RAID-setups. I was thinking on going for a safe RAID-5 solution, however Im willing to think new here, and for me max storage is prioritized. Any cool setups out there thats worth concidering?
4: How do you guys back up our stuff? if I end up with 6,5 TB (N7700 + 7 x 1,5TB) what kind of backup system handles these amounts of data for a normal guy (kep in mind Im not made out of the green stuff here).

Thanks for all feed back and thoughts...

1. The iSCSI performance is absolutely awesome, it is just as fast as a regular network connection. My network is a gigibi network and so far the I am very pleased with the performance of the N7700

2. I using 7 x 1.5TB drives and I have not yet had a problem. Just make sure the firmware is C1J as that is the latest firmware and it appears to work fine.

3. Well my big concern is expandability for the future. The EXT3 file system only support 8Tb volumes so if you are planning on using 1.5TB drive that will give you 9TB of space of which 1TB would be wasted. So if you use EXT3 only configure it to use 90% of the drives and this will created a 8TB RAID 5 partition and the last 1TB can be used by iSCSI so in this way you can use all the space

You could also use ZFS file system which does not have the 8TB limitation but I understand that it is not very stable. Currently I am testing the XFS file system which is unsupported by Thecus at this time and is only available in the Beta firmware. The XFS file system was designed by SGI for large files and streaming purposes. The performance of this file system is second to none so I am taking a chance and giving it a try. There is no 8TB limit so I will be able to expand my array when 2TB drives come out. But again it is not yet release but the beta firmware is available if you want to give it a try

I hope what I have said here gives you some hints on what to do

[glotgering]

ooops...forgot one

4. Backup did you say backup??? No one has the space to back up 6, 7 or 8TB that is why we use RAID 5. Just buy an extra drive and keep it handy in case one of your other drive fails

[Funkstar]

4. Backup did you say backup??? No one has the space to back up 6, 7 or 8TB that is why we use RAID 5. Just buy an extra drive and keep it handy in case one of your other drive fails

RAID is not a substitute for backup

If you want to backup an array of that size then buy a second one and use that as a backup. Thats probably the cheapest way of doing it.

[glotgering]

Yeah after all they are only 2 grand a piece and I am sure I could look in my sofa and find that kind of change.

[CrimsonAvenger]

RAID is not a substitute for backup

If you want to backup an array of that size then buy a second one and use that as a backup. Thats probably the cheapest way of doing it.

This is all too often forgotten. Good reminder

[Katana]

These are good feedbacks for me, I've allready put in an order on the N7700.

Probably gonna go for the Seagate 1.5TB drives as well.

Only thing that worries me now is backup. Is there no one with a affordable solution to this?

My system today is external-HDD based + a bunch of compressed DVDs in a firesafe cabinet.

However, I really dont feel this as the best solution. I see your point on RAID as a "working backup" however what if the RAID itself fails on some point? Guess theres not much chance of getting anything out of the disks then? So backing a RAID system up on another RAID doesnt really feel bullet-proof. At least I have a slight chance of recovering some data on my eHDD-solution.

Tapedrives are really not an option. Someone have any experience with BluRay- backups? Guess this could be the best solution. 25Gigs on each disk with a 2:1 ratio is expensive, but however much cheaper and scalable than 2 servers.

Has anyone here had any experience with such a solution, rebuilding a RAID out of blurays?