NAS options

[pungan]

I am also planning to build NAS, I have one PC lying around having core2duo E8300 and Intel motherborad, just bought Coolermaster RC310 cabinet contains 6 internal HDD slot so 2TBx6=12TB storage and 400-450W PSU.
I have decided to install Windows Home server 2008.
In future, I will add router (thinking of Dlink DIR 655 and media player) for streaming videos to living room LCD tv. Only thing remains is buliding up.

Right now 2TB is not worth of buying as it is too costly, so I have to content with my 1TB HDDs.

My gaming machine is very Power Hungry. NAS will be useful as 24*7 download machine


For any suggestion, please free to comment.

 

[doors666]

i have an htpc and a desktop, both with 2 hdds each. For music, I can play flac files over wireless G network, using map network drive option and it works great. Since my music collection is relatively small (about 250GB), I try to keep the backup on the htpc.
For movies, dont really care if I loose a few. I keep knocking them off to dvd-rs from time to time as the hdd keeps getting full...

 

[grunthos]

Feedback after using my assembled NAS for a month

1. Am using Windows 7 on it, so its not strictly a NAS, but so far there havent been any problems at all. CPU usage is consistently low and havent faced any lag or any other such "windows" issues. Even when streaming a 10 GB 720p mkv over the network, CPU usage is around 5% and you can do other tasks without a hitch

2. I control it through Windows's inbuilt RDP - and so far I have rebooted the machine only while installing some software. Server is running 24x7 and without any sign whatsoever of heating issues. Fan noise is non existent - or atleast inaudible compared to the ceiling fan noise

3. Having Windows 7 is a boon because apart from torrents, it allows me to run JDownloader etc. Am thinking of running tversity on a trial basis to see if its feasible. I love having the flexibility of having so many softwares

4. I am using Zone Alarm and AVG on it for security - I havent had a security issue with this combo in over 8 years of computing

5. The only other software I have installed are the ones for downloading stuff. So the system is lean

All in all, the ease of having my entire collection always a click away is totally worth it. Downside is, I have filled up 1TB out of 1.5 .... have to buy a second hdd soon :sad:

 

[kapvin]

Even without LCD / keyboard/ mouse, cost of such a config would be around 20k.

And if you use Linux, you would not be able to use GPU in video card for movie playback. E.g. if you use VLC, it will depend on CPU for decoding and playback.

On my system (AMD Athlon XP 2400) , a 1080p movie works just fine in Vista since decoding is off loaded to GPU. CPU utilization stays near 20%. In Ubuntu, CPU utilization stays at 100% and playback is jerky.

hi netfreak,


did i read correctly - athlon XP? not athlon64 or the dual stuff?
which graphic card are you using? Also, could you share the rest of you system configuration? - ram?

reason I'm asking is - I have a single core Athlon64 lying around, which I never thought i would use.. this would encourage me to build (yet another!) HTPC..

 

[kapvin]

Hi,

I use a DNS-323 with 2 x 1.5 TB drives. the NAS is silent and quite cool runnign and successive firmwares have improved functionality incluging a bitorrent client et al.

while it is upnp compatible and has a media server; i have never used that functionality because, i use mymovies on my HTPC(s).

the only challenge is that while it is attached to a gigabit LAN, actual file transfer speeds max out at about 18MBps (or 180Mbps) for read and about 14-16 MBps for write. while my HD movies play without a stutter ( they require a max of about 7MBps) that's a far cry from what I can achieve between 2 window boxes - 45MBps + sustained. it's a pain to copy stuff onto the NAS- like it was when I upgraded my drives -from 1TB to 1.5TB - took over a day to copy all the stuff.

My next NAS will be a x86 box for sure.. probably running a win 7 / or WHS - if can get a legit copy.Am very concerned about power consumption since the NAS runs 24x7, so am hesitant to use some of the older boards that i have lying around.

would be grateful if you guys could share the transfer speeds that you get with your NAS setups?

thanks

Kapil

 

[NetFreak]

hi netfreak,


did i read correctly - athlon XP? not athlon64 or the dual stuff?
which graphic card are you using? Also, could you share the rest of you system configuration? - ram?

reason I'm asking is - I have a single core Athlon64 lying around, which I never thought i would use.. this would encourage me to build (yet another!) HTPC..

That was a typo..

System config is :

Processor : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor, 2400 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

MOBO : BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS M2A-VM HDMI ACPI BIOS Revision 2302, 2/5/2009

RAM : Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 1.50 GB



Don't have a graphics card. This mobo (M2V VM HDMI) has a good GPU that supports dual monitors and HDMI/Component/Composit/SPDIF outs.

If system is configured properly, CPU is barely used for video / audio playback. GPU takes care of video.


For you, CPU would not be an issue if you pair it with a good GPU (Onboard or add on). Basically a GPU that can handle Video/Audio decoding and CPU only has to decode containers.

E.g. GPU decodes VC1/H264/X264 video and CPU handles getting VC1 stream out of MKV or AVI container.