[Dougie Fresh]

WHS2011 + FlexRAID is a pretty cheap solution. You're getting a somewhat stripped down Windows Server 2008 R2 for $50 and FlexRAID is another $60. It all just works if Windows is what you're used to.

Also look at Amahi.

[n1md4]

Linux seems to have a lot of distributions. Hard to decide for a novice.

Debian[0] or CentOS[1] would be my choices, mostly as they both have sane package managers, are well established, and have huge community support channels.

If you just want something that works, maybe an all-in-one software solution like FreeNAS would be the answer.

These 6 drives you have, how much space are you looking to get out of them? Also, what are you wanting to achive with them, read/write speeds, redundancy, capacity, etc, etc. Your answer will ultimately determine your ideal RAID level, and the more accurately you can answer these question, the better suited others will be to assist.

Personally, I'd go with something like Debian RAID10 with MySQL media sharing thing[3] (with a remote backup).

[0] http://www.debian.org
[1] http://www.centos.org
[2] http://www.freenas.org
[3] http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...sing_MySQL

---

p.s.

Rereading your first post ... do these 6 drives already have data on them? If that's the case RAIDing is not an option, without shuffling a lot of data around, as building a RAID on them will wipe the data. Alternatively then, I'd get an SSD with Debian on it, and mount each drive appropriately, and then do the MySQL library sharing to export the data .. and make sure all your network is gigabit compatible

[loot87]

I went with an Antec 1200 V3. Very quiet unless I'm encoding. I use an AMD Phantom on a Gigabyte 6x SATA mobo. I run Windows 7, but I don't do RAID. I figure that I can re-rip my DVDs if a drive goes down, but that is admittedly a pain. It's happened before and it will happen again. But as capacities have increased, I've decommissioned the smaller, older drives before they've gone bad. I run a daily Cygwin script to catalog what's on every drive so I'll know what I've lost.

How do current RAID solutions do with drives that are not the same capacity, manufacturer or I/O? That could be an issue to keep in mind.

It should be a cool experience though. Making a server is a lot of fun. Hopefully NAS prices come down as more normal folks buy them. They are ridiculously priced right now.

[Dougie Fresh]

Some software RAID/pooling solutions will not require you to move the data and can support having different HDD brands/sizes, such as FlexRAID which I mentioned previously. I would stay away from hardware RAID or software RAID that uses proprietary file/disk formats. You want to be able to read a data drive in another PC should your server's hardware die. Remember, this is a media server not an enterprise server where uptime is critical above all else. Keep It Simple.

[Harro]

@dougie fresh:
thanks for case recommendations. Will take a look at it.
And i know that RAID is not the best defense against data. But it gives enough security to me, since i just need it for movies not personal recordings.

@Richard39
already read about unraid but the writing speed of unraid is a little low. 30mb/s is not very much.

Don't know what you are talking about with Unraid speeds. Here are some pics from my desktop to my Unraid box to and from.

From Unraid to desktop


From desktop to Unraid

[GortWillSaveUs]

But Harro,..you didn't mention that you've got gold plated ethernet cables,..haha

Thanks for sharing your sceenshots Harro,...it proves there's hope for those of us that still haven't upgraded to REAL hardware.

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I recommend disParity: http://www.vilett.com/disParity

Works with existing file structures. This provides the main benefit of RAID (protection against data loss due to drive failure) without having deal with a rebuilding RAID arrays (or with the added power and heat of spinning all of your drives to access any file). Another upside is you have access to all of the files on working disks. So in a scenario where you have 4 drives + 1 parity drive, and the parity drive AND a regular drive fail, you still have access to 3/4 of your data drive. In RAID 5, all would be lost.

Sounds cool,...but,...it's still beta.
and beta "anything" makes me leery to basically be a guinea pig with my data.
However! I would test it out when they're at version 1.1+ (notice I didn't say version 1.0).
Like that it's free!

I'd recommend unRaid for now.

[n1md4]

Further to my previous post, this is an interesting thread, something I'm looking to do myself soon. Found this, some others may find it useful too http://www.nasstorageserver.com/2013/02/...-snapraid/ ...and there's the 7 pager http://www.avsforum.com/t/1429148/unraid-or-flexraid

[Harro]

But Harro,..you didn't mention that you've got gold plated ethernet cables,..haha

Thanks for sharing your sceenshots Harro,...it proves there's hope for those of us that still haven't upgraded to REAL hardware.
I'd recommend unRaid for now.

I did have slower read and writes but looking through the forum and Limetech I found this to add to my "go" script

Code:

cd /boot/packages && find . -name '*.auto_install' -type f -print | sort | xargs -n1 sh -c
sysctl vm.highmem_is_dirtyable=1

Since adding that my reads and writes have gone from 60-70 to what you see in my screenshots

[CronosTitan]

So far , so good. Heres what I am going to order ASRock H77 Pro4, INTEL Celeron G1610, 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3, BE-QUIET! System Power 7 300W, Samsung SSD 840 120GB. Now Im in search for the right ATX case.

@n1md4:
If I understand you right debian would be the best solution for me as beginner OR the most complete s/w for the server? I mean there are easy to use linux versions where I just have to use a GUI. Learning linux is not the problem, because I want to, but time is problem cos I want to setup the server fast.

[n1md4]

If I understand you right debian would be the best solution for me as beginner OR the most complete s/w for the server? I mean there are easy to use linux versions where I just have to use a GUI. Learning linux is not the problem, because I want to, but time is problem cos I want to setup the server fast.

If you're setting up a server, a GUI is an unnecessary drain of resources. It's not too hard to setup a server; there are certainly plenty of guides. I'd not call it a "complete" solution though, it's not turn-key, you'd have to configure/install services before they'd become available. If you're really wanting to go this route, let me know, and I'll be happy to dig up some useful guides.

If I understand you correctly though, you're wanting to keep the data on these drives, and for that I'd go with Snap or FlexRAID; personally I use FOSS derivatives where I can. If you do use one of these solutions, decent solutions have been previously posted. I'd be reading up on how to set up one of those systems.

Edit: I unappropriately referred to a GUI as a Desktop Environment, a GUI in the form of a web front-web is perfectly decent.

[CronosTitan]

I want to keep the data definitely. But all this is new to me so I need time to read about it.

[Dougie Fresh]

If you want a Linux media server with a GUI look at Amahi. If you want a Windows server with a GUI look at Windows Home Server 2011 (it's under $50).

[GortWillSaveUs]

I mean there are easy to use linux versions where I just have to use a GUI. Learning linux is not the problem, because I want to, but time is problem cos I want to setup the server fast.

This is only my opinion,...but,..I would not recommend using an operating system if you are totally unfamiliar with it.
Setting up a critical server that holds all your data is not the time to "learn" Linux.
and this is going to sound strange,.....but at the same time, this is exactly the time to learn Linux.
When something is this critical, you will learn real fast.

If you are good with DOS commands,..then you shouldn't have to too many problems.
Are you familiar with; grep, top, ps, and especially vi? You will need these commands, especially vi
The great thing is that you will get help, as one of the other posters offered,...and you can/should google everything you don't understand.

[CronosTitan]

Wow, I'm impressed. Didn't expect such a good help.

[Richard39]

this is where unraid comes out to be the good solution to start with at least , takes 5 mins to install , 20 mins doing minor setting up and its up and running , only time consuming bit is pre-clearing the drives