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It's the NAS (Network Attached Storage) Thread, yo.
- Thread starter Jill Sandwich
- Start date
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I think you're going to be surprised with everything your NAS can do. There's a lot of apps/features/etc in it.
I would - personally speaking - not put a desktop drive into a NAS.
I bought one of these for using my desktop drives with my NAS:
I connect it to the NAS as needed for moving around backups and stuff to different drives.
If you've got 2x 4TB drives in RAID 1 then you'll have around 3.6TB of usable space. Unless you're going to be storing uncompressed videos on it then I think this will be more than enough for everything you throw at it in the next few years. On my NAS I've got 20+ full Blu-ray rips, 100+ PC ISOs, 120+ PS2 ISOs, dozens of Gamecube/Wii ISOs, 20 DC ISOs, 200 PSX ISOs and I think I've still got 1.2TB usable space left.
And in my experience of using the QNAP forum, it's clear to see that some tenured members of the forum have got tired of answering the same questions so they just now respond with open hostility. It's not helpful at all.
You guys have been very helpful! I will be asking my questions here for now on. I Am sure I will have plenty of stupid ass ones too 
As far as movies go, I ripped every DVD I owned ... so I have about 3.2 TB or so. I have it on a USB drive and would at some point want it on the array so I did not have to run it to the QNAP. That would have to be after I get a 3rd 4TB red drive and make the RAID 1 a RAID 5 I guess.
As far as movies go, I ripped every DVD I owned ... so I have about 3.2 TB or so. I have it on a USB drive and would at some point want it on the array so I did not have to run it to the QNAP. That would have to be after I get a 3rd 4TB red drive and make the RAID 1 a RAID 5 I guess.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
You guys have been very helpful! I will be asking my questions here for now on. I Am sure I will have plenty of stupid ass ones too
As far as movies go, I ripped every DVD I owned ... so I have about 3.2 TB or so. I have it on a USB drive and would at some point want it on the array so I did not have to run it to the QNAP. That would have to be after I get a 3rd 4TB red drive and make the RAID 1 a RAID 5 I guess.
If the average size of a DVD movie is 5GB, then that means you've got over 600 DVDs. I'm impressed.
Talking about capacity expansion, I've been considering replacing my 4TB drives with 8TB ones. But I'll look into that from next year. I plan for my next PC to be all solid-state so the NAS will act as every-day storage and not just as a backup. That and I'm looking for a place to locally backup my 400+ Steam and GOG games. Not to mention using the NAS for business purposes and stuff.
I get my QNAP today!
Backup was my main reason for doing this. But using Windows Server 2012 was too much for me. Not because I couldn't do it, but because I do not have the time to learn everything I need to do it correct.
In addition I hope to set it up as a streaming server of some sort so I can watch on my XB1 or PS4 or TV or whatever works! PLus host a couple of personal websites. After that ... Maybe setup a Git/Perforce server if it is able?
Backup was my main reason for doing this. But using Windows Server 2012 was too much for me. Not because I couldn't do it, but because I do not have the time to learn everything I need to do it correct.
In addition I hope to set it up as a streaming server of some sort so I can watch on my XB1 or PS4 or TV or whatever works! PLus host a couple of personal websites. After that ... Maybe setup a Git/Perforce server if it is able?
Got the Shakes
Member
You've got a few options if you want to stream your content. You can setup DLNA and use the PS4 or XB1 media player apps to play your content or you can setup a Plex server on your QNAP and hen download the Plex clients on XB1 or PS4 (this route will require you paying for a PlexPass subscription though).
Which is a better option? Also, is there some sort of live TV kinda streaming? I know I can not get stuff like ESPN and stuff, but local HD channels? Just curious. It will be in my basement and not directly hooked to my TV.
Got the Shakes
Member
I personally prefer Plex. It does a great job of getting the proper metadata for your media and things like episode/movie descriptions and movie posters. It's a pretty good looking way to organize your media and it has the added benefit of syncing the status of things you've watched across any device that you watch via Plex. Plex Media Server is free and some of the ways to watch your content are completely free like through a web browser. Unfortunately right now you need a PlexPass subscription to use the PS4 of XB1 apps. It's either $4.99/month, $39.99/year, or $149.99 for a lifetime subscription. The PS4 and XB1 apps are supposed to be available for individual purchase (likely a one time fee of $4.99), but we don't have a time frame for that.
DLNA is completely free. Just enable it on your QNAP and you can use any device that has a DLNA enabled player to stream media from your device. XB1 and PS4 both support it through their media player apps. The downside is that it doesn't offer any organization of any kind. What you see when you load up the media player is a list of files named however you named them. But again, this is a way to go if you don't ever want to spend any money out of pocket.
What I would suggest is to try DLNA and also Plex. Instead of jumping in a paying for Plex before trying it, setup Plex Media Server and then take a look at the interface through the Plex website (you can connect to your server through the website at no cost). See if you like the way it looks and organizes your stuff and then decide for yourself which route you want to go.
As for live TV stuff, I have a QNAP myself and I feel like there is possibly a way to connect to a HD antenna to get over the air channels, but it's something I've never planned on using so I never looked into it. I also could be completely wrong about it even being an option.
Anton Sugar
Member
I'm in video production and am looking at a RAID or NAS solution, as my workload is getting larger and I want to have a reliable backup solution for clients. I don't think I'd need anything more than a 4 bay--I was thinking 4x4tb for 16tb total storage available. It would be purely for storage/backup.
Are there any starting points or guides that can help me on my way? I am familiar with computers (I've been building my own since college) but have never dipped my toes into this area.
Are there any starting points or guides that can help me on my way? I am familiar with computers (I've been building my own since college) but have never dipped my toes into this area.
Marty Chinn
Member
Well for starters, that's really 8 or 12TB total storage depending on what level of redundancy you want.
Anton Sugar
Member
That's fine for the volume of work I'm doing right now (I have a full time job outside of my video work), plus I can't budget for any more than that at the moment.
I formatted without encryption. I did not want the performance hit.
Edit: Should I create a storage pool? When I updated the firmware of my QNAP it appears I can. Is it worth doing?
Edit 2: I see there is a 4.2 Beta on the website. I am thinking I may update to this firmware. What are you running?
Edit: Should I create a storage pool? When I updated the firmware of my QNAP it appears I can. Is it worth doing?
Edit 2: I see there is a 4.2 Beta on the website. I am thinking I may update to this firmware. What are you running?
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I've only got a two-bay NAS and my initial firmware didn't have the option for a storage pool so I can't help you there.
Do not use a beta firmware on a NAS you're going to use for personal use. It may be cool to beta test games and software, but it's not as cool when some buggy code accidentally deletes all your data.
Hah! Okay I guess I will avoid the Beta and just wait for the actual release and update then.
I tried to convert to a storage pool last night, but it could not see my disks so I am not sure how to do it. I will have to read up, or go to the forum boards and be talked down to/pointed to some obscure FAQ's.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
If the disks are in use in a volume already, I'm not sure if they will appear in the Storage Pools area.
The manual for Storage Pools is here: http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.0/SMB/en/index.html?storage_pool.htm
The manual for Storage Pools is here: http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.0/SMB/en/index.html?storage_pool.htm
B-B-Bomba!
Member
On a scale of snorting the contents of an average office keyboard to making radio contact with extraterrestrial surf bros, how happy will pulling the trigger on a DS214-play and Amazon Fire TV make me?
Also what are my chances of convincing my wife to see the upside?
Also what are my chances of convincing my wife to see the upside?
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
It can take some time depending on how big the drives are.
And if you copy a massive amount of files to it once it's set up then it will take a long time to sync/index/etc these files. But if you plan to run your NAS 24/7 you probably won't notice it. The initial setup process can take some time but it's all smooth after that.
And if you copy a massive amount of files to it once it's set up then it will take a long time to sync/index/etc these files. But if you plan to run your NAS 24/7 you probably won't notice it. The initial setup process can take some time but it's all smooth after that.
Ultimadrago
Member
I got a MyCloud.
Super crappy, antique interface that takes a night to find the nooks of.
Worst decision of my life.
Happens to connect to my new SmartTV automatically to play content directly.
Less-than-worse decision of my life.
Super crappy, antique interface that takes a night to find the nooks of.
Worst decision of my life.
Happens to connect to my new SmartTV automatically to play content directly.
Less-than-worse decision of my life.
Damn, I was hoping to set that up tonight. I will have to wait and do it tomorrow. It looks like I lost some apps doing this, I guess I have to re-download them? It is at 51.3%
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
All the "standard" apps can be activated in the Control Panel. But if they're not there just check the App Center.
And what I mean by syncing/indexing files is that when I first set up my NAS (2x 4TB drives in RAID 1) I copied around a terabyte of files to it immediately. The NAS had to sync this data to both drives, index them for search, and make thumbnails for media files. You can still use the NAS during this process as it's all done in the background. It can take a bit of time though.
I've no idea about storage pools and the time it takes for them to finish.
So how do you handle storing stuff on your NAS like movies and pictures? Do you make a shared folder for each and put them in folders within there or what?
I am trying to plan out some stuff hoping my HD's are synched when I get home from work.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
The NAS has a function called the Media Library (its settings are in the Control Panel) where you can select folders as media folders. If you save photos, music and videos in these folders they'll be automatically indexed for use in the Photo Station, Video Station, Video Station, Kodi, etc.
Oh that makes sense. I guess I will just start with photo station and see what happens. So is there an app to look at the photos in photo station from my phone for example? And push the photos up to the NAS from my phone?
I am sure there is a FAQ or something for that if there is.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
http://www.dr-lex.be/info-stuff/bytecalc.html
With your new hard drive I assume you're going to rebuild it as a RAID 5. You may as well have just bought a fourth drive and maxed out your NAS. ;p
Anyways:
1) Change the admin account password.
2) Make sure the security settings are set to a high level. A NAS is just a small PC. Make sure that it's protected from outside intrusion.
3) Look at where you are going to physically locate the NAS. It's got HDMI out so you could either set up a small workstation for it, or put it beside your TV. It can also be used as a printer server if you connect a printer to it. Or you can just dump it in a bundle of wires next to your switch or router.
4) Look at how you're going to organise your data and set up volumes/user accounts/folders for this purpose.
5) Use Qfinder to set up network drives on your PC. Set up media sharing on your home network, etc.
6) Look at NAS apps and see how they could benefit you.
7) Copy data to the NAS.
I think the honeymoon period for a NAS ends relatively quickly. Because the main purpose of a NAS is to essentially sit quietly in the background and just "do its job".
If you put it next your TV it could become a fairly decent media box. But I imagine that most people already have multiple devices that do stuff like that. So using DLNA or another sharing method is probably going to be the order of the day there.
If you want to "do more" with the NAS then definitely look into virtualization and other things from the app center.
I would only use remote access to your NAS (over the internet via your mobile devices, myQNAPcloud, etc) if you are comfortable with your security settings.
You can find some FAQs and stuff on the QNAP website: https://www.qnap.com/i/uk/trade_teach/
Lots of good things here, thanks!
I Woke up this morning and I have had a few failed logins through ssh on my machine. I know it was not me and it is different IP's. Should I be worried? They did all fail and I assume this is common?
So do you use an antivirus? I know it came with one and I there is McAfee also.
I Woke up this morning and I have had a few failed logins through ssh on my machine. I know it was not me and it is different IP's. Should I be worried? They did all fail and I assume this is common?
So do you use an antivirus? I know it came with one and I there is McAfee also.
Ouch that doesn't sound too good, don't you have a router? You should never allow login from the net to your NAS, there are automatic scripts that will look for exposed boxes on the net and try to auto Crack and steal your data, you should set things up so you only allow external connections in from pre-approved IPs. (firewall/router/settings)
I have my FIOS router. I am forwarding ssh/web server and FTP to my NAS. That is bad? Isn't that how you should do it?
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Make sure the default admin password has been changed.
If you're not sure about network settings then it's best if you don't allow access from the internet to your NAS.
If you're not sure about network settings then it's best if you don't allow access from the internet to your NAS.
B-B-Bomba!
Member
So thanks to the overwhelming outpouring of support in this thread I was able to make a sensible case for this purchase and just PULLED THE FUCKING TRIGGER.
This is a significant event in the life of B-B-Bomba!
Yippee
I will have questions.
Tune in next year as I crawl towards the purchase of a new-build gaming desktop + VR setup.
I am going to try using myQNAPcloud service. I have it so FTP/SSH goes to the cloud version and my web server goes right to the NAS so you can use my site. I Wonder if there is a better way to do this. Although I can still SSH right into my NAS if I use my site name.
I am migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 5 (got my new drive) Man it is taking forever. I do not think it will be today .... (Looks like 33 hours .....)
Gaf, need some advice before I pull the trigger and maybe spend money I dont need to.
This is my current setup at home:
HTPC in lounge plugged into tv where I watch my media (mostly ripped dvds from the past 10 years). Also use this pc which is reasonably powered to play the odd PC game and play music. This PC is running Windows 10.
Right now there are TWO 1tb HDD's and 1 SSD inside the case and connected to it externally I have THREE 2tb seagate external hard disks via usb.
Seperately in another room hard wired into my router I have an old laptop which I use as a mini-streamer for media which is plugged into another external 3tb seagate hdd via usb (this is my current "server" and is never switched off. Its also running Windows 10.
I noticed last night my lounge HTPC was getting read/write fails when I was trying to install Metal Gear on it, then when watching a tv show via Plex which is my main hub of all the media (using the server installed on HTPC which synchs with all the movie/tv folders spread across the server laptop and hdd's plugged into the HTPC) it kept cutting out.
So, net of this is i'm nervous my entire network and hard disks are on teh cusp of failing and i have NO BACKUPS of any of it...
Hence, looking into servers - either building my own with an old mini itx motherboard and basically removing all the external hard disks from their enclosures and shoving them into an 8-bay case...
...or just splurging and spending $1k AUD on a NAS with bundled hard disks.
Open to suggestions and best place to start/parts to buy.
I basically want everything in one place that is secure, easy to use and watcch stuff. I have a decent router and a strong wireless internal network (Asus AC68U) and I know my current setup is tenuous at best.
Thoughts and help much appreciated!
I am in Australia so of course that means my choice of parts and options is expensive and limited
This is my current setup at home:
HTPC in lounge plugged into tv where I watch my media (mostly ripped dvds from the past 10 years). Also use this pc which is reasonably powered to play the odd PC game and play music. This PC is running Windows 10.
Right now there are TWO 1tb HDD's and 1 SSD inside the case and connected to it externally I have THREE 2tb seagate external hard disks via usb.
Seperately in another room hard wired into my router I have an old laptop which I use as a mini-streamer for media which is plugged into another external 3tb seagate hdd via usb (this is my current "server" and is never switched off. Its also running Windows 10.
I noticed last night my lounge HTPC was getting read/write fails when I was trying to install Metal Gear on it, then when watching a tv show via Plex which is my main hub of all the media (using the server installed on HTPC which synchs with all the movie/tv folders spread across the server laptop and hdd's plugged into the HTPC) it kept cutting out.
So, net of this is i'm nervous my entire network and hard disks are on teh cusp of failing and i have NO BACKUPS of any of it...
Hence, looking into servers - either building my own with an old mini itx motherboard and basically removing all the external hard disks from their enclosures and shoving them into an 8-bay case...
...or just splurging and spending $1k AUD on a NAS with bundled hard disks.
Open to suggestions and best place to start/parts to buy.
I basically want everything in one place that is secure, easy to use and watcch stuff. I have a decent router and a strong wireless internal network (Asus AC68U) and I know my current setup is tenuous at best.
Thoughts and help much appreciated!
I am in Australia so of course that means my choice of parts and options is expensive and limited
Gaf, need some advice before I pull the trigger and maybe spend money I dont need to.
This is my current setup at home:
HTPC in lounge plugged into tv where I watch my media (mostly ripped dvds from the past 10 years). Also use this pc which is reasonably powered to play the odd PC game and play music. This PC is running Windows 10.
Right now there are TWO 1tb HDD's and 1 SSD inside the case and connected to it externally I have THREE 2tb seagate external hard disks via usb.
Seperately in another room hard wired into my router I have an old laptop which I use as a mini-streamer for media which is plugged into another external 3tb seagate hdd via usb (this is my current "server" and is never switched off. Its also running Windows 10.
I noticed last night my lounge HTPC was getting read/write fails when I was trying to install Metal Gear on it, then when watching a tv show via Plex which is my main hub of all the media (using the server installed on HTPC which synchs with all the movie/tv folders spread across the server laptop and hdd's plugged into the HTPC) it kept cutting out.
So, net of this is i'm nervous my entire network and hard disks are on teh cusp of failing and i have NO BACKUPS of any of it...
Hence, looking into servers - either building my own with an old mini itx motherboard and basically removing all the external hard disks from their enclosures and shoving them into an 8-bay case...
...or just splurging and spending $1k AUD on a NAS with bundled hard disks.
Open to suggestions and best place to start/parts to buy.
I basically want everything in one place that is secure, easy to use and watcch stuff. I have a decent router and a strong wireless internal network (Asus AC68U) and I know my current setup is tenuous at best.
Thoughts and help much appreciated!
I am in Australia so of course that means my choice of parts and options is expensive and limited
Would suggest getting a 4bay qnap nas with tv out and use it as storage/mediacenter and running it raid5, just get it empty and add the drives yourself unless there is some offer.
Any particular model? I'd rather keep my current htpc as recently upgraded the card etc and its a pretty sweet little device - also server should stay in the same room as the router which is in my study and hardwired with ethernet.
So just remove the current hdds from their cases and stick them into case vs getting new hard disks for server specific?
Ok then, then get a 4 bay from either qnap or synology(if you dont use hdmi, then I prefer synology) but look at the price and features, i like synologys file system better. (qnap has better connection options)
For your needs im sure th cheapest current model is fine for you.
You will have to buy new drives, as you have to format the drives you put into the nas. Get either wd reds or modern hgst drives minimum 2drives. Remember one drive will be used for backup(mirror of all you data)
The old drives should work but don't
Just ordered parts to build a NAS to use as an iSCSI storage device for a DVR. Got way more powerful hardware than I was planning, Was looking at atom boards over the past few months waiting to find a deal, but then I found a Lenovo TS140 with a Xeon for just over $300, so away we go. The TS140 is limited to 4 3.5 drives internally unfortunately, and I kinda wanted to go with 6, but I figure I can expand externally if I run out of room.
Will probably be going with FreeNAS as that seems to be the most polished solution, does anyone else have any suggestions or comments?
I'm planning on going with ZFS, cause I have a Xeon and 16 GB of ECC RAM, so why the hell not, and I'm interested in how easy it is to expand the storage pool incrementally. I understand it's supposed to make that easier, but want to get real world knowledge from people who have done it.
Will probably be going with FreeNAS as that seems to be the most polished solution, does anyone else have any suggestions or comments?
I'm planning on going with ZFS, cause I have a Xeon and 16 GB of ECC RAM, so why the hell not, and I'm interested in how easy it is to expand the storage pool incrementally. I understand it's supposed to make that easier, but want to get real world knowledge from people who have done it.
Garou
Member
This is actually not directly about NAS, but rather about an alternative.
Currently I have a very cheap and barely usable Shuttle Omninas with two 4TB-drives in Raid 1 which is basically my backup-solution for archived data. I always thought about getting a better NAS with slightly bigger drives, but today I thought about Cloud-storage as a backup.
Would anyone recommend getting for example the Dropbox-businessplan with unlimited storage, put one of the two 4TB drives into my main-desktop and just use the Desktop as my NAS and Dropbox as the backup-solution?
Currently I have a very cheap and barely usable Shuttle Omninas with two 4TB-drives in Raid 1 which is basically my backup-solution for archived data. I always thought about getting a better NAS with slightly bigger drives, but today I thought about Cloud-storage as a backup.
Would anyone recommend getting for example the Dropbox-businessplan with unlimited storage, put one of the two 4TB drives into my main-desktop and just use the Desktop as my NAS and Dropbox as the backup-solution?
iNvid02
Member
I think Amazon cloud drive and google apps for biz offer unlimited storage for cheaper, and cloud drives speeds are said to be consistently fast, so I'd recommend them over Dropbox if pricing is a concern.
But cloud storage isn't the same as something like crashplan, if your files get corrupted somehow they could sync to the cloud and screw things up. Unlikely but a possibility. Maybe give crashplan a look too as it's the same price
But cloud storage isn't the same as something like crashplan, if your files get corrupted somehow they could sync to the cloud and screw things up. Unlikely but a possibility. Maybe give crashplan a look too as it's the same price
Garou
Member
Well in the case of Dropbox, even free accounts get 30 days of file versioning and paid ones unlimited, so that would not be a problem. I checked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_hosting_services and the only other major service that offers file versioning is Google Drive, and their only plan that would fit 4TB would be the 10TB plan which costs 99$ per month
iNvid02
Member
Well in the case of Dropbox, even free accounts get 30 days of file versioning and paid ones unlimited, so that would not be a problem. I checked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_hosting_services and the only other major service that offers file versioning is Google Drive, and their only plan that would fit 4TB would be the 10TB plan which costs 99$ per month
I think the best option would be crashplan at $60 a year, but you could also get a google apps for work account with unlimited storage, even if you only have 1 user they give unlimited drive storage to at least 10TB for $120 a year, not to mention all the extras that come with google apps for work. im currently backing up 18TB to crashplan through my synology NAS and its been pretty smooth, i use google drive daily but crashplan is just good online backup.
Garou
Member
Can you access your files from a browser with Crashplan? And is it possible to restore just a part of the cloud-backup to for example a second computer? Thanks for the info!
iNvid02
Member
crashplan is solely a backup service, so you cant access and edit files online like you can in say google drive (aside from selecting which files/folders to restore from their website if the need ever arises).
the base version is free and they have a full trial too so use it and see if its right for you.
So I have a QNAP question.
I put all my pictures on my HDD's and have the folders setup. For some reason it does not see them all. They are the correct size and they are JPG's.
I have no idea as to why it does not. If I rename one of the pics to temp.jpg and temp.JPG in the same folder it sees them both.
Edit: So I was able to remove the folder from the library and re-add it. Now I can see the files in that folder. Problem is that I have no idea which picture the photo station can see and which it can not.
I put all my pictures on my HDD's and have the folders setup. For some reason it does not see them all. They are the correct size and they are JPG's.
I have no idea as to why it does not. If I rename one of the pics to temp.jpg and temp.JPG in the same folder it sees them both.
Edit: So I was able to remove the folder from the library and re-add it. Now I can see the files in that folder. Problem is that I have no idea which picture the photo station can see and which it can not.
I think I've finally decided to build a low power file server instead of using the current gaming/htpc/file server hybrid I have. Lately, I've been turning it off until I need to access the files because of the power consumption. With a lower power server I think I'll be okay leaving it on when I'm awake.
mobo: ASRock Mini ITX AD2550R/U3S3
case: SilverStone DS380B
Plus PSU and Ram
Using my existing file serving HDDs in the existing drivepool setup. Hopefully the cost to run it will be no more than $10/month...
mobo: ASRock Mini ITX AD2550R/U3S3
case: SilverStone DS380B
Plus PSU and Ram
Using my existing file serving HDDs in the existing drivepool setup. Hopefully the cost to run it will be no more than $10/month...
crisdecuba
Member
I'm trying to determine if a NAS is the right way to go for my current set up.
Right now I have about 1TB of documents and photos and home videos, growing at a rate of maybe 20GB per year.
In addition to that, I have about 9TB of media (I ripped my bluray, dvd, cd collections). This is growing at a rate of 1-2TB per year as we get more movies, TV shows etc.
We have multiple computers that would ideally access the same storage pool. Additionally, we have a PC set up with Kodi for the main TV.
Right now everything is stored on external hard drives, with each drive having a partner that I back up the content onto. I'm running out of USB ports to plug these guys into.
So, I'm considering building a NAS according to the instructions on this site: http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html with the intention of setting the new drives up in a RAID 5 config.
At the same time, I wonder if there are other options to consider. Any thoughts / advice?
Right now I have about 1TB of documents and photos and home videos, growing at a rate of maybe 20GB per year.
In addition to that, I have about 9TB of media (I ripped my bluray, dvd, cd collections). This is growing at a rate of 1-2TB per year as we get more movies, TV shows etc.
We have multiple computers that would ideally access the same storage pool. Additionally, we have a PC set up with Kodi for the main TV.
Right now everything is stored on external hard drives, with each drive having a partner that I back up the content onto. I'm running out of USB ports to plug these guys into.
So, I'm considering building a NAS according to the instructions on this site: http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html with the intention of setting the new drives up in a RAID 5 config.
At the same time, I wonder if there are other options to consider. Any thoughts / advice?
crisdecuba
Member
Sorry, double post.
Definitely sounds like a problem for a NAS, and the build in that guide is a good one, generally speaking.
Two things I would note though:
1. You may want a more powerful CPU(E3 xeons are not much more than the avoton in that build, if at all depending on what MB you get) if you are going to be doing media transcoding.
2. You may want to go bigger for the case, especially given the size of your media library, as more smaller (4 TB) drives can be cheaper than fewer 6 or 8 TB drives, and it gives you more options in setting up your vdevs to get both maximum performance and redundancy. When dealing with larger ( >4TB) hard drives in your raid, you are going to want to run with at least 2 parity drives(raidz2 on zfs systems, raid 6 elsewhere), because the MTBF on writes is such that if a drive fails with and significant amount of data on it, when you replace you can expect to have a write failure during resilvering.
This means if you use 8TB drives, you are going to have to use 4 drives in mirror, leaving you with 16 TB of usable storage(~12.6 actually, as you never want to fill a zfs array beyond 80% or performance goes to shit), and you only get 50% of the drive space. If you use 6 4TB drives on the other hand, you can use raidz2 and get the same reliability and usable space, but with a 66% drive space efficiency instead of 50%. The drives themselves will cost less as well. This means you are going to want a bigger case with more bays than you would think. Also you can't add drives to an array, so to expand you will need room to add a whole new array, and since we've established you want at least raidz2 for true redundancy, that means at least 4 drives.
Here is a reliability calculator to help you size your raid arrays so you get the most bang for your buck:
https://jsfiddle.net/Biduleohm/hfqdpbLm/10/embedded/result/
travislopes
Member
Is the Drobo the only solution out there where you can easily drop a new drive into expand the overall storage without having to do a bunch of additional work?
With only 512GB of storage in my Mac Pro, it's time to invest in some proper external storage. I'm definitely looking for an off-the-shelf product (rather than building a PC for this) and it needs to work over either USB 3 or (preferably) Thunderbolt as Backblaze will allow me to back it up if it's connected directly to the computer (rather than network). Any suggestions?
With only 512GB of storage in my Mac Pro, it's time to invest in some proper external storage. I'm definitely looking for an off-the-shelf product (rather than building a PC for this) and it needs to work over either USB 3 or (preferably) Thunderbolt as Backblaze will allow me to back it up if it's connected directly to the computer (rather than network). Any suggestions?