Using a single NAS with multiple disks

[geno888]

Hi

Too bad I'm in money shortage and I can't afford a 8 bay NAS, so I'm desperately trying to get the most from my few money.

My idea is to buy a 2 bay NAS (currently the best choice seems the synology 216 mainly because it's the cheaper* model that has both hot swap feature and tool-less installation bays) and use it with multiple pair of disks in RAID 1.

*not that "cheap" actually, but I'm trying to save enough money for it. I know that some QNap models have lower prices, but they are not tool-less, they require screws to install disks in the bays.

I'll try to explain better. Let's say that I have to do three separate storage systems; let's call them Storage-1, Storage-2 and Storage-3. Instead of buying 3 separate NAS, my plan is to buy a single NAS and three couples of HDDs (WD red seems the better choice). For each pair of HDD I'll make a RAID-1.

So, when I need to use Storage-1, I simply shut down the NAS, remove whatever disk there is inside, and install the Storage-1 pair. When I need Storage-2, again shut down the NAS, remove the disks and install the pair containing Storage 2. And so on.

I know that is a very cumbersome process, but it seems the cheapest solution to solve this problem.

How stupid is this idea? Maybe in future I can purchase a separate NAS for each pair, but in the meantime I can't find a better solution.

Actually, again because of money shortage, my idea is to buy only a single disk for each Storage, to be upgraded to RAID-1 asap when I'll have enough money to buy the other disks.

The reason why I'm planning to use a NAS instead of a simple USB3 external box is because I'd like to use 4TB or higher capacity drives, and I wasn't able to use HDDs larger than 2 TB in such boxes. So a NAS seems the only solution for >2TB drives.

Of course, any suggestion is welcome

Thanks in advance

 

[sfx2000]

Too bad I'm in money shortage and I can't afford a 8 bay NAS, so I'm desperately trying to get the most from my few money.

My idea is to buy a 2 bay NAS (currently the best choice seems the synology 216 mainly because it's the cheaper* model that has both hot swap feature and tool-less installation bays) and use it with multiple pair of disks in RAID 1.

Consider a 4-bay NAS then...

4-bay Intel based, RAID10 is a nice place to be...

Synology, QNAP, Asustor have good options here for that investment...

 

[KenZ71]

Any chance you have or can find an old PC with a few sata ports? Then you could install NAS4Free.

Watch ebay and / or Amazon you might find some off lease servers. Although with older equipment power usage can be higher which would offset purchase savings .

 

[geno888]

Thanks for answers

A 4 bay NAS, was something I considered, but prices are too high. To do what I'd like I need a NAS provided with hot swap bays, so I can easily change disks without opening the case all the time. The cheapest one I found is the synology 216, that is alto tool less (no screws required to install drives). Basically, I could use a NAS just like an external box swapping disks as needed. The ability to make a RAID-1 will allow me to have also a safety copy on the fly so when I need to save data on the storage I'll insert both disks, but when I need to read only I'll insert one disk only (keeping the other safe as backup).

Building a dedicated PC and then install NAS4Free is also a very expensive solution, because it requires ECC-RAM and a very expensive RAID controller: definitely not an option for my wallet Moreover, I'm not very good with Linux distributions: Every time I tried to install one there was something I wasn't able to configure correctly. I prefer to get a more user friendly solution like the Synology DSM software (very easy to install even if many settings are quite difficult to set, but there are plenty of user guides on the net).

Anyone has feedback with large HDDs? There are 10TB drives in stores, but I wonder if is a better idea to get smaller drives (not more than 4 TB): in case of failure, to rebuild 10 TB of data array will stress a lot the disks

 

[Cake]

The reason why I'm planning to use a NAS instead of a simple USB3 external box is because I'd like to use 4TB or higher capacity drives, and I wasn't able to use HDDs larger than 2 TB in such boxes.

Whats wrong with the NAS in a crows nest? (wires everwhere bit)
Working great from me! cheap! Several USB disks into a powered usb hub!

 

[KenZ71]

Nas4free can run on almost anything with or without ecc memory.

No need for a raid card either.

But ultimately these are all diy and self support. So give it a try and have backups!

 

[geno888]

Sorry for late answer, I'm having troubles with the PC: I have to replace the mainboard

Cake,
can you explain better please? Sorry, but English is not my primary language: what is a "NAS in a crows nest"?

KenZ71,
I'm not sure that building a 2 bay NAS will be cheaper. I should buy a mainboard, a PSU, RAM, CPU and CPU cooler (unless I get something with soldered CPU onboard), a case... did I forget something? All these components have a price, and in the end I will spend less getting a synology. Maybe a self build nas is cheaper for more than 6 bays

 

[Cake]

Sorry for late answer, I'm having troubles with the PC: I have to replace the mainboard

Cake,
can you explain better please? Sorry, but English is not my primary language: what is a "NAS in a crows nest"?

Just being goofy, I meant using a bunch of portable disks out in the open with a confusing amount of wires everywhere. lol For the holidays you could string it all around a pine tree. ha

Edit: I would recommend a pi type board, (like bananapi pro). If you want dedicated, 24/7 NAS then install Nas4free as Ken mentioned. Manage it from your network using the web GUI (no need for another monitor/keyboard).
You will be spending a hefty amount on electricity with a 24/7 tower- PSU , full ATX, big spinning drives.
If using a Pi type we are talking about 3-5 watts of power plus 2/5W for each parked/spinning (I think) USB disk plugged in. Don't use a RasPi A or B, make sure you find one that can or nearly saturate the gigabit link. That is my recommendation. Its not the proper NAS setup though. That would involve buying a dedicated box with slots for 3.5" hard drives. $$$

 

[sfx2000]

I'm not sure that building a 2 bay NAS will be cheaper. I should buy a mainboard, a PSU, RAM, CPU and CPU cooler (unless I get something with soldered CPU onboard), a case... did I forget something?

Buy one of these - take the optical drive out, and put a 3.5 inch in that bay...

http://www.frys.com/product/8919873

$99... and a Core2Duo E8400 will have plenty of power to put bits around the lan...

 

[Cake]

Buy one of these - take the optical drive out, and put a 3.5 inch in that bay...

http://www.frys.com/product/8919873

$99... and a Core2Duo E8400 will have plenty of power to put bits around the lan...

35 watts isn't so bad. http://www.alphr.com/hp/hp-compaq-d.../hp-compaq-dc7900-small-form-factor-pc-review

 

[geno888]

I'm sorry for answering so late, but I had problems with my computer (I had to replace the mainboard).

It required much more time that I hoped because of various problems I had at home, but at last I'm online again

Thanks all for your answers, indeed I was considering to use a mini PC as external storage, but I discharged this solution because it is not optimal. Moreover, a full PC will consume much power than a NAS.

Something I was considering is using hot plug HDD trays but all products I found in stores had the same problem: no fans included. The only tray with fan I found is this one, but it was one of the worst purchases I made, for two reasons: the ON/OFF switch is ridiculous (I can't know for sure but I think that it was the reason I fried the mainboard), and the totally useless fan. I used a HDD with this tray for few minutes, and after extracting it from the tray it was hot... and I mean really hot, I was worried that I damaged the disk.

It is possible to install a regular 12cm fan under the tray, but there is no space available in my case, so basically that tray is completely useless.

These trays seems the best solution to quickly swap disks but actually cause a noticeable heating of disks: I don't trust in these because I'm worried that I can damage the HDD.

Swapping disks in the same NAS is indeed a bad idea, so at the bottom line I think that the most efficient solution is to use multiple 2-bay NASes in RAID-1 configuration. Once a pair of disks is full, get a new NAS with large disks again in RAID-1.

Using 8TB drives, or larger if prices will drop enough, seems the best way to avoid a mess on the desk with tenths of drives scattered everywhere

I'd like to apologize for my delay in answering, I should be online more regularly now that I have again a functioning PC

 

[Mokers]

Although the drives are hot-swappable, this is more of a feature for replacing damage disks without shutting down the system. You may save a little money up front this way, but you are adding a lot of complexity to the system. You are also losing efficieny. 3 sets of 4TB RAID1 gets you 12TB total storage with 6 disks. You get that same amount of storage with 4 disks RAID 5. Buy an extra disk to have on hand in case one fails and you are still using fewer disks to get the same amount of storage. Use the money you save on disks and put it into your NAS. The only time you will need to swap is for a disk failure (hopefully a rare event). Even if you are getting only an Atom processor in the RAID to save money, it's a much better idea than the constant swapping.

 

[geno888]

Thanks for your answer

Indeed you have a strong point in this: a 4 bay NAS will give me the same capacity with lesser disks, I didn't think to this. The only drawback is that I have to buy all the disks at once plus the NAS itself, and I can't afford this purchase at the moment. The idea of swapping disks was a lame attempt to save money buying one disk at time starting with the nas + a 8TB drive, to be upgraded later with a second disk to make the RAID 1, and then purchasing another disk and so on.

The bottom line then is that is better to wait and save money to buy a 4 bay NAS with 4 HDDs

Thanks again

 

[Mokers]

you can always buy a 4 bay nas and only use one or two disks. it won't give you redundancy, but at least your NAS isn't just sitting there. but most software won't let you go from raid 1 to raid 5 without creating a new volume, so you would need to backup all of your data anyway before adding disks. Definitely a lot of things to keep track of.

 

[RMerlin]

Also, high-end NAS products offer easy upgrade capabilities. For instance, a 2-drives RAID 1 can typically be migrated to a 4-drives RAID 10. Or existing disks can be replaced with higher capacities, without the need to retransfert all your data (you DO want to have a complete backup first!). I recently did it for a customer of mine, they have a QNAP TS-259 Pro with a pair of 1 TB HDDs. I upgraded them to a pair of 3 TB. Only downtime was about 20 minutes, late at night as I remotely launched the process of expanding the filesystem to use the additional available space from the new HDDs.

Look at what migration scenarios are supported by manufacturers. For QNAP, they list those scenarios here:

http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.2/Home/en/index.html?raid_management.htm