Newbie Question about NAS interface software- Help Decide

[donjuan]

Hi guys,

I am Newbie and New Over Here and Have been readinf article from TIM.
I basically setting up a DIY self NAS.. Comnents are ready here is the list

Mobo- Gigabite p-45 UD3L
PROCY- Dual Core Intel(Depnds of pricing I Get)
CAbby- CoolerMaster with Nice 3 120mm fans for Cooling.
PSU- Corsair 400 W 80+
RAid CArd- Adaptec 2045
HDD- 2*1 TB WD green (Raid 1 Intially Later extend to RAid 10)

SO my needs are basically storage as my HDD keep dying need to sore them from different locations so file storage speed should be nice, media streaminga nd bit torrent clinet like U torrent support.

I am No linux persona nd habe no idea about a linux, my friend has earlier setup freenas, So he wuld have some IDea..

So Please help me choose a Interface or Software for the NAS, Here are my options... (Keeping in Mind expandability, Read Write Performance, ease of recovery failed HDD or failed Computer parts such as MOBO or Raid card)

Options
1. Free NAs( Frnds Know Little bit)
2.Unraid( NO Idea)
3. Any Linux or debian (No Clue-would have to learn)
4. Windows Server 2008 (Have Access to MSDN) Interface and allthings are easy.

But easy and things known are always not necessarily good I need the BEST...


Please help guys...

 

[thiggins]

None of those options are easy. I'd try Windows Home Server.

 

[00Roush]

I don't think WHS is available on MSDN.

That RAID card looks to only have external connections.

Server 2003/2008 can most likely do everything you need. I would stick with that since you are familiar with it.

00Roush

 

[donjuan]

I don't think WHS is available on MSDN.

That RAID card looks to only have external connections.

Server 2003/2008 can most likely do everything you need. I would stick with that since you are familiar with it.

00Roush

Thanks Tim, 00 rush thanks for the suggestion checked out the WHS power pack 3 looked nice trying it on VM...
About the card ya it has external connectors that was the cheapest available on ebay $80 others were expensive need to mod it take the min sas cable and bring it in through the other pci slot into the cabby....

The only sad part is I need to buy another 160gb HDD /250GB HDD just to host the OS and also can I take image of the 160gb HDD via Acronis after all sets

 

[00Roush]

Well just to let you know WHS decides which drive is used to host the OS. So if you have all of drives connected when you set the OS up it will most likely pick the largest drive. Also you cannot dedicate a drive just to hosting the OS. Whether you like it or not during setup the host drive is partitioned into two sections. One is for the OS and the other becomes part of the storage pool. A bit annoying if you ask me. On top of all of that WHS might not work very well with RAID arrays. I know it is possible to do a RAID array but I am not sure how well it works with the drive extender software in WHS.

00Roush