Building a low cost NAS/file server

[rahuln]

Since my last email. I seem to have a failure of my ReadyNAS and am trying to see how to fix it! I had connected up an external HDD to back up some of my data onto it, but this happened even before I could do anything. I have my audio backed up as well as a lot of my my video, and a lot of essential stuff, but not ALL of it. I have to do some step by step diagnostics to figure out what happened and how to set it right.For now I will use streaming audio while I figure things out. Any factory default setting will wipe out all the data on the disks-so that is a plus for those who are going the Linux route. Bottom line, BACK UP,BACK UP, BACK UP!!

As long as your disks are intact and volumes are not degraded you should be able to recover from it. I don't have any experience with ReadyNAS but Synology has feature to restore the NAS OS without wiping the data.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Since my last email. I seem to have a failure of my ReadyNAS and am trying to see how to fix it! I had connected up an external HDD to back up some of my data onto it, but this happened even before I could do anything. I have my audio backed up as well as a lot of my my video, and a lot of essential stuff, but not ALL of it. I have to do some step by step diagnostics to figure out what happened and how to set it right.For now I will use streaming audio while I figure things out. Any factory default setting will wipe out all the data on the disks-so that is a plus for those who are going the Linux route.

Ouch, nasty, and this exposes the danger of using an array of disks, which most people do for added reliability: it is only as reliable as the single bits of hardware that control it.

Bottom line, BACK UP,BACK UP, BACK UP!!

Absolutely. Seconded, thirded, and fourthed! I was bitten and lost three or four months of data last year: a non-trivial hdd hardware problem, and the recovery quote was huge, far too much to pay for my new car pics and some music, and far too high for just about any non-commercial non-critical data. RAID is to do with performance and reliability, it is not backup.

Why don't you take the HDDs out and back them directly? Is it because you do not have another Linux machine? If that is the case this might help you 3 Ways to Access Your Linux Partitions From Windows which essentially shows that Linux FileSystem "can" be read in Windows by workarounds.

Yes, I was aware that there is software to read extn partitions from Windows, but, the last time I looked it was suggested as being reliable only for read. That will probably change in the future, but for now, the file system of preference for any data to be regularly accessed by Windows remains NTFS. This is why, although I now boot up WinXP only once in a very rare while, and have converted all my filesystems to ext4, my external backup drives are still NTFS: it is completely portable, who knows that, apart from backup, I might not want to plug my music collection directly, no fuss, into a Windows machine!

For working on Linux partitions if no Linux machine is available, I suggest a live-boot DVD. Recovering data from a set of RAIDed disks, though... specialist stuff :sad:... I wouldn't know where to start. Except being sure to mount everything read-only!

 

[GeorgeO]

Anyway I don't want to hijack this thread, all I wanted to do was to share my experience and if there are other options available that can avoid this, suggest those as options.

 

[mgdelhi]

Thank you for your suggestions guys. :thumbsup:

I will try a couple of options (with system & one 2TB HDD) before settling for one this weekend.

As of now, I am not considering:

* Pre-built NAS because of budget issues and to utilize existing hardware.
* Windows Home Server.

So the options are:

* UnRaid
* FlexRaid
* Debian
* Some other options suggested by Sam9s (need to check reviews / youtube videos).

.

 

[argho]

That's a great suggestion. Thanks. I was not willing to spend so much for it as of now. But if you talking about Netgear ReadyNAS RN10400, I think this is good and manageable @15k.

--------------------------------------

Where are you getting it for 15K ? That's a good price for a 4 Bay NAS.

You will find a 4 Bay NAS is :
- easy to use
- low maintainenance
- very low power consumption
- has many useful inbuilt features eg. auto startup & shutdown, torrent download manager etc.

If it is in your budget I would reccomend this rather than building a server.

My data is in 1 x 3TB and 2 x 2TB HDDs. Out of this, 3TB HDD is filled only with full blu ray disk movies (20-40gb each). If I leave it in HTPC and share just 2 drives on the file server, I guess I will not need to get the wiring done, they can be streamed over wifi. Is that right or am I missing something ?

I have got the wire and other stuff but getting an electrician to do such stuff is a pain in my area (can someone in Gurgaon suggest me an electrician?). If wiring is the only option, I will get it done somehow.

- As mentioned by others, a NAS will format your drives
- It is better to have matched drives (eg 4 * 2TB)

I would not reccomend streaming over wi-fi. It is better to use ethernet cabling. I did it myself at home. Just order a long ethernet cable from EBay, and fix it yourself. Does not need to be permanent wiring. You can simply run it along the corner of the room, hide it under sofas, carpets etc.

 

[cmsajith]

Can android be used as a reliable OS for NAS? Also what about Arch Linux for ARM processors?

 

[sam9s]

. I don't have any experience with ReadyNAS but Synology has feature to restore the NAS OS without wiping the data.

Essentially every NAS has a failure disk tolerance feature, (weather you use it/enable it is up to you) and how robust/extensive it is depends on the level of the product itself.

Personally parity based backup is the best I have seen, which is what UNRAID uses, you can back up up to 15 disks with just one parity drive, with a max of one disk failure tolerance.

Synology SHR is somewhat like parity but it consumes more space as a backup.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

Can android be used as a reliable OS for NAS? Also what about Arch Linux for ARM processors?

Yes arch is a good option for low cost sbc... single board computers. Basically as mentioned by sam earlier there is a difference between having a file server and a full fledged nas. If file serving over the network is all we want then any basic Linux distro is capable. If you're looking for redundancy, backups and higher speeds and throughput then nas option should be explored.

tapped on Note II cdma

 

[sam9s]

Thank you for your suggestions guys. :thumbsup:

I will try a couple of options (with system & one 2TB HDD) before settling for one this weekend.

As of now, I am not considering:

* Pre-built NAS because of budget issues and to utilize existing hardware.
* Windows Home Server.

So the options are:

* UnRaid
* FlexRaid
* Debian
* Some other options suggested by Sam9s (need to check reviews / youtube videos).

.

Before you take a decission I would like to bring certain more advantages/disadvantages of DIY NAS, using the old PC hardware,........... again just coz of my personal experience ...

1. Just because of it being a Desktop PC essentially, few features (imp features if you ask me) are difficult to achieve. for example Auto Shut down or startup. UNRAID has this option but it entirly depends on the kind of PC hardware it uses, which brings me to the second point. On unraid it was hard to get it to start up. to make it sleep was still easy.

With synology its just a matter of putting a check mark in front of the times you want the auto start/shut to happen

2. Power Consumption :: I am not sure how you are going to use your NAS, but NAS usually is a 24x7 running server, that stays in one corner, serving up your data to your devices, unnoticed. That will take power. A typical NAS PC with how so ever low profile you assemble will take 100-200 W when in use. In comparison to something like a pre build NAS. synology for that matter takes a mere 30W at full load, all disks spinning. Avg load is 15-20 W. Standby load is < 5W

That is also one of a solid reason for Auto shut/start feature. With a prebuilt NAS (I can vouch for synology) is a breeze and works like a charm.

3. PC Hardware generally is not meant for NAS, that is why we have server hardware, it is not recommended to run PC NAS 24x7. with a consumer PC grade hardware. High probability of failure is in the long run. Again personal experience my PC hardware gave away after 2 years of prolonged almost 24x7 usage.

4. Quite a lot of configuration needed if you have to run third party apps like again personally speaking, Logitech Media Server (which I just love love), had a learning curve to be able to smoothly run on UNRAID. On synology its just a matter of installing the app like in Android and you are good to go.

This applies to other services as well like torrent down-loader, Usernet services, UPnP server etc etc (believe me there are lot more than what I am mentioning here)

5. If you are running NAS via Pendrive, which in all probability you would and is kinda recommended, it it highly susceptible to damage in long run, yes my SONY Pendrive running UNRAID got corrupt twice. I had to re create it, and had to ask for my key from the owner on two occasions. This though was done, still was pain in the A#$, as I was without my NAS for those many days.

6. External media compatibility ::: With a DIY NAS, when you connect an external drive it is highly NAS OS dependent how it would take the drive. Drawback with UNRAID was, that I had to mount the drive manually in order to use it and show as a mapped drive in windows. Not sure about FreeNAS. This again was pain. With synology again its just a matter of plugging the drive and its there, very similar to Windows.

These are the few of many many reasons I ditched using UNRAID when I started using Synology (yes before the 4 bay I had purchased a 2 BAY synology which I was already using when I got this 4 BAY one)

At that time I was running both my NAS, and eventually after using Synology for like 2,3 months I was impressed enough to dump UNRAID (or DIY NAS for that matter) completely in favor of Synology.

Just do read my Synology thread as well to atleat know what it offers. With a limited budget you can go for a 2 bay pre built NAS, LIke synology DS213j.

Let me know if you need more information.

Regards
Sammy

 

[haisaikat]

sam, 1-2-3-5-6 are essentially "lessons" that I personally learnt from your both NAS threads and I fully agree.

But point 4 is not a problem on windows based NAS where installing something is very easy even for novice be it torrent, jdownloader with remote web based access.

However in my case I stopped using DLink NAS that I had was due to poorer file copy/read speeds and most importantly the drive formatting to ext.

 

[mgdelhi]

Where are you getting it for 15K ? That's a good price for a 4 Bay NAS.

If it is in your budget I would reccomend this rather than building a server.

Thanks for your suggestions mate. I will keep them in mind while taking a decision. I saw the price (15.8k) of 4 Bay NAS on SMC Internationa's website and the price in Nehru Place are generally 5-10% cheaper.

Netgear ReadyNAS 104 4-Bay, Diskless RN10400 Storage

Before you take a decission I would like to bring certain more advantages/disadvantages of DIY NAS, using the old PC hardware,........... again just coz of my personal experience ...
.
.
.
Let me know if you need more information.

Thank you Sam for understanding and suggesting the best option(s) for me in detail.

I am terribly confused as of now.

Once I decide something, I will bother you on this thread or through PM.

Regards,
MG.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I am terribly confused as of now.

Then you should go back to basics, and ask what do you want and why do you want it? Even better, ask what do you need, and why!

We are all, to some extent, gadget freaks. If not, we'd be simply listening to music, rather than engaged on a forum talking about the equipment we use to do so. Acquiring gear is fun. Configuring it is fun --- or tedious, if one's tastes don't extend to computer systems management (to me, these days, it's a bit too much like what the day job used to be). Certainly there is no harm in fun (I'm all for it ) and, if budget, time and interest* permit, let's fill our homes with techie boxes. On the other hand, if any of those resources are limited, best to pull ourselves up and look at need.

Whatever you do, remember that RAID, or any other kind of disk array, is not backup. Ever. You must have at least one set of external storage for data security.

If in any doubt about that, ask GeorgeO. Very far from hijacking the thread, his experience is a vital warning.



*and family

.

 

[GeorgeO]

Hear, hear!

 

[sam9s]

Thank you Sam for understanding and suggesting the best option(s) for me in detail.

I am terribly confused as of now.

Once I decide something, I will bother you on this thread or through PM.

Regards,
MG.

I couldnt have explained better than Thad. Nothing to be confused about, my needs for a gadget/device might totally differ than yours, even if they are same, other factors like budget, time, effort will rule a different priority for the same.

Sit and give your requirements a serious thought, what exactly you want to achieve and what are your prime requirement, and then how much max budget/time and effort you can spare to get that prime requirement.

Then we can reach a decision. And dont hesitate to bother me on this thread or forums....., thats what we all are here for .....help and gain from each other.......

Regards
Sammy

 

[argho]

Just do read my Synology thread as well to atleat know what it offers. With a limited budget you can go for a 2 bay pre built NAS, LIke synology DS213j.

Let me know if you need more information.

Regards
Sammy

Sam,

Where did you buy your Synology NAS from and at what price ?
I am able to find only 1 Synology distributor (in Mumbai) and no one seems to sell it in Retail.

Rgds..Argho

 

[sam9s]

Sam,

Where did you buy your Synology NAS from and at what price ?
I am able to find only 1 Synology distributor (in Mumbai) and no one seems to sell it in Retail.

Rgds..Argho

I ordered it from Amazon.com ... for around 14K (including shipping) at that time

 

[gcpraveen]

@sam9s : how abt raspberry pi as NAS/file server?

 

[manniraj]

@sam9s : how abt raspberry pi as NAS/file server?

How will you add internal HDD? I do not think it has SATA ports and also the power supply may not work for more than a single portable HDD. You might get the lower power consumption PC but will loose on another important feature of storage backup without the SATA ports.

Thanks

 

[gcpraveen]

Thanks manniraj, I didnt know much abt NAS. Just reading abt NAS.

 

[sam9s]

@sam9s : how abt raspberry pi as NAS/file server?

Not recommended if you ask me, RaspPi is more "comfortable" as a low cost, low powered PC, that is best used as anything running via a linux distro. Even RaspBMC, though plays all 1080p movies flawlessly, the navigation is slow.

I use it as my 2nd Logitech Media Server ...