New Nas Build

[waspsoton]

i am going to start building a new nas. i am thinking of using one of these motherboard asrock A330ION or ASUS AT3IONT-I DELUXE not sure what one to use. also what os to use. i have used freenas and whs in the past but ever used linux as i am a windows user and would have trouble with comands but will to try it. any thoughts would be good?

update
i have just found this board (ZOTAC NM10-DTX) which has 6 sata ports but i cant find a retailer for it
thanks

 

[handruin]

What do you plan to use your NAS for and how important is performance for small, medium, and large file types? How many users will access the system at any given time? How much do you want to be able to expand your system as your data grows over time (ports, PCIe slots, drives, etc)?

I would recommend you consider trying OpenFiler which is also Linux based (rpath linux) or from the windows side you could do a basic Server 2003 install if you have access to it or are willing to put down the cash for a license.

I'm personally using OpenFiler with my home built NAS and the performance has so far proven to out-perform freeNAS in both small, medium, and large file transfers using the same hardware. The OpenFiler UI is a little bit easier to navigate once you get the hang of it and it still has a decent amount of features. If you don't care (or need) things like ZFS which isn't available in OpenFiler, you can still get away with good performance using ext3 or XFS file systems. I've had to mingle in the CLI a little bit to correct some oddities with the way it partitioned my array, but it was nothing traumatic.

I can help with what I've learned so far and I'm also comfortable with the varying Linux distributions (though I'm no self-proclaimed expert), I can give you some guidance. They also have their own user forms to discuss problems, concerns, etc.

 

[waspsoton]

the nas will be used as a file server for my popcorn a-110 and my laptop. i am thinking i need at lest 4 sata ports and a pcie would be good so i can add more sata ports. i have tried linux with webmin which i found quiet easy to install and run. my bigest problem is finding a motherboard with the requirements i need.

 

[Jay_S]

My opinions...

1) why are you looking at ITX boards if you foresee needing 4+ hard drives? Expanding this with an additional PCIe SATA controller means additional drives. A case that can accommodate all those drives will certainly fit a mATX board. There's literally 100's of mATX boards out there, and they're generally less expensive than ITX.

2) why the ION chipset for a server? You don't need the Geforce GPU. Simple Intel GMA graphics are sufficient. Esp w/FreeNAS, since there's no GUI.

 

[waspsoton]

power consumption is a big thing for me as i wont to run it 24/7. itx boards use a lot less power. if u can show me a matx board that has the same power consumption and lots of sata ports then great. dont really need ion really.

 

[Jay_S]

Biostar A760G-M2+ - 30W barrier broken

I can't find the Asrock A330ION for sale anywhere. The ASUS AT3IONT-I DELUXE is around $200 USD. If you're interested in low power consumption in principle, go for it. If you're interested in low power consumption to save money on your electric bill, it will take a long time to recover the Atom/ION costs by way of lower energy savings (assuming they're lower).

I don't know where you live, but your utility co publishes energy rates. Mine charges $0.12611 / kWh. So, let's say you can build an Atom/ION NAS that saves 10W of electricity =

0.010 kW x 24 x 365 x $0.12611 = $11.05 / year.

An AMD mATX board and low-end CPU will run you around $100 USD. It will take 9 years of 24/7 operation before the energy savings pays for the increased expense of the ITX system, assuming stable electricity rates.

I like Atom/ION for a HTPC. But not as a NAS.