I'm scrapping my uber PC build (atleast for the time being) and putting my server build on hold. I am looking to build a storage server for my network with a drive setup for FTP. Reasons for this:
1) I'm running out of space on my external drives. I have an enclosure coming next week, but that's for other reasons.
2) Need massive storage.
3) Running out of web host space for files.
4) Don't feel like using the cloud...nor paying for it.
5) Need hotswap capability
So the reason why I'm looking at doing this is because my little 320Gb external is hating my guts right now. It's already populated with 60gigs worth of photos and other things that leave me with about 90 gigs of space left. It is now getting hammered by hours of writing from video recording via FRAPS. And with said drive, i'm limited on space. I can only fit about a weeks worth of footage on there before I have to clean the files and start recording. I REALLY don't want to do that as I can always reuse footage in blooper vids, behind the scenes, etc.
My current plan is a RAID 1 setup with a 3rd drive for archiving and a 4th, smaller drive (of which I have laying around the house) for FTP.
1 - Boot
2/3 - RAID 1
4 - Archival
5 - FTP
I can handle the hard drives and what not, are recommendations on a motherboard/processor, etc. I'm looking at a dual core Atom setup with 4GB of RAM running an 40GB drive for the OS and system files, a 160GB drive for FTP, 1TB drives for the RAID array and 2+ TB for the archive. I have a program that can controll how ofter the archive drive spins...so I will most likely do that or just invest in WD's Red drives or their Black Enterprise Storage drives.
Opinions? I am willing to put some money into this, but the cheaper it can be, the happier I will be. Need a case and a motherboard that has room for expansion.
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Last edited by GateCrusher420; December 23rd, 2012 at 12:33 PM.
Red drives aren't worth it if you don't have actual NAS hardware imo, and N-class drives will never be worth it for home use. I'd just get 7200RPM Blue drives. My suggestion would be to get a large-mid or full tower case, it doesn't have to be expensive but you'll want a lot of (adjacent) 5.25" bays, 6 would be ideal. Don't worry about internal or external 3.5" bays, you won't be using them most likely. Get something like this or this. That's the cheapest way you'll get hot-swap capability. If you're doing a lot of video stuff it might be worth it to consider RAID 0+1 for some additional speed. For the OS, I've heard good things about Ubuntu and ZFS from people who definitely know what they're talking about, so I'd look into that if I were you. Also see about the ability to set up iSCSI targets for when you get your server project going. For a motherboard you probably don't need much. You'll be doing all the raid in software through ubuntu (Raid 1/0+1 aren't exactly rocket science, no need to dump on a fancy raid board). Just make sure to have at least 1 open PCI-E slot for an add-on card later if you need more SATA ports. eSATA wouldn't be a bad idea in case you decide to add an external RAID or JBOD enclosure later, nor would USB 3.0. Biggest thing I think would be making sure the power supply has sufficient molex and SATA connectors to connect to all your drivers (You can probably find enough SATA connectors for your initial 5 drives, but you will need adapters if you want to add too many more) and sufficient current on the 3.5v and 5v rails to handle all the drives.
EDIT: I just tried to find a 2.5" 1TB 7200RPM hard drive, and they don't seem to exist short of enterprise-class drives. Best you'll find in that department is 750GB. I'd still go for 2.5" though, you can fit a lot more. The best you'll get with in a case with 6 5.25" bays with 3.5" drives is 9 drives, which is a fair amount but doesn't leave a ton of room for expansion without moving some drives internal.
Signatures are for scrubs.
Last edited by D3matt; December 23rd, 2012 at 02:53 PM.
Red drives aren't worth it if you don't have actual NAS hardware imo, and N-class drives will never be worth it for home use. I'd just get 7200RPM Blue drives. My suggestion would be to get a large-mid or full tower case, it doesn't have to be expensive but you'll want a lot of (adjacent) 5.25" bays, 6 would be ideal. Don't worry about internal or external 3.5" bays, you won't be using them most likely. Get something like this or this. That's the cheapest way you'll get hot-swap capability. If you're doing a lot of video stuff it might be worth it to consider RAID 0+1 for some additional speed. For the OS, I've heard good things about Ubuntu and ZFS from people who definitely know what they're talking about, so I'd look into that if I were you. Also see about the ability to set up iSCSI targets for when you get your server project going. For a motherboard you probably don't need much. You'll be doing all the raid in software through ubuntu (Raid 1/0+1 aren't exactly rocket science, no need to dump on a fancy raid board). Just make sure to have at least 1 open PCI-E slot for an add-on card later if you need more SATA ports. eSATA wouldn't be a bad idea in case you decide to add an external RAID or JBOD enclosure later, nor would USB 3.0. Biggest thing I think would be making sure the power supply has sufficient molex and SATA connectors to connect to all your drivers (You can probably find enough SATA connectors for your initial 5 drives, but you will need adapters if you want to add too many more) and sufficient current on the 3.5v and 5v rails to handle all the drives.
EDIT: I just tried to find a 2.5" 1TB 7200RPM hard drive, and they don't seem to exist short of enterprise-class drives. Best you'll find in that department is 750GB. I'd still go for 2.5" though, you can fit a lot more. The best you'll get with in a case with 6 5.25" bays with 3.5" drives is 9 drives, which is a fair amount but doesn't leave a ton of room for expansion without moving some drives internal.
I understood pretty much everything you just said, but it's been a long day at work...is there anyway you could break down the parts I should consider getting? Don't need links...but a list of stuff would make it easier to search. If you can recommend a PSU, that would be awesome.
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Same parts you need for any other PC. A case, a PSU, a motherboard and CPU (An Atom board should be plenty for this), RAM, drive bays like what I linked above, and of course the hard drives. DVD drive optional for installing the OS, if you have an external (Or can just make a bootable USB drive, google it) just use that, you'll save 5.25" bay space, and SATA and power connectors.
PSU isn't really all that important. I'd just buy a decent low-wattage power supply. Something reputable. Maybe an Antec Gold Eco or something. You can always replace it if you end up with like 16 drives and need more power, it never hurt anybody to have an extra PSU lying around (Great tool for troubleshooting, I wish I had an extra PSU that wasn't garbage)
I would rethink that bundle. You do not want such a small case. And you don't need a separate eSATA card, unless you've got a good reason to need 2 extra eSATA ports. I'd consider 7200RPM drives but that's up to you.
I'd stay away from any sort of green drives in a server. They have a tendency to die when used in a file server.
You might also want to instead look into a hardware RAID card like an areca with boatloads of onboard cache.
I'll look into it. I have an older Dell Optiplex that I currently have populated with an 80GB drive and a 160GB drive. It's setup for a home network storage solution right now with FreeNAS, but I'm looking into other alternatives. I think what I am going to do is grab that 4 x 2.5" bay extender with 4 drives + spares and a RAID card. And then run a software raid of two large drives in the internal bays. Sound like a plan? 'tis cheaper too...lol.
The Optiplex 320 has two 5.25" external bays which in turn can result in 8 total drives + 2 more on the inside. I know it has one PCIe x16 slot that I can use for an x8 RAID card. It also has other PCI slots for older RAID cards.
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Last edited by GateCrusher420; December 24th, 2012 at 10:37 AM.
I REALLY dislike software raids. If you're running one for daily use its fine, but once you start getting into server use its best to stay away from them
I REALLY dislike software raids. If you're running one for daily use its fine, but once you start getting into server use its best to stay away from them
The large drives will rarely get used. They will only be used for archiving the files on the smaller drives. I will most likely have a software based drive controller that will controll when those drives run.
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Looking to Build Storage Server/Filer 
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