please help me out with my (movie library) goal

[murc]

k, first of all, I have done quiet abit of looking around at a bunch of sites...

Here is my goal:
I want all my movies on hard drives, and watch them on my tv in my living room.

I have decided to go with RAID 5...cause I know I would be pissed off if I woke up and a couple hundred movies are gone cause my HDD crashed.

I have also decided to go with the popcorn hour A-110 (to stream it to my big screen), since it plays virtually ALL files, and can playback 1080p, while having a pretty decent price tag to.

heres where I'm stuck...and was really hoping a place like this could help me out. I am pretty pc smart...but have never dealt with raid and NAS and servers before...so please be patient with me on that area.

i dont know the different between a NAS and a Server...from what I can tell the only difference is that a server needs normal computer components to run, while a NAS is more...well..."NAS" oriented. and the NAS would use less power...which is a plus.

I would like it to have 4+ bays...if its a server (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong on anything), I could essentially buy a normal computer case. and if its NAS its uses dedicated NAS kind of things...like different motherboard.(?)

I've looked around at quiet a few NAS', and there are tons of well priced ones if you only need 1, 2, or 3 bays...but one with 5 bays is harder to come buy...and a lot more money. I found a decent looking QNAP for around 500 (is that high a decent price) bucks...it was a 4 bay though... I would prefer a 5 hard drive bay unit.

I was really hoping to get something for like 2-300 hundred...if possible. if the unit was small-ish, I would just put it behind my monitor...but if its bigger I could find someplace to put it.....so size isn't a huge issue.

If you have any questions on anything, feel free to ask away.

I would really appreciate any help on what path I should choose.

TIA

 

[thiggins]

RAID will not protect you completely from component failure. A power glitch, power supply failure or controller failure could kill your entire array. Not to mention fire, theft or other physical risk. Make sure you have a backup of material that you don't want to lose.

The line between servers and NASes is getting somewhat blurred by higher-end NASes like the QNAP TS 509 Pro. But think of NASes as more dedicated appliances and servers as more general purpose. Either can do the job. The question is what your preferences are. Servers generally can be more easily modified than NASes.

You are not going to get a 5 bay RAID 5 NAS or server for $200-$300 including drives.

 

[scotty]

Like Tim says, a NAS basically is a server, just more purpose-built. If you tear open a NAS, it has a system board, processor, memory, power supply, and almost anything you'd see in a full server. These components are usually smaller, lower power, and lower spec as that's usually all that's needed, and to save costs and power. They run operating systems, usually stripped down Linux or BSD variants. That's basically all a NAS is, varying from product to product.

Tim's also correct in not being able to find a 4 or 5 drive NAS in your price range. If you have access to some cheap parts, or have some parts lying around, you could try to build your own NAS, but again I dont think you'll get near what you want for the price you want. Even if you only spend $69.99/drive, you're already spending $280 just for 4 drives. That being said, if that's all you need and you have the other parts lying around (like a case, mobo, psu, etc), you might be in business.

 

[murc]

sorry, I should of been more specific.

That price tag is not including hard drives.

you see, I want room for this thing to grow...I plan on (eventually) getting 5 1.5TB seagate drives.

is it hard to build a server?

I dont know what a "control failure" is...but power spikes are no problem I use UPS', and it the power supply every craps out...no big deal...since that wouldn't effect my data.

the more I think about it...the more a server makes sense. since I would have an entire case to fill with hard drives...instead of a NAS...which comes with a predetermined amount of spots available.

could you guys throw out some good suggestions on what to buy.
(buy the way I have built computers before...so I do have some experience on that end.)
things like mobo/cpu/ram/power supply (i'd assume a pretty small one)?
I wouldn't need to build this like a normal computer would I? meaning I wouldn't need a video card would I? and if I would, can you pick out a good/ cheap one.

Thanks for your help

 

[scotty]

Tim's got some good articles going on how to built a fast NAS. It's now up to part 5 I believe. I recommend giving it a good look through.

Basically, the drives make a fairloy big difference, as does using a PCI express NIC. Starting with some solid 7200rpm drives and a good standalone GigE NIC is a pretty solid place to start. All of the articles look at which OS is best, but so far it appears as though they're all fairly close.

 

[thiggins]

I dont know what a "control failure" is...but power spikes are no problem I use UPS', and it the power supply every craps out...no big deal...since that wouldn't effect my data.

A controller failure is when the CPU or main board fails.

It definitely is possible for power supply failure or controller failure to kill a RAID array. Do not put your faith in RAID alone to keep your data safe.

 

[murc]

I've been spending my time pondering through the web (and newegg heavily), and I have decided that I was going to go with a server.

I was thinking Raid5. I wasn't sure on what OS...I have never built or even USED a server before...I was leaning towards a windows version because I know that it would be easier for a beginner like me to understand.

I recently learned of UnRaid...which I have been looking into as well, it seems interesting...but it might be to ruff around the edges for me...since I have never used a server...or any form of a linux OS.

after scouring newegg, I have pretty much picked out exactly what I need to make my server.

mobo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813151063
power supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819105018
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134337
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811128036

that is what I have come up with. (excluding HDD's of course), I plan on getting 2 1.5TB HDD's to put in it...and slowing growing over time.
with this specific setup, I think...I should be able to run RAID 5 using the mobo, which has 6 raid sata ports...and the power supply also has 6 sata power connections.

I am trying to learn about different window servers...
I am thinking about going with windows server 2008.(?)

if anyone sees a problem with this setup...please let me know. I am hoping to have the funds for it within 2-4 weeks.

I think I'm going to go with this server setup...and also the popcorn Hour A-110, to get all that sweet digital goodness to my big screen.

if anyone has questions or points...please let me know.

 

[thiggins]

You need at minimum three drives for RAID 5.

 

[scotty]

As far as streaming movies go, I dont think you'd notice a big difference going to Windows Server 2003/2008. Just as long as your streaming over a wired connection, you should be able to handle even high def just fine. OS performance wont be the bottleneck here. There's nothing wrong with windows server, but I think it would be a little overkill here. For simple streaming to 1 or a couple clients, a basic XP or Vista box would do fine. If you can get your hands on a copy of Server 03/08 for little or nothing, then all the power to you to tinker with it. Ubuntu's also a good OS of choice for testing and tweaking, and it's free.

And keep in mind RAID 5 requires a lot of processing power. Standard onboard RAID cards aren't going to provide nearly enough juice for you to be able to truly take advantage of RAID 5's performance. My personal experience is that unless you're using a higher-end standalone RAID card, you wont see a performance improvement. And like Tim mentions, keep in mind RAID isn't a perfect safeguard. If your motherboard or RAID controller should die, you could be hot water. But either way, hard drive performance won't be the bottneck here either.

What I would do is get 2x 1.5TB drives and do RAID 1, and have a 3rd 1.5TB drive for external backup. You'd be a fair bit safer there.

 

[murc]

I have decided I dont want all these headaches...and (in a few weeks, when I have more money) I am just going to go the the Qnap TS-409.

thiggins...I didnt know that...if I did a raid 1...until I got the 3rd hard drive, could I change it to RAID 5 later on without loosing my data?

 

[thiggins]

thiggins...I didnt know that...if I did a raid 1...until I got the 3rd hard drive, could I change it to RAID 5 later on without loosing my data?

Only if your NAS OS supports RAID migration. I do not know if Windows Server does.

 

[scotty]

Only if your NAS OS supports RAID migration. I do not know if Windows Server does.

I dont use Windows Server much itself for RAID, but I dont think it supports RAID migration. I know you can add disks to a JBOD setup in Windows server, but that's about it.

Otherwise, like Tim says, the ability to migrate and rebuild arrays boils down to the controller itself or the software doing the RAID function. I'm pretty sure many of the Linux software RAID utilities support this.

 

[louisw]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I am trying to do a similar thing.

What is the best way to rip the dvds (and possibly blu ray) if I have 1.5TB storage on a DNS 323?