NAS, where to begin?

Aesir321

Aesir321

Aesir321

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23 Jun 2012
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14
I have decided I would like to set up a NAS box on my network, as having a central location where I can stream all my media from and keep a backup of my files is just a great idea and easier than my current solution of transferring files around on USB sticks. Trouble is I am not sure where to start, and apologise if this is the wrong place to post such a thread.

My requirements for this are that it should have ample storage to hold all my media content, music, films, pictures, backups etc and it will be used by PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox etc. It must consume as little power as possible and be as quite as can be. Unnecessary flashing lights are not welcome as it is likely to be on 24/7 and has potential to be located in my bedroom. Also it being easily portable so I can move it between my home and university would be more convenient. I would say that 4TB is a minimum and 8TB would be ideal.

Now firstly I do not know whether I should look into a pre-built solution or build my own from scratch. With the pre-built ones I am aware that they seem to have torrent clients on by default and other useful features but upgrading them and adding extra storage could potentially be difficult. I assume this would be less of a problem if I build one myself.

So for those of you that have done something similar what did you go with a pre-built, if so would you recommend it or did you build one yourself?

I will mainly use this box just for storage and downloads, I have another machine and laptop which I will use for gaming, ripping etc so the box doesn't have to be powerful just lots of storage.

If I decide to build my own, what sort of parts, builds (a link to any guides you guys have would be great) should I consider. I am fairly new to this sort of stuff and I am still learning the ins and outs so any advice, starting points etc you can give would be appreciated.

Cheers!
 
I'd say other than the miniserver thing, go straight for one of the multi bay synology or QNAP NAS - they aren't cheap but I spent a lot of time and money trying to do it with cheaper solutions, old PCs, etc. and once I finally bought one of the QNAPs it actually did everything I wanted, how I wanted it and the features just worked unlike the cheaper ones which would have various issues like not spinning down to idle reliably, poor user/group management, etc.
 
Thanks. The Proliant sounds cool, I am reading through that mammoth thread now but looks like I can do everything I wanted with it and it is very reasonably priced.
 
HP Microserver. With the cashback offer that seems to be permanently on you can get the latest one for roughly £150. Chuck in a copy of windows home server and bobs your uncle, maybe. Benefit of this is future expandability.

The Synology DS412+ is fantastic too but three times the price roughly.

I dont think you can beat the microserver tbh with a copy of WHS11
 
Awesome, I have gone with the HP Proliant and I am expecting it to arrive today. I have ordered some RAM to beef it up with and an SSD to put Server 2008 R2 on.

I haven't ordered any HDDs yet and I am torn between getting the Seagate Barracuda ST3000 and the WD30EZRX Caviar Green. Low noise, low power consumption are the big factors here as they will only be serving media such as films and pictures.

Can anyone recommend one over the other?
 
welshdragon said:
HP Microserver. With the cashback offer that seems to be permanently on you can get the latest one for roughly £150.
Click to expand...

Can get them a bit less than that. Don't want to name competitors (though OC don't seel proliants) but can get them for £239 delivered from another site (though not always immediately in stock). Given comments on other forunms as to whether these people were "approved retailers" for the cashback I emailed the cashback people to ask and they not only said it was fine but also told me to email scans of the cashback form and invoice to avoid needing to pay for a stamp! Result is I've had cashback confirmed so my effective price is £129!

Chuck in a copy of windows home server and bobs your uncle, maybe. Benefit of this is future expandability.
Click to expand...

Or, if you're happy with doing a bit more hackery then use something like ubuntu server for free ... I've gone this way as my rationale was that if I wanted something "simple" then I'd go DS212j but if I wanted something that I'd need to spend more time "playing with" but which would be more flexible/expandable then Proliant+ubuntu was the way to go.
 
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