# Building a Large NAS



## jojosnight (Feb 8, 2008)

I am planning on building a large storage server running on raid 6 for everyone in my household. I have been doing some research and have some experience in building my own desktops. Listed below are the components I have come up with, any input would be welcomed and appreciated. Thank you in advance for your comments. Also I was thinking about using some type of free operating system to run the whole thing like FREENAS.

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Raid Controller Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116043

3ware 9650SE-8LPML PCI Express SATA II Controller Card RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, Single Disk, JBOD - Retail
$499.99
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BBU For Raid Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116051

3ware BBU-MODULE-03 Battery Backup Unit for 3ware 9650SE SATA II HW RAID Controllers - Retail
$95.99
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Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811294001

Tagan Aplus Black Pearl Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case
$269.99
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PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182017

Rosewill RP550-2 ATX12V v2.01 550W Power Supply 115/230 V CSA,UL,TUV, FCC
$56.99
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Drives X (8)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148278

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST31000340NS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$249.99 X (8) $1999.92
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Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186015

Foxconn 925A01-8EKRS LGA 775 Intel 925X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$49.99
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CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116004

Intel Pentium 4 631 Cedar Mill 3.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Single-Core Processor
$79.99
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Memmory 4G total

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141241

pqi TURBO 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
$75.99
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Total
$3128.85


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## dannyn (Nov 9, 2007)

How many people are living with you.


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## jojosnight (Feb 8, 2008)

Right now 5 people will be storing data to the NAS. I know it is quite large and i could lower cost by shrinking the size but this is the amount of storage that i want to future proof the house for a while. With 4 desktops and 3 laptops the other reason for this monster is to have a central location for all media and important files and for easy backup of the files.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

And how exactly are you going to backup this mass of data? Try to remember, RAID of any level is NOT backup. You have a mountain of data and no backup scheme.


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## dannyn (Nov 9, 2007)

That power supply is junk and wont run 8 hard drives.
8TB is A TON for a 5 person family..
What operating system are you going to run.


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## jojosnight (Feb 8, 2008)

I guess i misspoke when i used the word backup i meant more data safety by using the raid 6 array i was under the impression that i could have a dual drive failure and not be at risk of loosing any data. This would be much safer than what i am running now which is seperate hard drives on seperate computers with no redundancy whatsoever. Currently all my machines run windows xp sp2 and are networked to share files between users. I was looking at using freenas for this setup. I will start looking at different P/S's since you feel the one listed will not be sufficient, any suggestions would be helpfull. I was also wondering with this setup is the amount of ram an overkill and should i be looking at a dual or quad core processor instead since there may be multiple users accessing files simultaneously or does that not matter. Once again thank you for your suggestions in advance.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I think you really need to think about what you're doing. All you're protecting against is a hardware failure. However, most data is lost to software glitches or malware. Either of those will happily delete the only copy of your data from you nice new RAID array.

Remember: Data you don't have at least two copies of is data you don't care about.


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## jeffroimms (Jun 9, 2008)

Try looking at the Netgear ReadyNAS device - its definately a possible solution and the data can also be backed up across the devices - automated - and has pretty much all the facilities built into MS Small Business Server. The OS is Linux based and has a proprietory RAID X system which would allow two drives to fail.

But less of me going on about them - and yes I have spent my own money on TWO - have a look at the netgear website.

Hope this helps


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

All of that hardware is pretty much crap...sorry to be so blunt. I am sure most of it is also not compatible with FREENAS either. JW is right about the data issues and this NOT being a viable backup solution or any guarentee that your data will be safe. Here is a site dedicated to small home networks and has some interesting stuff on home built NAS solutions:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/85/93/


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## jeffroimms (Jun 9, 2008)

Firstly there is no Guarantee of "SAFE DATA", Hardware can be faulty, Software is inherently "buggy", Paper versions can be burnt, CD\DVDs can melt and the brain can suffer a multitude of failures. So a degree of failure should always be factored into any solution - or set of solutions if your information is that important!

The ReadyNAS started as a "homebrew" type project through a company called INFRANT who had an absolutely fantastic product but was without the staff and know-how to distribute it on an international scale. This is where Netgear steps in and buys up the product and markets it to the international arena.

http://www.netgear.co.uk/desktop_network_storage_rnd4450.php

The device should also appeal to your "free software" background as its underlying o/s is Linux based.

If its important data you should have at least three copies!


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

What i would change in there rather than relying on a raid, is just run SATA in the system. Better yet you wont even need 4gb or ram. I currently own a Western Digital MybookWorld 1TB NAS with 5 people in the home. This 1TB i dont even need as were only using about 200 gb on the whole. Later, I do plan on building my own home server out of the peice using an old desktop i have and running it as a headless unit and just running two drives on SATA. It will have an 80gb hd running xp pro and a 500gb drive for the storage. This of course is to be attached to a linksys router. I have the mission critical data pooled from local backups (which are created by batch files and folders will be password protected) and they are packaged into rar files which are also password protected then shipped up to an ftp server for offsite storage (this is also run by a backup batch file). 
So why am i saying all this blah blah blah? Its because you need WAY less than what your looking at for a good reliable solution. You could just do what i am and build one out of a beige box with SATA and just send critical data to an offsite system like amazon jungledisk. That can be found here: http://www.jungledisk.com/ .


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## Soundy (Feb 17, 2006)

Unless you're in it for the learning and experience, I'd second the vote for a ReadyNAS or other similar pre-built solution. It'll be cheaper overall, more reliable, and far less hassle.

A friend of mine is using a DROBO system at home and loves it. The base unit is USB, but you can share it through an existing PC, or get their dedicated network link unit.


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## Pookie (Dec 31, 2004)

We have 1800 users at work and our nas is only 6 tb (50% free atm). I think you might be over-estimating how much space you need.
And I second you need a back-up option...tape is still a good option.

When you refer to all the eq being junk did you also mean the raid controller card as the reviews Ive read rate it as pretty decent


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