2014-11-22, 20:41
As a storage solution, I first got this DatOptic enclosure. It's great in many ways and I LOVE the drive bays, but it really hasn't behaved as I would like. The drives spinning up and down wreak havoc trying to watch movies. When I use the little program "Keep Drive Spinning", then they're going 24/7, unless I eject the drives remotely, which is a pain, and shut the enclosure down.
So now I'm thinking of going the NAS route instead, and building my own. This is my first build of any kind, so I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on the plan. Things I'm looking for:
-- mini-ITX form factor should be big enough
-- Capacity for 6 or more drives
-- Don't care about speed that much, as long as it can serve video
-- Energy efficiency
-- Use as a Time Machine backup
-- Planning to run FreeNAS
Case: Lian Li PC-Q25 seems like a good choice. It has a backplane for 5 drives, space for a few more, and reportedly is good at keeping cool. Actually, I thought about repurposing my DatOptic case instead of selling that unit, but there is no motherboard mounting system and building that in is a bit more than I want to get into. $95
Motherboard/CPU: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard is a popular one for NAS systems. It has a low-power quad-core Intel Atom processor (there is also a version with the 8-core Atom, but for purely servering that probably isn't necessary), tons of SATA ports, Intel LAN controller which apparently is needed, IPMI for remotely setting it up, and other good features. Downside is only 2 USB2 ports, but I can live with that. $280
RAM: This is where I'm unsure. i'm planning to use FreeNAS, which I understand likes a lot of RAM, but I don't really care about maximizing speed so much. So 8 GB may be enough. Another issue is ECC, This board supports ECC RAM, but I read a lot of different opinions on the need for it. It is more expensive. Right now I'm thinking of Crucial, 2x 4 GB ECC, for about $114.
Power supply: Silverstone ST45SF-G 450 W SFX12: This is an efficient (80 plus Gold certified), small-form factor supply. The latter is important for this case as I have read. 450 watts should be plenty and be around the 50% load where efficiency and quiet are maximized. I just don't know about what cables come with it, and how many SATA drives I can plug into. The case has a backplane with 3 molex connectors for powering 5 of the drives, the others would need their own SATA power connectors. $91
Total cost would be about $580, not counting drives. I would appreciate any suggestions or observations.
So now I'm thinking of going the NAS route instead, and building my own. This is my first build of any kind, so I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on the plan. Things I'm looking for:
-- mini-ITX form factor should be big enough
-- Capacity for 6 or more drives
-- Don't care about speed that much, as long as it can serve video
-- Energy efficiency
-- Use as a Time Machine backup
-- Planning to run FreeNAS
Case: Lian Li PC-Q25 seems like a good choice. It has a backplane for 5 drives, space for a few more, and reportedly is good at keeping cool. Actually, I thought about repurposing my DatOptic case instead of selling that unit, but there is no motherboard mounting system and building that in is a bit more than I want to get into. $95
Motherboard/CPU: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard is a popular one for NAS systems. It has a low-power quad-core Intel Atom processor (there is also a version with the 8-core Atom, but for purely servering that probably isn't necessary), tons of SATA ports, Intel LAN controller which apparently is needed, IPMI for remotely setting it up, and other good features. Downside is only 2 USB2 ports, but I can live with that. $280
RAM: This is where I'm unsure. i'm planning to use FreeNAS, which I understand likes a lot of RAM, but I don't really care about maximizing speed so much. So 8 GB may be enough. Another issue is ECC, This board supports ECC RAM, but I read a lot of different opinions on the need for it. It is more expensive. Right now I'm thinking of Crucial, 2x 4 GB ECC, for about $114.
Power supply: Silverstone ST45SF-G 450 W SFX12: This is an efficient (80 plus Gold certified), small-form factor supply. The latter is important for this case as I have read. 450 watts should be plenty and be around the 50% load where efficiency and quiet are maximized. I just don't know about what cables come with it, and how many SATA drives I can plug into. The case has a backplane with 3 molex connectors for powering 5 of the drives, the others would need their own SATA power connectors. $91
Total cost would be about $580, not counting drives. I would appreciate any suggestions or observations.
