Hello, I'm new here, I'd like to build my own NAS

[Tech Junky]

5 RED drives are coming my way from the same place

I wouldn't worry too much as long as you test them for DOA within the return period. When I ordered a handful of them I did end up with 1 DOA but, the others have worked fine since they were put into service. The diverse sourcing is just an added layer of precaution to get them from hopefully different batches.

 

[eightiescalling]

You could have the disks run a long SMART test for an extra safety net before you put the drive in active service.

It'll probably take a bit over half a day per disk though you could run them in parallel.

 

[Quozlator]

sounds like4 a plan, i'll receive in a few days and hook them up

 

[Quozlator]

a very basic question i never though to ask, what distro would you suggest i go with given that I : 1) building a nas 2) would like to try doing some VM's 3) would want to run media off of it to my home TVs and over the internet to my buddy.

Please and Thanks
I got my WD Red drives, I've saved all old stuff off the computer I'm going to be using, and now I realize that I have an SSD thats in the system that I can either install the software too, or use as a boost drive for moving files

 

[Tech Junky]

@Quozlator

I use Ubuntu but, you can use any OS you want. for me though using something non-specific was a requirement because I'm doing more than just hosting data as you seem to be as well w/ the want to stream media and provide access to a remote user. I use Plex which could work for you as well with the ability to share outside of the LAN by creating additional user accounts. Going with a vanilla OS like Ubuntu would also allow you to do your VM work as well.

As to the SSD using it as your boot / partition might make sense depending on how much media you have accumulated as the settings within your preferred media hosting app settings are. I recently rebuilt my media library and enabled chapter marking an thumbnails to be generated and this took up an additional ~30GB is space. This is based on ~7.5TB of files.

 

[Quozlator]

ive tried unbunutu and liked it, I''ll go with that, thx

 

[Quozlator]

You could have the disks run a long SMART test for an extra safety net before you put the drive in active service.

It'll probably take a bit over half a day per disk though you could run them in parallel.

whats the best way to set that up? I've downloaded the WD test software and was going to put 1 drive in my main machine at a time tro test, but obviously thats slow. So thwn I thought that i could put them in my home made nas, I've got Ubuntu downlaoded and running, but i didn't re4ally want to install the drives as i wasn't 100% sure which raid version i was going tro go. so have stalled out. can i install the drives 1 way, test them, then reset the drive config to something completely different before adding files to the drives? sorry for bad tytping, i have neuro gel and glovbes on hands as my nerve pain is crazy bad today

 

[Quozlator]

and i see that my sbreP67 has 4 sata 6 and 2 sata 3 ports on the board, any suggestions as to the best routing with them?

 

[Tech Junky]

Just put the drives in and test them in parallel to get it done.

Change the raid type is easy since these are blank drives. Configure it one way and copy data to it and see how it performs and then change it to the other option and repeat.

Use the gray and brown connectors for max speed. Though in reality all 6 should work fine.

 

[Quozlator]

Just put the drives in and test them in parallel to get it done.

Change the raid type is easy since these are blank drives. Configure it one way and copy data to it and see how it performs and then change it to the other option and repeat.

Use the gray and brown connectors for max speed. Though in reality all 6 should work fine.

Thx, That'll be tomorrows chore then one thing i realized is that i need more sata3 cables and possibly more power connectors for the drives. I've been searching through amazon trying to find the best deals

 

[Quozlator]

so the second picture of the dark coloured ran is in my system, i believe they are two 8 gig sticks, and I had taken out the two blue ones as an upgrade, does anyone know if I can simply add them in or will they slow the system down due to the different clock speed? I think that's why I took them out in the first place, but is it better to have 24 gigs of mismatched speed ram, or to have just the 16 gigs of faster ram? (2 slow 4 gig and 2 8 gig faster)

 

[eightiescalling]

whats the best way to set that up? I've downloaded the WD test software and was going to put 1 drive in my main machine at a time tro test, but obviously thats slow. So thwn I thought that i could put them in my home made nas, I've got Ubuntu downlaoded and running,

Not sure on the WD software but if you have Ubuntu installed you can use smartctl (part of the smartmontools package) to run one off tests
smartctl -t long <device>

or configure smartd (the background process) to run tests at specific intervals.

As @Tech Junky said,you can test them in parallel.

 

[Quozlator]

thx, i wasnt sure about installing them in my rig to test or testing first, very glad i can do it in the rig and in parallel

 

[degrub]

so the second picture of the dark coloured ran is in my system, i believe they are two 8 gig sticks, and I had taken out the two blue ones as an upgrade, does anyone know if I can simply add them in or will they slow the system down due to the different clock speed? I think that's why I took them out in the first place, but is it better to have 24 gigs of mismatched speed ram, or to have just the 16 gigs of faster ram? (2 slow 4 gig and 2 8 gig faster)

Those, from the labels, are the same spec.
Does that motherboard support dual channel access for memory ?
If so, put each in the paired slots so they can be accessed as dual channel.
There should be some free memory testing programs around that you can run to test the R/W speeds of having a 8+4, 8+4 versus a 8+8, 4+4 configuration.

Practically, you should not notice a difference though.

 

[Quozlator]

thats what i was thinking, im not running a aaa game or anything, the biggest use will be to watch tv, and fool around with VMs so i want more ram for them.i have the 4 slots for the memory, the ASUS p67 Sabretooth board was built for overclocking. something i knew little about when I had it built by NCIX many years ago, lol

 

[Quozlator]

so with the last 2 commenters of the last page,-------------------- from SFX and L&LD ---------------i see that a nas is a complete waste of time and money.

I should have bought 3 computers at 3 different locations and do the same work on all three because if I don't, my drives will die together all at once at a single location with drives bought from a single location at the same time, that i will be hacked at any of my locations and all drives at that location will be infected, but having 3 different locations to log in should reduce it. . .

so i guess i should use a portable set of drives, that all get copies of the info, then test those drives for virus, for hackers , for damaged sectors. every day before transferring data to the other locations........................


did i get it all or did i miss more things that i screwed up?

 

[Tech9]

nas is a complete waste of time and money

No, but what you're building for the purpose you have is very close. I'm just watching the thread.

 

[degrub]

so with the last 2 commenters of the last page,-------------------- from SFX and L&LD ---------------i see that a nas is a complete waste of time and money.

I should have bought 3 computers at 3 different locations and do the same work on all three because if I don't, my drives will die together all at once at a single location with drives bought from a single location at the same time, that i will be hacked at any of my locations and all drives at that location will be infected, but having 3 different locations to log in should reduce it. . .

so i guess i should use a portable set of drives, that all get copies of the info, then test those drives for virus, for hackers , for damaged sectors. every day before transferring data to the other locations........................


did i get it all or did i miss more things that i screwed up?

no, you have not messed things up. A NAS is for convenience to access files from many places or by many users without the hassle of dragging storage around with you with all the files you will ever need. DEC RK05's were great portable disks ;-) . What people assume is that it is a good place to back up their files since with raid it will be implicitly "backed up" The issue with raid is that there are common mode failures, single points of failure that eliminate the "backup" portion of the equation. And when one drive does fail, rebuilding the array can take out another drive wiping it all out. So, if the files are important, recommendation is generally to use the NAS as it is intended and keep a rotating set of external disks ( 2 sets usually) that are used to back up the files from the NAS.

For limited use, many times a NAS is overkill except for convenience aspect. If you do the backups at the individual PCs onto external drives, no worries about the NAS failure modes.

Human nature what it is, many forget to do the backup portion of the equation.

that is all we are warning about.

 

[eightiescalling]

@Quozlator

No, you have not wasted your time and money.

I've gone back over this thread and if I summarise your needs correctly:
1. Keep your data convenient and available.
2. Sufficient performance for 2 4K TVs locally streaming. (You don't mention the bandwidth of the files - some "sourced" 4K films can be 60GB or more and need 100mbps easy, most streaming services use significantly lower bandwidth.)
3. Backups.

For #1 and #2, NAS is a good solution:
- You get all your data in one place and it stays available through a number of failure scenarios - it's true not all, but given things that typically fail on a well built machine, the HDD is the one with the moving parts and highest risk of failure. A NAS (generally) keeps your data available and accessible even if you have that HDD failure.
- Performance wise, you'll get the benefits you want and it will easily cover the ask you have.

For #3, as several of us have said, NAS is helpful but not the answer. What NAS does do though is significantly reduce the chance you will need to use that proper backup. It also reduces your effort if you do have a disk failure - and more importantly it keeps the wifes photos available to her while you fix the technology failure!

Like a good insurance policy, you want the backup to work but you don't want to have to use it. Replacing a single failed disk in a NAS and letting it re-sync is a pretty trivial exercise and provided the PC is powered on your wife has access to her photos whether the RAID is missing a disk, re-syncing in recovery or fully synced. A full backup restore however is a far different beast - no data available until it's all restored including the time for you to source the disk.

The point about sourcing from different suppliers is helpful but not the end of the world. All of these things are about one thing: Risk reduction. Sourcing from multiple suppliers adds another level of protection in the (possible but unlikely) scenario the manufacturer had issues with a single production batch or the retailer accidentally left the pallet of disks next to an industrial magnet.

The advice you're getting is from technical experts that work in this stuff daily - these additional risk reduction points are important to them and their clients. At the end of the day though you're building a consumer solution with consumer parts at consumer cost. I did the same and am happy with the NAS system running. I'm sure you will be too.

 

[L&LD]

so with the last 2 commenters of the last page,-------------------- from SFX and L&LD ---------------i see that a nas is a complete waste of time and money.

I should have bought 3 computers at 3 different locations and do the same work on all three because if I don't, my drives will die together all at once at a single location with drives bought from a single location at the same time, that i will be hacked at any of my locations and all drives at that location will be infected, but having 3 different locations to log in should reduce it. . .

so i guess i should use a portable set of drives, that all get copies of the info, then test those drives for virus, for hackers , for damaged sectors. every day before transferring data to the other locations........................


did i get it all or did i miss more things that i screwed up?

You missed the points entirely if the above quote is what you got out of it.

Depending on how important the data you're keeping is to you, all of the recommendations I've made so far are on point.

If you need multiple users/client devices to be active, concurrently, on the same/similar data sets, you need 2 or more computers anyway.

Using a portable set of drives is prone to dropping, theft, etc. Not a good idea for important data that doesn't 'need' to be edited/viewed while mobile. Not to mention that this data still needs to be synced ('religiously'), to be available to all. And even then, it may not be possible to do that on a timely basis with this type of 'solution'.

A properly set up NAS will have 4 or more drives. In at least a RAID1/RAID5 or better array (for protection against disk failures, and depending on the size of the drives too, the RAID level will need to be adjusted). It should have an automatic AV scan (daily, at least). It will also have the biggest drives you expect to fill (depending on the array type) for the next 3 to 5 years. Ideally, you will also have one, two, or more extra drives on hand for when those failures do happen (so the array can be rebuilt as soon as possible).

The benefits of the NAS are that it is directly accessible by many users, and it can hold all the files those users need/depend on. Also, editing doesn't need to be done directly on the NAS either (copies of the data can be used on the workstations where the work is done, then copied back).

With all of the above in place, (and once again, with the idea that this data is important to preserve), a backup system is still required. Either another NAS (different model than the primary, different model HDDs, etc.) or an external USB drive (or two) that are rotated and not left permanently connected to power/the 'net.

Given that you have followed a schedule as needed for those backup solutions of the main NAS, the data is now as safe as can be reasonably expected.

Additional levels of backup are not overkill here (if the worth of the data deems these additional backup methods).

Instead of coming to the wrong conclusions on your own, just ask for further clarifications in the future.

Hope this helps you.