Need NAS -- opinions welcome

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by reggie14

SNB's new test system really ought to be able to test gigabit NASes to their limits. But, even those tests still peg sustained RAID5 writes at around 40MB/sec. People on various forums report higher speeds, but sometimes they report speeds that aren't even possible, and other times they don't indicate whether they're using RAID5/RAID0/X-RAID/etc.

Well remember the Pro has dual-GigE ports, that can me teamed, so it's got a theoretical 2Gbps of bandwith, so upwards of 200MB/sec is not impossible.

[Savage1701]

Also, you can increase transfer speeds over ethernet signficantly or with the same machine by using a little app called SuperSpeed Cache.

Just google it, try the 14-day trial. It reads ahead and allows write-back caching at a very low level. If you can stand having dirty pages you can do some amazing things with this utility for speeding up file transfers without getting into Jumbo Frames or teaming or anything like that.

[PiX64]

I would highly recommend the freenas solution connected to a gigabit switch for a NAS

For my DVD NAS i have the following setup:

1) FreeNAS running of off USB thumb Drive
2) 4 x 1TB Maxtor drives
3) PERC 5i true hardware raid controller at Raid 5
4) I can provide more hardware specs if you are interested

The above setup for a NAS has proven to be more than reliable. My NAS has been up an running for 150 days and counting without a reboot.

I can record 4 shows, and watch 3 different DVD's simultaneosly - 2 on hd200's and 1 on a client pc while uploading new movies to freenas.

If your into building systems, this is def. a cheaper alternative that works great. Less the cost of drives i built this NAS for roughly 200

Just something to think about.

~Mike

[scat]

Has anyone looked into this Thecus N7700 - Ultimate Network Attached Storage (NAS server) Overview

Review here Thecus N7700 Review

the cheapest I found it is at www.buy.com

[thorforyou]

I am using Ubuntu 64 bit on an old pc that i had around the house. Athlon 3200 with 2 gig ram.

The disk i/o through a gig switch streams multiple hd streams without a hitch.

The server also runs all of my transcoding jobs using winff.

The install was painless and the server has never crashed. I tried WHS but imo it was to unstable and virus scans took longer with each terabyte added. The backup and recovery were a joke.

The Acronis backup server for linux is fantastic as a backup for the clients and flexraid http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1016375 to provide htpc oriented raid works fine for my movies.

Flexraid recovery is faster than raid 5.

[loomdog32]

Originally Posted by PiX64

I would highly recommend the freenas solution connected to a gigabit switch for a NAS

For my DVD NAS i have the following setup:

1) FreeNAS running of off USB thumb Drive
2) 4 x 1TB Maxtor drives
3) PERC 5i true hardware raid controller at Raid 5
4) I can provide more hardware specs if you are interested

The above setup for a NAS has proven to be more than reliable. My NAS has been up an running for 150 days and counting without a reboot.

I can record 4 shows, and watch 3 different DVD's simultaneosly - 2 on hd200's and 1 on a client pc while uploading new movies to freenas.

If your into building systems, this is def. a cheaper alternative that works great. Less the cost of drives i built this NAS for roughly 200

Just something to think about.

~Mike

How did you get a complete system with a PERC card for under $200???

[PiX64]

I am on my way out the door right now, but will send you the info as to what i bought from where as well as prices later today...

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by PiX64

I am on my way out the door right now, but will send you the info as to what i bought from where as well as prices later today...

Please send it to me also, or just post here. thanks.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by thorforyou

I am using Ubuntu 64 bit on an old pc that i had around the house. Athlon 3200 with 2 gig ram.

The disk i/o through a gig switch streams multiple hd streams without a hitch.

The server also runs all of my transcoding jobs using winff.

The install was painless and the server has never crashed. I tried WHS but imo it was to unstable and virus scans took longer with each terabyte added. The backup and recovery were a joke.

The Acronis backup server for linux is fantastic as a backup for the clients and flexraid http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1016375 to provide htpc oriented raid works fine for my movies.

Flexraid recovery is faster than raid 5.

Is Flexraid on a hard ware or software raid setup? Can you give me your hardware setup?

[PiX64]

Perc 5/i card -- ebay -- $89.99 (there are usually an abundance on ebay for 89 - 99 <---- http://www.overclock.net/hard-drives...card-tips.html

Case: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...620&CatId=1510

Mobo -- Tiger direct no longer sells the mobo i bought. It was an XFX mobo
CPU -- Athlon 64x2
Ram - 2GB Corsair

I tried to find the same deal, but 8 months ago or so when i built mine They had a bundle deal which was the case i have above, mobo, cpu, ram for 109.99, then the perc card was 89.

I priced out another system for ya guys and it was around 250 without the drives.

The hard drives were 89 a piece.

Sorry if i got any ones hopes up, but it doesn't appear that tiger still has this amazing deal which i got when i built mine. 250 ain't to shabby though!

~Mike

[RocKKer]

+1 on the Linux server with software raid 5 solution, I haven't had any problems related to hardware, OS or raid software (LVM and MDADM) all running in an Antec 300, (runs cool and quiet).

I shouldn't have performance or reliability issues, which is less to worry about.

My performance on the server is -
Reading 262 MB/s cpu usage is 33%.
Writing 141 MB/s cpu usage is 33%.
Theoretically the gig network will move 125 MB/s.

Downside is you have to be comfortable with Linux - there are tutorials about how to create volumes and raid arrays, makes it alot easier. Ubunto is very easy to install.

My 2 cents.

[thorforyou]

you can read about flexraid here:
http://www.openegg.org/FlexRAID.curi

I have been very happy with the product.

My Hardware config is athlon 64bit 3200. It is an old emachines box that I have upgraded to 2 gb of ram. I also upgraded the nics so that there are 2 realtek 6169 cards. I am using onboard video which was ati x200.

Just old hardware really.

The Ubuntu server setup does take a little work. I did install the GUI so that I can administer the machine using the point and click method. The Ubuntu forums have a lot of good howtos.

I did try freenas, openfiler and qnap solutions but for me the Ubuntu platform was a better choice. One a month or so I copy my recorded TV to the server and transcode everyting to MVK using Winff.

Oh yeah I also use a 4bay sans Digital disk array connected to an esata card.

I hope that this answers your question.

[DFranch]

We have 2 Qnap 509 Pro NAS boxes where I work. It uses a 1.6 GHz celeron I think, they are really well made. I wish I could afford to put something like that into my network. I wish I could give you info on transfer speeds, but we are limited to a 100 mb LAN at work. I tried to get them to upgrade to 1 Gig, but they did not want to spend the $$. I would be a bit concerned about network traffic if you were doing like 4 HD recordings from 2 HDHR's and they were being directly written to the NAS, but that should be theoretically ok. I don't know at what point the network traffic would exceed a 1gig network. It might be better to write to a local drive and archive to the NAS at night.

Another alternative Lacie makes an eSata raid box with 4 drives here I've also been looking at. you don't have to worry about network speed, it is as fast as eSata.

[loomdog32]

Im running WinXP and flexRAID.. Its a software "snapshot" RAID (You have to manually run parity check. and will need to replace any "failed" equipment before recovering any data)... Manually running parity for me isnt a big deal.. I mean, The only "changes" are when I get new videos..

The biggest thing I like about it is, if I want to replace a drive with a bigger one. I run a check on my system. Replace the Drive. Assign the new drive to the same drive letter as the old drive. Format the new drive. Then do a restore. Presto - all my data from the old drive is on the new drive..

It only offers N+1 protection.. Wouldve perfered N+2 (RAID6 like), but we cant have everything.