My Sub-$1000 DIY 16TB NAS (8 x 2TB)
#1
[PROJECT COMPLETE]
[STATUS: NAS built with 3x2TB HDDs, will expand as needed.]


Howdy all,

I've been backing up my blu-ray collection and ran out of space on my external hard drive (2TB Iomega eGo). I've been looking for a cheap way to add storage, but pre-built NASs are sooooo expensive compared to hard drive cost. So I decided to build my own for as cheaply as possible.

CLARIFICATION OF MY NEEDS:
This will be mainly to store backups of my Blu-ray discs to serve to XBMC. I will access the videos from my HTPC (Revo AR3700). The HTPC is mounted behind the TV, so I don't have room for storage next to it (which is why the NAS is going in my closet, next to my router). I will likely only be accessing one file at a time, since I can't really watch more than one movie at a time Tongue

Here's my goals:
  • Keep total cost under $1000 for 16TB ($200 for NAS + 8 x $100 for HDDs), not including shipping
  • 8 x SATA connections (16TB capacity)
  • Lower power usage, especially when idle (it's going to be on 24/7)
  • Case can be custom/improvised (it's going to be hidden in a closet anyway)

Here's my hardware list so far:
  • Hard drives: Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA WD20EARS (8 x $99.99)
    [2 purchased for $69.99 through Newegg promotion and rebate]
    [Ripped out the 2TB Samsung drive from the above mentioned external drive and mounted it on the rack (originally cost $99)]

  • Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-D525TUD Atom D525 Mini ITX ($101.34)
  • RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2 GB 1333MHz PC3-1066 DDR3 DIMM ($22.99)
  • SATA Controller Card: Vantec 6-Port SATA II 150 PCI Host Card with RAID ($31.99) [comes with 2 SATA cables]
  • Powers Supply: Athena Power Apollo 350W Micro ATX PSU ($29.99)*
  • SATA power cables: NZXT CB 44SATA-R Singled 4-Pin Molex to 4 SATA (2 x $7.99)
  • SATA data cables: iMicro SATA Data Cable-2pk. (3 x $2.92)
  • Custom Case Frame: 6-32 threaded rod (3' for $0.56) + 1/2" aluminum angle (6' for $3.92)
  • Case Screws: 24pk 6-32 hex nuts (2 x $1.18) + 14pk 6-32 x 3/8" screws ($1.18)
  • Custom Case Covering: Galvanized steel roofing panel ($5.00 for damaged piece)
Total cost without drives: $224.07
With Drives (three so far): $464.04

Notes:
  • Original choice for PSU was incredibly cheap ($9.99!), but it arrived dead. So I went and bought a higher power (350W) PSU for slightly more.*
  • My shipping costs have been relatively small since I took advantage of Amazon's Free Shipping. So far it's only $8.99 for the motherboard and $4.06 for the PSU. Total shipping: $13.05
  • Hardware for the frame was purchased locally. I paid sales tax, but didn't include that in the total cost.
  • I read that WD Green drives aren't very good for RAID setups since they have varying rpms, but I'm not sure how I'm going to configure the storage yet. I am planning on just having each drive as a separate volume, so different rpms wouldn't really matter.
    UPDATE: I decided that data redundancy isn't a priority. I would rather be able to only have one drive spinning while playing a movie. So, the current setup is for each drive to be a separate volume.
  • I plan on using an 40GB IDE hard drive I have on hand for the operating system installation (the motherboard has an IDE slot). I didn't include this in the cost because you could install the operating system on one of the SATA drives.
  • It will be interesting to try and get everything in a custom case as cheaply as possible. I'm debating whether or not to include the case price because I might use stuff I have on hand. I'll try to incorporate all of the costs.
    UPDATE: I constructed a simple rack out of threaded rod and aluminum angle (total size: 11" long, 8" deep, 12" high). I messed up on the hard drive spacing on one of the aluminum rails, so I had to re-drill some holes Blush Photos are posted below. I have an idea for the covering, but we'll see how it goes. Ventilation will be tricky.
    UPDATE2: I found a 12' steel roofing panel that was pretty damaged on one end, and bought it for $5. I bent out the corrugation and cut it into a case. I cut a hole for the input panel and the power supply. The roof is removable with side vents, so it creates a natural air flow for hot air rising. I've had it running for a week, and hadn't had a problem with overheating. Photos are posted below.
  • I don't have a power button, so I have to turn it on by shorting the power jumper with a screwdriver (how redneck of me). I turn it off via remote desktop. It hasn't really been a problem since it rarely gets turned on or off. I'll add a power button if I ever get annoyed by it.

Software Setup
  • Operating system is Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop 64-bit
  • Drives are separate volumes to allow for single disk reading/writing
  • Laptop-mode-tools installed to allow automatic disk idling
  • Media folders on each disk are shared via samba
  • Remote Desktop enabled to allow controlling from my laptop

Power Consumption
Idle: 56W
Watching a Movie: 60W
(measured with Kill-A-Watt, so this includes the PSU inefficiency)

Photo Gallery
  • Frame photos with two hard drives.
  • Case photos with three SATA drives and one IDE drive (for the operating system).

Conclusion
I overshot my budget for the NAS (without drives) by $24, mainly due to the increased power supply cost*. Oh well. I will be testing the power usage with my Kill-A-Watt over the next few weeks to see how it performs when idle and playing a movie. All in all, I think it turned out pretty well!

*Was originally going to use the SilenX IXM-2014 IXTREMA Pro 200W MicroATX PSU ($9.99), but it was dead on arrival. Purchased the Athena Power Apollo 350W Micro ATX PSU ($29.99) instead.

I'll keep updating this as my progress continues.
[EDIT 1/12/11: added clarification at top]
[EDIT 1/21/11: added hardware updates]
[EDIT 1/22/11: added frame photos and hardware updates]
[EDIT 1/31/11: added case photos and hardware/software updates]
[EDIT 2/7/11: added power consumption details]
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#2
If you DO plan on using RAID of any sort, you're f*cked with the WD Caviar drives.
If you aren't planning on using RAID of any sort, what the hell.

I was getting 4-5MB/s out of ZFS with them. Got some Seagate drives and everything is back to normal. My old IDE drives were running faster.

And if they're 4k then make sure they're aligned.
Code:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `xbmc_%`.* TO 'xbmc'@'%';
IF you have a mysql problem, find one of the 4 dozen threads already open.
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#3
That PSU sounds too good to be true and likley way underpowered for 8 drives (if I'm not mistaken it takes around 20-25 watts to spin up a drive, 15 or so sustained once spun up). I'd also strongly suggest going RAID if you are going to spend the time and money to set this up in the first place.

Just wait for Poofy to get a hold of this one. Smile
-stoli-
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#4
I would also advise against that PSU. It is tempting to create your NAS build as cheap as possible, but I would recommend putting a little bit more $$ into it and using higher quality components. This will help with data integrity in the long run!

I would recommend Antec EarthWatts PSUs. I would look at their 380w which should support your drives under load. You have to consider that the machine will be under a higher load when booting. If your PSU cannot supply enough power, then you will be in trouble from the start. Cheap PSUs can also corrupt data and ruin other components. $10.00 for a PSU that will potentially store multiple TBs of data... no thanks!

For a cheap, reliable, and suitable case... I would consider the Antec 300. This will do an adequate job cooling your drives (as you can purchase 2x120mm fans for the front for additional drive cooling). This case only has 6x3.5" drive bays... but there are 5.25" drive bays which you can convert to 3.5" with an adapter.

The Antec 300 also has pretty nice cable management, which you will need with 8 drives running SATA and power to everything.

I would shoot more towards $1200 (including shipping) but you can probably still get close to $1100 including the case. The Antec 300 is cheap. You may also want to consider the Samsung 2TB. They have been on sale for $80+FS from Newegg.


Good luck!
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#5
Quote:[NOTE: THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE PROJECT YET!]
[STATUS: Hardware puchased]

Shoot first, ask questions later...
Code:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `xbmc_%`.* TO 'xbmc'@'%';
IF you have a mysql problem, find one of the 4 dozen threads already open.
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#6
stoli Wrote:That PSU sounds too good to be true and likley way underpowered for 8 drives (if I'm not mistaken it takes around 20-25 watts to spin up a drive, 15 or so sustained once spun up).

Ya, I think the motherboard has the ability to stagger the hard drive spin ups. I will definitely need a bigger PSU if it turns out that's not the case.

Question about PSUs: Since the NAS will be idle most of the time, does having a higher capacity PSU hurt efficiency? For example, if I'm running at 50W most of the time, will a 200W PSU be more efficient than a 300W PSU? I'm assuming yes, so that's why I'm looking for a lower power PSU.
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#7
diafygi Wrote:[STATUS: Hardware puchased][/b][/COLOR]

Damn, I missed all the fun.

For the record, you need a bigger PSU. A single rail PSU. In fact, I will go so far to say BUY THIS PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Perfect amount of power without waste. For that many drives its perfect. Don't even boot with that cheap PSU, you might mess something up. For the record, a PSU is most efficient at half its maximum load.


I won't say anything else, even though I really want to, because the parts are bought.

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#8
poofyhairguy Wrote:Damn, I missed all the fun.

[snip]

I won't say anything else, even though I really want to, because the parts are bought.

It's got to be killing you! Laugh Laugh
-stoli-
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#9
darkscout Wrote:If you DO plan on using RAID of any sort, you're f*cked with the WD Caviar drives.
If you aren't planning on using RAID of any sort, what the hell.

I haven't purchased the hard drives yet. I'll probably add them as needed since the price will only go downward.

Honest question: I'm going to be using this just as a storage point for my media for XBMC, so why would I use RAID? I can just keep each drive as a separate volume and add each one to the XBMC source list.
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#10
stoli Wrote:It's got to be killing you! Laugh Laugh

Image

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#11
diafygi Wrote:Honest question: I'm going to be using this just as a storage point for my media for XBMC, so why would I use RAID? I can just keep each drive as a separate volume and add each one to the XBMC source list.

Because most forms of RAID protect the actual data on the disk, even when a hard drive dies.

Imagine one of your drives die, all your videos are gone right? Now imagine you can stick in another drive where the old dead one went and get back all that data on the dead drive. Sounds like magic? Nope, thats RAID.

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#12
poofyhairguy Wrote:Because most forms of RAID protect the actual data on the disk, even when a hard drive dies.

Doesn't mirroring reduce the total storage capacity of the NAS? If I wanted to use all 16TB, I would have to use RAID 0, right?
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#13
over the years you learn something: cheap turns into expensive!

Best of luck with your build, though.
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#14
diafygi Wrote:Doesn't mirroring reduce the total storage capacity of the NAS? If I wanted to use all 16TB, I would have to use RAID 0, right?

Mirroring is one form of RAID: RAID 1.

Another, much more popular form for a build like you are trying, is RAID 5. With RAID 5 one disk acts as a parity disk that protects the data on (up to) five other disks.

So that means that to protect all the data on multiple drives, you only lose the capacity of one drive.

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#15
poofyhairguy Wrote:So that means that to protect all the data on multiple drives, you only lose the capacity of one drive.

Ah, that's not too bad. I don't really understand how that works, but I'll consider it for the setup.
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My Sub-$1000 DIY 16TB NAS (8 x 2TB)0