Silent NAS beast! is it possible?

james_blonde007

james_blonde007

james_blonde007

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Hi All,

I am planning on setting up a NAS server and a media centre of some kind for the TV and Hi-FI and I need your advice.

As this is the HD thread I will discuss the NAS.
The key requirements for the NAS are,
(1) - Backups of my other PC's
(2) - Data storage of my graphical work and Movies/MP3 s etc
(3) - Capable of streaming my music and video files to other sources (pinnacle showcentre possibly)
(4) - Needs to be able to run independently of PC's (proper NAS)
(5) - As close as silent as is possible! I hate fan noise!!
(6) - Preferably with raid capabilities, Raid 5 etc.
(7) - Capable of accepting newer increased large disk sizes
(8) - Looking for a capacity range of 1+ terabyte
(9) - Would like print server and FTP capabilities
(10) - If possible I would like wireless link from NAS to Access Point which connects to the wired section of my network. This will allow me to place the NAS anywhere with only the requirement of power supply. - note this is not essential and is a lower priority.

Ok, I know a little about the Buffalo terastation but I guess I then have to accept the HDs that come supplied in it. (Might be noisy ticky ones).
I deffo don't like the feed back coming in about the netgear SC101 Storage Central so that’s a no-no.

I have no clue as to the features or quality of existing NAS enclosures, can any recommendations be made? At least with an enclosure I can use my choice of drive.

Can the enclosures accept SATA I / II or is it only PATA connections? Will they accept these Seagate Barracuda ES 750GB ST3750640NS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-SE) drives?

My experience of Samsung drives is that they are as silent as you get. Much quieter than my Western Digital. Seagate are not to bad either.

Can I swap the fan on the back of the Buffalo for a different type or add a speed controller?

Cheers
 
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With all your requirements I suspect you'd need something like a Snapserver which is somewhat pricey when you get to the terabyte and, to be honest, the ones I've used haven't really been that fast. I'd build a 2000 or 2003 server so I've got control over what's in it and administer it with Terminal Services. You might be able to do a similar job with XP and Remote Assistance but I haven't tried it. A Linux & Samba server would be another alternative.

Jonathan
 
To Be honest its for my flat so I kinda want plug and play without excessive setup.

I am not opposed to a linux machine as i run a dedicated Linux firewall but I don't really want 'another' pc in my flat.

Maybe i was asking to much for the budget.

Perhaps building a media centre would be better?
 
I've been looking at one of these for myself:

large_img_8.gif

- Five-bay hot swappable network attached storage.
- Enhanced system performance with Ultra-Low voltage Intel® Celeron® M
- Processor for storage computing with 30% energy saving.
- RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD support.
- RAID Migration, RAID Expansion.
- Multi-lingual support.
- Built-in 4 port Gigabit switch with IP sharing (N5200 RouStorTM).
- 802.3ad based load balancing and failover (N5200).
Click to expand...
More info here
 
It seems that the N5200 although a beauty, does not have Pcast etc, see quote below...

I see a lot of people on this site saying that they plan to use the NAS as media storage - so I thought I would share the warning about streaming compatibility.
It would seem obvious that for home use, people who install such high capacity storage would definitely want to stream the media throughout the house, but Thecus did not include this functionality in their latest offering N5200.
Click to expand...

DO I NEED PCAST to straem my media or is there other alternatives?
 
I forgot to mention I'm only intending on using the N5200 for backups. I didn't look into steaming. The other problem someone posted about user accounts sounds like an easy fix with a future firmware upgrade.
 
The N5200 is great - but pricey, most NAS top out at 10mb/s but the N5200 does 25-30mb/s even onto a RAID5 (important if you need to copy 1TB+) . Being a proper PC (celeron m) booting off a flash card then there is scope for using a different OS to get streaming to a 'box'. As I use a HTPC with HDD mapping its not a problem.

One thing to note is that the current firmware has not got the power management setup fully so it runs both fans at 100%. If it is anything like the N2100 they should fix it soon.
 
Thanks for all your comments peeps, further investigation is underway. heres my chrismas letter.

Dear Santa,

Please please please can you provide me with a NAS that has all the features of the Infrant ReadyNAS NV+ and the N5200 combined together for the price of a Buffalo Terastation!

Thank you, love Mr Blonde

PS, i have been a very good boy all year....
 
Have you thought about making you own with a Via Eden passively cooled mini ITX setup running Linux or Linux based FreeNAS?
 
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The thought of creating my own had crossed my mind.
but i dont know how much linux expertise it would require to make it work.
putting the hardware together would be fine.

With a purpose built solution i can get a web interface for controlling the NAS but is there a nice easy to understand web interface app that has already been written specifically for controlling a NAS style PC etc?

Do you know of a nice bit of software to do the job.
 
I'd recommend building a PC out of old bits, I imagine like most people here you have a cupboard full of old motherboards and associated nonsense, so knock a PC together out of that, bung it full of a few 320GB drives and use remote desktop to manage it. If you install Windows 2003 Server you can use its inbuilt software RAID, or use XP/Linux/whatever and buy a cheapish RAID card (if the M/B doesn't do RAID itself). This is what I did and it works pretty well, a brief post on my setup can be found here
 
Yeah, I did that - then I stumbled across an AMD 3500+ and AM2 motherboard for the combined total of £70inc P+P (MM etc) which I whipped up. Who says you need to use old stuff - and whoever thought an AM2 combo would be used as a file server! :eek: How times have changed.

Oh well, I'm using a Windows Server 2003 trial at the moment - in time to learn linux and use a linux distro for the OS (and removing the need for an OS HDU (hoping to use a USB2.0 flash disk).
 
OK guys.

My budgets are getting tighter. I have put a post up to find a suitable resolution for my networking needs. Have a look and comment if you like.

I have also just shelled out on my GF's Chrismas pressie, new GIANT mountain bike, helmet and cycling jacket!

OMG, talk about the amount of overtime i am about to throw myself into....

I like the idea of putting my own server together but I am wanting compact and all my old gear is BIG!
I would only be able to use the HD's so I think it time for new gear across the board.

The investigation to this media server continues....
 
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