Soullighter’s

A dedicated storage for a network requires careful planning on its implementation. One of the first things to be considered is the hardware to run the storage on. I have mentioned earlier on whether to acquire a proprietary NAS device or build a system from scratch as a storage system. After researching the options I have decided to build it myself.

The reason to this is because although proprietary NAS devices are simple, straight off the box options, the number of hard disk slots are limited to the model that is acquired.
Naturally this means devices with more slots costs more.

Often too, NAS devices have Linux as their base OS with all options pre-configured. This is good but the option to actually upgrade the system is limited to manufacturer’s update and more often than not allows less customisation as compared to a built from scratch system.

Building my own NAS box will allow me to mix and match the hardware needed such as CPU, RAM, motherboard, casing and power supply. In the unfortunate event one of those components fails, it is
also easier to replace. However, taking a cue from the proprietary NAS devices, I would want to keep it as a low-powered system as much as possible as the NAS box will run 24 hours a day.

So, what have I considered as my hardware options? For starters, I am thinking to built the system based on the Atom-Mini-ITX combo. I come across the following motherboard with Atom CPU by recommendation of a work colleague.

SuperMicro X7SPA-HF

Key Features
1. Intel® Atom™ D510
(Pineview-D) (DMI)
2. Intel® ICH9R Chipset
3. Up to 4GB single channel unbuffered,
non-ECC DDR2 667MHz SO-DIMM
4. 2x Intel 82574L Gigabit LAN
5. 6x SATA (3.0Gbps) Ports
RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 (Windows Only)
6. 1 (x4) PCI-E (in x16 slot)
7. 2 rear USB ports + 3 headers (5 ports)
+ 1 Type A connector
8. Integrated Matrox G200eW Video
9. Integrated IPMI 2.0

This motherboard seems perfect to build my system. A D510 CPU is more than adequate for the task with spares to add. 6 SATA ports allows me to add 6 hard disks(which I am planning to do!) and the built in video adapter saves me the hassle of buying a dedicated graphic card. The video adapter is a bit underpowered but as I would preferably run the system headless, this shouldn’t matter at all.

I am however stuck to choosing slower 667MHz DDR2 RAM’s though againvthis wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I would definitely get 2TB Western Digital Green hard disks as my hard disk choice. Running RAID 5 on 6 of them will give around 10 TB raw space which will dwindle to around 9 after formatting.

I am still deciding on the casing for the system. Currently deciding between this two:

Silverstone LC10-E

Lian-Li PCQ08

A week after downgrading(suprise!) my Westnet ADSL plan to a cheaper plan(around $10 cheaper), I found my media storage space slowly but surely filling up. Although I downgraded, the current plan has more download quota than the previous one; a massive 400GB monthly allowance.

Add to the fact that I seriously need to move around 3 odd Terabytes of medias in dvd-r discs before mold(NOOO!!!) takes over. I do keep my dvd-r’s with dessicants to keep the molds away however, eventually they will get corrupted by a combination of heat, wear and tear and also moisture. I am also planning to backup all my boxed PC games.

Currently, I have three 1TB and one 1.5TB hard disks that holds all of my medias. All of them are connected through my computer using external enclosures. Add around 250GB of dedicated internal hard disk space in my computer, the total hard disk space comes to around 4.7TB. An old Dell 620GX with 80GB hard disk space,serves as a makeshift network share running FreeNas for me to share stuff to my housemates.

Hard disk prices are coming down ever so quickly. A quick check on UMart’s and GoComp’s website shows 2TB Western Digital Green drives for roughly $136-138 mark. Ideally for my situation, buying four of these should suffice my storage needs for quite some time. The matter now is; building a computer as a dedicated NAS or go for commercial home network NAS from QNAP, Thecus or Synology.

Time to investigate the options and compare the benefits for a long term solution.