[erikbp]

Hi
I’m in the process of compiling my own htpc/nas and I could need some advice. So far I have chosen the following hardware:

• ASUS E35M1-I DELUXE
• Linkworld 920-01 C.2128
• Kingston ValueRAM 2 x 2 GB
• WD AV WD1600AVJS 160 GB

The reason that I’ve chosen the Asus board is because it has 5 sata ports which I think is great because I want to use this box as a nas. The other parts have been chosen by cost. I have very little experience when it comes to htpc’s so I would like your opinions on this configuration. Also will this system run under linux? I would like to run linux but if I have to run windows it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

I’ve also looked at the micro ATX counterparts to this board because they are cheaper, but I can’t find a cheap case that’s small enough. Do have any suggestions to a micro ATX case or have any other opinions on micro ATX?

[User 77203]

I dont think that case will be suitable. 150W PSU might struggle to power to 5 hard drives. A quick google shows that case only supports one hard drive.

[erikbp]

I was never my intention to run five hdd of that psu. My plan is buy a separate harddrive case with a psu at a later time.

My dream would be a compact case with capacity for five drives and my htpc, something like this. But it's to expensive for me.

[User 77203]

i looked at going down building my own NAS but ended up buying a Synology.

If in the future add a case with 4/5 drives, just think of the noise coming from your nas/htpc.

This is the cheapest NAS case ive seen so far.
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12789

[erikbp]

i looked at going down building my own NAS but ended up buying a Synology.

If in the future add a case with 4/5 drives, just think of the noise coming from your nas/htpc.

This is the cheapest NAS case ive seen so far.
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12789

Is 4-5 drive really that noisy?

[User 77203]

well my synology has 4 x 3.5 sata drives and the specs say:

•Power Consumption3: 42.9W(Access); 16W(HDD Hibernation)
•Noise Level2：21.7dB(A)

But when its booting up and do some processing i.e. moving a file, its quite loud. On play back not to bad unless the movie has a quiet scene. Thats why my nas is in a different room.

[erikbp]

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't noise depend a lot on the case that you are using? Lets say if i can afford the Array R2 and WD green drives do you think that noise still be a problem?

[User 77203]

yes mate. my drives are samsung low power jobbies.

Most of the noise will come from fans. My main HTPC is a small matx desktop case but the fan in the psu was very loud. I brought a 80 plus small factor psu for the case which cut down the noise by alot. The main noise from my NAS is the fans too.

Im not an expert on fans but from my understanding is that although you can buy quiet fans but the bigger the fan the less noise they make. They dont need to work as hard to move the same amount of air for cooling so they dont make as much noise.

I would recommend that you keep a NAS and a HTPC as 2 seperate devices. Also in the future if you decide to add further HTPC's (my case the bedroom) then it just hooks up to the nas. So the nas can be kept anywhere and so the case does not need to look sexy!

[erikbp]

No doubt that a separate htpc and nas would be the best solution but i'm concerned about cost. Most 4 bay nas seem expensive.

[User 77203]

they always will and at some point you will need to bite the bullet but that can happen a few years down the line.

Since your starting out, i would firstly spend the cash on a 2TB drive, they are quite cheap now. Partition the drive into 2 partitions. The first partition should be quite small which will contain the OS and any other apps you want to install. The second partition will store your media files i.e. music, movies, etc.

As time moves on and you need extra storage, you can always hang an external hard drive off the back. You can either buy a lead which will convert your internal sata port to a external esata for the external hardrive. Or just use a usb HD. Since an external HD is used then it will come with it own power supply and no fans.

This way might suit your needs at the moment and the case can be even smaller and alot cheaper with a low power fanless psu.

When your ready for a stand alone htpc then you can recycle your motherboard as a dedicated NAS.

[erikbp]

Not that i don't trust djashjones but i would like to get other peoples opinion on if combining a htpc and a nas is a bad idea?

[xecutionx]

Not that i don't trust djashjones but i would like to get other peoples opinion on if combining a htpc and a nas is a bad idea?

Don't do it. I was faced with the same decision a month and a half ago and I opted to build an unraid server. I'm very surprised at the performance, and I have parity protection so if a drive fails I can recover that data. I'm also running sabnzbd (nzb download client), Couch Potato (automated movie downloader; you keep a list of movies and the program searches periodically for what you want, according to quality like dvd rip, screener and hd resolutions), Sick Beard (internet PVR, automatically downloads a TV Show when it is aired, finds all episodes, and organizes it into folders/renames according to thetvdb) and Transmission (torrent client) on the box, all accessible via webui. You can get away with a very cheap NAS build. My build is expandable to 14 drives (I only have 5 at the moment). It is using an atom processor so it is very power conservative.

I have 3x 1.5tb Samsung drives
1x 2tb Samsung drive
1x 2tb Samsung drive for parity

In total, 6.50tb of space. I didn't buy the drives all at once; I've been collecting over the past year and a half. You can use this for ideas: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=7998.0

It will cost you more money now, but you will be set for many years to come. With the current 2 tb drives, my current setup can hold up to 26tb with parity protection; even more with larger hard drives.

I'd use eskro's guide to build a nice little, standalone HTPC. I think he needs to update the guide to include the new zacate hardware (I can be wrong through).

[User 77203]

Not that i don't trust djashjones but i would like to get other peoples opinion on if combining a htpc and a nas is a bad idea?

good idea and thank god some one else has replied. the more the merrier

[RuZleBiFf]

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't noise depend a lot on the case that you are using? Lets say if i can afford the Array R2 and WD green drives do you think that noise still be a problem?

Never use those HDD's in a NAS running RAID.
They can't handle more than 1 connection at the time, and are generally crap for running in RAID. For normal use they are great

[osirisjem]

Never use those HDD's in a NAS running RAID.
They can't handle more than 1 connection at the time, and are generally crap for running in RAID. For normal use they are great

RAID ?
UNRAID seems to be a better way for NAS for Media.