The 12TB nas project, ISO parts review/wisdom

Nattan920 · Aug 8, 2012

Well I have picked the parts Id like some feedback on what you think I should change if anything. Or have a general suggestion for me please let me know, this will be my first major storage build and any foresight to save me headaches in the future would be greatly appreciated.

The Goal:
I plan to run a raid 5 storage server(considering upping the card and getting an extra drive for raid 6) either a WHS, linux or freenas depending on how easily i can get drivers for the raid-card and other stuff haven't really looked into it that much
( i know the case and power supply are missing but they are not what i am concerned about at this point ).

Code:

12TB nas

[COLOR="Red"]Qty.[/COLOR]	Image	Product Description	Unit Price	Savings	Total Price
[COLOR="red"]4[/COLOR]		
[URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844"]Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal [/URL]Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$179.99	-$30.00 Instant	$599.96

[COLOR="Red"]2[/COLOR]		
[URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146742"]Mushkin Enhanced 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model 991573[/URL]
$12.99	 	$25.98

[COLOR="Red"]1[/COLOR]		
[URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130305"]MSI G41M-P23 LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard[/URL]
$49.99	 	$49.99

[COLOR="red"]1	[/COLOR]	
Refurbished: [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116442"]Intel Pentium E2200 Conroe 2.2GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor E2200 (SLA8X)[/URL]
$69.99	-$37.00 Instant	$32.99

[COLOR="red"]1[/COLOR]		
[URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227510"]OCZ Onyx Series OCZSSD2-1ONX32G 2.5" 32GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD[/URL])
$64.99	-$15.00 Instant	$49.99

[COLOR="Red"]============
Scrapped Parts
============[/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"]1[/COLOR]		
[URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816129087"]StarTech PEXSAT34 PCI Express Low Profile Ready SATA III (6.0Gb/s) 4-Port SATA and 1-Port eSATA Controller Card[/URL]
$115.99	 	$115.99

Subtotal:	$874.90

terran2k · Aug 8, 2012

I would get a hardware raid card with battery backup and large onboard cache.

that startech card isnt a raid card, looks just to be sata expansion card.

Automata · Aug 8, 2012

I would step up the hardware to a newer generation. The cost shouldn't be a large difference and it will be useful for longer. You should also up the memory since that is cheap now. Once DDR3 goes out of production, prices spike up.

That "RAID" card is also complete junk, don't buy it. If you want hardware RAID, we can point you in a better direction. If you want to do software RAID, get a motherboard that supports it or use an operating system that can do it.

Nattan920 · Aug 8, 2012

thideras said:
I would step up the hardware to a newer generation. The cost shouldn't be a large difference and it will be useful for longer. You should also up the memory since that is cheap now. Once DDR3 goes out of production, prices spike up.

That "RAID" card is also complete junk, don't buy it. If you want hardware RAID, we can point you in a better direction. If you want to do software RAID, get a motherboard that supports it or use an operating system that can do it.

newer hardware in terms of a long term investment? in my experience i have not had a disk harddrive last longer than 6 years, so id probably be replacing this system in 3-5 years depending on how smoothly things are running.

and i realize that it isnt "raid" exactly but i was thinking it would be easier to replace the controller than find a compatible motherboard if the either failed.

terran2k said:
I would get a hardware raid card with battery backup and large onboard cache.

that startech card isnt a raid card, looks just to be sata expansion card.

what raid cards would you suggest?

Automata · Aug 8, 2012

Nattan920 said:
newer hardware in terms of a long term investment? in my experience i have not had a disk harddrive last longer than 6 years, so id probably be replacing this system in 3-5 years depending on how smoothly things are running.

I meant with the processor and motherboard choice. 775 is very old technology and the price shouldn't be too much different.

and i realize that it isnt "raid" exactly but i was thinking it would be easier to replace the controller than find a compatible motherboard if the either failed.

I don't think replacing a junk card would be cheaper or easier than replacing a motherboard. If you are worried about the mobility of the array, go with software RAID. It will work on any system that can read it. Mdadm or ZFS would be great options.

petteyg359 · Aug 8, 2012

Nattan920 said:
what raid cards would you suggest?

I don't have much experience having only used one real RAID card, but I was extremely happy with my Areca 1220 card. Their website doesn't list anything for SATA 3 (it seems they've discontinued all SATA products), but if you've got SAS->SATA adapter cables they've got plenty of options.

Automata · Aug 8, 2012

IBM M1015 is a great card for cheap. I'm doing a series of NAS tests and it cost me $70.

Nattan920 · Aug 8, 2012

thideras said:
IBM M1015 is a great card for cheap. I'm doing a series of NAS tests and it cost me $70.

im confused it only has 2 connections but id need to hook up 4 drives how would that work? are there like sas to 2 sata cables?

Automata · Aug 8, 2012

The card has two SAS SFF-8086 connectors, which each support 4 SATA/SAS drives through a breakout cable. You can run 8 drives off a stock M1015, and way more if you use a SAS expander. Like these:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6837422#post6837422 (RAID card with breakout cables)
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6845358#post6845358 (SAS expander with breakout cables)

Nattan920 · Aug 8, 2012

at this point would it be better just to upgrade the cpu/motherboard and run software raid with 4-8GB ram, as the server would really only be used to store tv shows/movies and music
so the load would never be high

Automata · Aug 8, 2012

With as few hard drives as you are running and with the load being very low, yes, I think that would be a better option.

Sir Barton · Aug 9, 2012

Which OS will you be running? If youre running a distro of some sorts, mdadm is the way to fly. The M1015 card Thiddy mentioned above is very nice, as is its elder cousin, the 1068e. I have a 1068e card in my server right now, for $30, it fits my needs to a T. Is this server going to be for storage purposes only? Do you plan on implementing any additional services in the near future?

txus.palacios · Aug 10, 2012

thideras said:
IBM M1015 is a great card for cheap. I'm doing a series of NAS tests and it cost me $70.

Wow! Where did you get such a bargain? Hunting eBay?

I couldn't find one for less than $160, not in eBay.com, not in any European eBay!

I had to get a PERC 5/i for 55 EUR and call it a day.

thideras said:
I meant with the processor and motherboard choice. 775 is very old technology and the price shouldn't be too much different.

This. Getting a 775 right now is to pour money down the sink.

@OT, if I were you I'd go mdadm. Buy as much RAM as you can, even if you are not going to use it. DDR3 is dirt cheap now. Look at DDR2. DDR3 will eventually get to DDR2 prices. Buy as much as your motherboard and your wallet can handle right now.

The 12TB nas project, ISO parts review/wisdom

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