NAS hard drives

Ollie's Gadgets · 10 Jul 2006 at 23:28

Looking to install 4 new 250gb ide hard disks into a nas server. I am looking for reliability as this server will be on 24/7 and having 4 hard disks increases the failure rate. I can't get involved in raid as I need this much disk space.

I guess with this application consistent transfer speed is more important tham read access speed.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 10:35

4-slot NAS cages are very expensive (£500+). The only time you should really go for one is if:

you need more than 1.5TB of space (2 x 750GB drives)
and you absolutely need something compact and easily transportable
someone else is paying

Its cheaper to build yourself a SFF system with 4 hdd bays than it is to get a 4-slot dedicated NAS.

Your options:

2 x Netgear SC101 Storage Central
SFF system (raid card optional)
dual-drive nas enclosure (reasonable in price)
quad-drive nas enclosure (expensive)

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 10:50

Thanks for the detailed reply. Sorry if my post was unclear. I will be building the nas myself using an old machine with upgraded fans and psu using freenas or a cut down debian install. I am not intending on buying a nas product/cage from a company. So I am just looking for appropriate hard disks for this application.

Imy said:
Its cheaper to build yourself a SFF system with 4 hdd bays than it is to get a 4-slot dedicated NAS.]

What is a SFF system?

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 11:20

Small Form Factor. Small case using mATX motherboard basically.

I thought you've already got the 4 IDE drives?

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 11:22

Imy said:
Small Form Factor. Small case using mATX motherboard basically.

I thought you've already got the 4 IDE drives?

Nope looking to buy 4 hard drives, just don't know which ones to go for.

Looking back my original post wasn't that clear

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 11:36

Oh ok

Most people on these forums seem to love the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB drive. Its available in both SATA II and IDE and is reasonably priced.

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 12:04

5 year manufacturer''s warranty - if they offer that they must be confident about reliability.

VeNT · 11 Jul 2006 at 12:05

Imy said:
Oh ok

Most people on these forums seem to love the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB drive. Its available in both SATA II and IDE and is reasonably priced.

yeah, they seem to be flavor of the month, someone even said that they Roxors his Boxors (whatever that meens).

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 12:15

I'm planning on getting 8 of em in a couple months hopefully

As for reliability, my 160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 which I use daily is still going strong after 3 years.

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 12:16

Imy said:
I'm planning on getting 8 of em in a couple months hopefully

For a server?

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 12:19

Yeah RAID 5 server. I probably won't get all 8 in one go. Will start with 4 or so then add more as required.

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 12:37

Which case and are you going to use a pci raid card?

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 13:01

I'm undecided on case as there are very few cases that have enough external 5.25" drive bays to house the backplanes I want to use. The ones I've looked at so far are the Thermaltake Armour/Gandalf/Tai-Chi and the Coolermaster Stacker 810/830.

I'm going to be using the Areca ARC-1220 8 x PCI-E SATA II RAID 6 Controller

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 14:25

That is a pricey card. Is this a server for home?

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 14:29

Home and work - I work from home.

Cheapest I've found the Areca for is £375. I think its worth it for the top performing card in its class. It murders just about everything else in RAID 5 and RAID 6 performance.

Boss has said he'll pay for the server

Ollie's Gadgets · 11 Jul 2006 at 14:47

Got to love being self employed.

May I ask what type of business you run?

Imy · 11 Jul 2006 at 15:57

I'm a wage slave like most people I'm afraid

I work for a small company (I'm the only real employee!) as a web developer but also do the I.T. etc as well.

I'm currently in the process of starting my own company but I doubt it will replace my main job for a long time yet.

fatnbald · 11 Jul 2006 at 19:28

I'm using 3xMaxtor MaXline II 300 gig hard drives in my NAS server. They are the 5400rpm drives (which aren't available any more) and they've never given a hint of trouble 'touchwood'. If i need any more i'll probably get the same but the newer Maxline III 7200 rpm drives. They're marketed as enterprise storage.
I would recommend a larger case, SFF cases get a bit hot with a few HDD's inside.
Regards software i would recommend you look at Naslite . They do a free version which boots from a floppy, only restrictions are max 4gb file size i think.