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Thread: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

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  1. #1
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    Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    I am planning to build a NAS device for off loading all audio and video collection for my XBMC (since my drive in HTPC is almost full). I plan to keep it somewhere in garage and just use it to stream audio or video files to my main HTPC computer over wired Ethernet network (additionally it could be nice to be able to download torrents and use mkvmerge to remove extra audio and subtitle tracks from mkv's).
    I also want to have large number of drives in my NAS (6 or more), which I hope to eventually fill up as I need the extra space.

    I done some research on parts I will need and want to have some suggestion and opinions.

    1. Case (I do like design of Fractal more, probably will pick one of those two):
    Fractal Design Node 304 (upto 6 HDDs)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811352027
    Fractal Design Define R4 (upto 8 HDDs)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811352020
    LIAN LI PC-Q25B (upto 7 HDDs)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112339

    2. Motherboard (need the most help here):
    Motherboard/CPU/VGA Combo (most likely mini ITX formfactor)
    ASUS C60M1-I AMD (really like that it is mini ITX and has 6 x SATA 6.0Gb/s... but it's sold out)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131843
    JetWay JNF99FL-525-LF Intel Atom D525 (also 6 SATAs but at 3.0Gb/s and more expensive ~$200)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813153212
    BIOSTAR NM70I-847 Intel Celeron 847 (4 SATAs, 3 at 3.0Gb/s and 1 at 6.0Gb/s) + free 8GB Crucial memory w/ purchase
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138368
    or..... Motherboard and CPU separately
    ASUS P8H77-I LGA 1155 Intel H77 (6 SATAs, 4 at 3.0Gb/s and 2 at 6.0Gb/s)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131841
    ASRock FM2A85X-ITX FM2 AMD A85X (7 x SATA 6Gb/s)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157357

    and then compatible CPU... and some RAM
    .......
    Another question/consideration.......I guess even if I will get motherboard with only 4 SATAs, I could use PCI slot to expand number of ports to 8 or 6 with PCI SATA card.
    What do you all think? Which motherboard would it be best for me to get? and any other thoughts?
    Last edited by Kdar; June 2nd, 2013 at 05:45 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    The ASRock FM2A85X-ITX FM2 AMD A85X (7 x SATA 6Gb/s) sounds pretty sweet for a low power NAS, especially with the 7 x SATA3 ports.

    I also like that LIAN LI case, but I might be biased cuz my server is sitting in a LIAN LI case...
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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    yes. I would really love to have at least 6 SATAs, especially if possible at 6 Gb/s.
    But what do you think would be energy efficient CPU that I can use with that motherboard? I haven't used AMD CPUs in a while.
    Last edited by Kdar; May 26th, 2013 at 03:03 AM.

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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kdar View Post
    yes. I would really love to have at least 6 SATAs, especially if possible at 6 Gb/s.
    But what do you think would be energy efficient CPU that I can use with that motherboard? I haven't used AMD CPUs in a while.
    Get an Atom.

    Few things if you are serious about performance:
    If you want faster read speeds, get 5 HDDs, put them in RAID6, and find a raid controller that supports having a SSD cache
    If you want faster access speeds get a 10000RPM Drive like a Velociraptor.
    If you want faster read speeds, get a RAID controller that supports RAID6/10. Make sure you have a spare RAID controller if your using HW RAID unless you are sure that you can get an identical controller if this one ever fails. Its one of the things that makes people use sw RAID over HW RAID. However, SW RAID has a bit of a CPU usage.
    If your accessing the NAS from one computer, think about using iSCSI
    There is no difference between SAS and SATA unless your ready to spend time tuning SAS. Then there is a difference.
    Dont get WD Green Drives. Their slow, and have performance issues documented throughout the forums. Having owned one personally, I can confirm those problems.
    There are some HDDs that include a onboard SSD cache. If your strapped for cache, you might want to look into getting one

    What OS are you planning to use on the NAS btw
    Last edited by sandyd; May 26th, 2013 at 04:23 AM.
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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Quote Originally Posted by sandyd View Post
    Get an Atom.
    If you want faster write speeds, get 5 HDDs, put them in RAID6, and find a raid controller that supports having a SSD cache

    Otherwise - just make sure you have plenty of RAM - Linux does caching there anyways
    +1. It looks like that ASRock board takes some pretty high powered CPUs
    http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A85X-ITX/?cat=CPU
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  6. #6
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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Over here the HP Proliant Micro Servers are very popular for NAS or Media Servers. And they are cheap.

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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Quote Originally Posted by mips View Post
    Over here the HP Proliant Micro Servers are very popular for NAS or Media Servers. And they are cheap.
    Yeah, the HP servers are pretty solid for the cost. Check it out here.

    The only issue with it would be that it only has Integrated 4 port SATA RAID so you would be limited to only 4 drives.

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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Quote Originally Posted by cprofitt View Post
    The only issue with it would be that it only has Integrated 4 port SATA RAID so you would be limited to only 4 drives.
    Not really. You can fit 6x 1TB 2.5" drives into the 5.25" bay area in addition to 4x 4TB 3.5" drives with an additional SATA controller.
    Last edited by mips; May 27th, 2013 at 07:38 PM.

  9. #9
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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Does anyone think if this PSU could handle this build?
    SeaSonic SS-300ET Bronze 300W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151086
    I never owned SeaSonic and I am also wondering if 300W would be enough for ASUS C60M1-I, 8GB of RAM and 6 HDDs.

  10. #10
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    Re: Buidling a NAS (preferably low-power, mini ITX)

    Yes.. I guess now I am trying to decide between Atom and AMD C-60 motherboards.. plus I decided to just use Motherboard/CPU Combos as well.

    ASUS C60M1-I AMD (really like that it is mini ITX and has 6 x SATA 6.0Gb/s... I did found it on tigerdirect for $93)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131843
    ~$93
    ZOTAC NM10-B-E-ION Intel Atom D510 (1.66GHz, dual-core) BGA559 Intel NM10 Mini DTX Motherboard/CPU/VGA Combo
    (with 6 x SATA @ 3.0Gb/s)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813500055
    ~$100
    or
    JetWay JNF99FL-525-LF Intel Atom D525 (also 6 SATAs but at 3.0Gb/s and more expensive ~$200)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813153212
    ~$200

    All three have 6 SATA connectors, which would be perfect for me.... question is just the price and the processor differences.
    ---

    Speaking about RAIDs.. I am not sure if I will use one. I might just physically do routine backups.. since really.. the content I plan to store on my NAS will not be moving around much. I will just save it there and keep there to access it with my HTPC for streaming. And backups I can do on the raw drives.

    And all the content from my NAS I will just want to stream to my HTPC over wired Ethernet.
    Last edited by Kdar; May 26th, 2013 at 05:15 PM.

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