BUILD Cherry Popping Build

[NASburgundy]

After a few weeks of reading and scouring the internets I have put together a list of hardware I intend on getting to attempt my first journey into the world of software raid via freeNAS.

This list is obviously tentative and overall my focus is on being future proof, and having reliability and cooling/quiet over performance.

The main use of the NAS would be for storing media and backups for about 4 other machines, at most would be pushing 1080p content to 2 TV's and 3-4 other devices nothing too serious. At the moment I run Plex Media Server and Subsonic on another computer and may or may not try using freeNAS for that, only reason would be to repurpose that other computer, or maybe save on electricity.

===================================================
ORDERED

CHASIS: U-NAS NSC-800 Server Chassis - $199.99 {USD}

• Totally non essential case - I just think it looks nice and I am lazy - having hotswap is awesome. I liked this case over the popular SilverStone DS380B, but to save money that would be my runner up.

MOBO/CPU: ASRock Intel Avoton C2750 - $398.99 {USD}

• Came down between this and some of the atom supermicro's. I like that it has so many SATA although I am aware of the hotswap issues with one of the marvell's, If I have read and understood correctly people have been able to use hotswap using 8 of the ports mixing the Intel 3's with the Marvelll 6's.

RAM: Crucial 16GB (8x2) DDR3L 1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM 240-Pin - $172.66 {USD} x 2

PSU: SeaSonic SS-350M1U 350W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 - $64.99 {USD}

• Using this case and PSU would require a separate FLEX ATX to 1U mounting bracket for compatibility too - $5.95 {USD}

Subtotal before S&H, and any other misc parts, cables and most importantly the HDD's would be

about $842.58 {USD}, pending what HDD's I end up with I may need more RAM as well. Not to mention I will probably pick up another UPS for this when it is done too. I also would probably buy better fans for cooling.

=============================================
HDD: I am very on the fence about which HDD to choose. I am thinking right now of Hitachi's, or perhaps WD RED's or RE for their warranty. This would be severely open to critique and input and I will probably spend more time researching to make sure I don't screw myself long term.I know that I want RAIDZ3 and would like to stick with 8 HDD for now. Perhaps I could do:

8 x 2 TB RAIDZ3

And if I run out of space replace each HDD with 4TB in the future when the prices drop?

Any feedback, critiquing and RTFM'ing is appreciated :)​

 

[Ericloewe]

Don't worry too much about the drives. GbE is going to be the bottleneck, so 5400RPM drives are definitely recommended (much less heat).

The regular WD Reds (non-Pro, the Pros are 7200RPM) are probably the most popular model around here and nobody's complained about the drives. Second most popular are the Seagate NAS drives, slightly faster but also slightly more power-hungry and thus hot.

 

[jgreco]

I haven't seen the NSC-800 but it looks promising.

The Avoton board is pretty great except that the per-core speeds are so-so.

As for drives, I would take a closer look at the 4TB's *now*. Spending a little more on space now means you don't wind up with a pile of useless 2TB's in the future. The prices on 4's are unlikely to drop dramatically beyond the $139 the Seagates can be found for on sale. Sure they'll be closer to $100 in a year, but since the 2TB's are around $75 the price per gig actually favors the 4's right now, and getting the 2's now ($75) and replacing them with 4's in a year ($100) means a total cost of $175 per 4TB in the end. Better to pay $139 per 4TB today.

 

[NASburgundy]

Thanks for the fast responses :D

Good point @jgreco true the price point per TB would be cheaper if I just ponied up for the 4TB, the thought of losing a 4TB drive pains me at the moment though lol, but hopefully RAIDZ3 would help me sleep better at night, I certainly can't afford to build 2 of these at this time, but I could easily continue backing up a smaller portion of my files off site as I do now. Interestingly enough it seems like the 3TB RED's would actually be the best possible value for me to purchase at this time? Was expecting the 4TB or 6TB to take that one:

1TB - $65.29 @ $65.29/TB
2TB - $100.24 @ $50.12/TB

3TB - $122.00 @ $40.66/TB

4TB - $172.99 @ $43.24/TB
5TB - $249.94 @ $49.98/TB
6TB - $299.99 @ $49.99/TB

I agree with @Ericloewe about the 5400 RPM drives, and I did not realize that the WD RE's only came as 7200RPM, I like the idea of getting the WD Red's 5400 to save electricity and heat, too bad there is no 5 year warranty for them.

As far as when and where to get the HDD's I currently have none :( I have read numerous threads here and elsewhere about the legalities of buying same or different HDD's from various batches or manufacturers. I will have to see if there is a valid way to even purposely get from different batches, or if perhaps it is so negligible I should just order them now.

If I got 4TB drives I would also get 32GB of RAM too without question. I am planning on further documenting and planning my build process and testing/burn in process (stickies here have been invaluable!) before I actually buy anything, besides for some HDDs possibly. I want to make sure I leave nothing to chance, I have very little free time so I want to plan properly and make sure I am knowledgeable. Learning freeBSD and serious storage at home has been on my list for far too long, I now if I spend the money I will make the time, hopefully some of *nix knowledge can bleed over and make it a fun hobby .

 

[jgreco]

There's a bit of a fallacy in looking at just the cost of the drives. I suggest you look at the total cost for your NAS, including the server itself.

You can consider the relative value of Red/NAS class drives, and depending on what you're doing it may not be worth it. The NAS class drives offer things like TLER (WD-speak) which allow the drive to cut short a failing transaction and report an error more quickly. This is very important if you've got a busy departmental fileserver! However, if you merely want to have a large archival data storage system for your personal use, the desktop drives may be sufficient. On the rare occasion you have a failing drive, you can just cope with it.

FWIW I found the tradeoffs such that 12 4TB desktop drives in an 11 drive RAIDZ3 plus a warm spare offered suitable safety characteristics.

Do not freak out too much about the warranties. Usually by the time the drive dies the replacement is half the cost.

 

[NASburgundy]

warranties I understand - nothing but an actual backup is a warranty anyways. As far as pricing is concerned, it seems like across the board there is only a $30 premium to get 'NAS' rated HDD instead of 'Desktop' HDD's. That would only be an upfront savings of $240 which is minor in the grander scheme of the build and longterm health of things, of coarse I could try to use the Green's and follow this thread too. Thread blew my mind ;) I had no idea WD was that crafty.

Based on the STH - raid-calculator if I go with raidz3 I am looking at usable storage of:

9.1 TB ~ 2TB/HDD
13.6 TB ~ 3TB/HDD
18.2 TB ~ 4TB/HDD
27.3 TB ~ 6TB/HDD

I currently only have about 6TB worth of stuff that I would want to migrate onto the NAS, great point made about having to knowingly purchase larger drives in the immediate future, going with the 2TB's would not leave much room for growth. I think the 3TB's might be a perfect compromise, would more than double my current storage capacity, give the safety of redundancy and I would have RAM to spare if I loaded up with 32GB or maybe even save money if I only got 24GB od ECC RAM?

Unless there is some miraculous feature that WD's NASware 3.0 offers over 2.0 then I think the 3TB's would be the best fit for me. I hope having a DIY freeNAS doesn't result into me becoming a data junky or something I don't foresee ever using it as an esx storage or anything fancy like that, and I don't see a 4k TV looming in my immediate future either >.<

 

[cyberjock]

Unless there is some miraculous feature that WD's NASware 3.0 offers over 2.0 then I think the 3TB's would be the best fit for me. I hope having a DIY freeNAS doesn't result into me becoming a data junky or something I don't foresee ever using it as an esx storage or anything fancy like that, and I don't see a 4k TV looming in my immediate future either >.<

Too late. You tasted the drugs bro........ and you LOVED it!

 

[NASburgundy]

I need to walk away from my computer, the more I read here the more money this build is going to cost lmao. So now not only am I getting REDS but I am definitely double checking them with WDIDLE3 to make sure I am drinking the right kool aid? As I go re-read the red vs green thread for the 10th time.....

 

[cyberjock]

I need to walk away from my computer, the more I read here the more money this build is going to cost lmao. So now not only am I getting REDS but I am definitely double checking them with WDIDLE3 to make sure I am drinking the right kool aid?

Put down the keyboard and mouse.... LOL

 

[NASburgundy]

Ordered > $1k of gear, looks like this is happening :D

 

[NASburgundy]

Update on this build:

I have been really swamped with work and other projects/hobbies, so this build has been delayed heavily :(

I started today re-reading documentation and planning out my burn in process and how I will setup freeNas, etc. After an initial setup and checking out cable management, I decided to order some better & shorter cables to make things work better with this NSC800 case, because right now space is really tight. Hopefully within the next week I will get the entire thing cabled up and begin burn in testing, my plan is to slowly migrate all my current data into this baby by November. Should be fun.

 

[BakerT]

NASburgundy how is the noise from that 1u PSU?

Ive been looking at those cases too(U-NAS 400 and 800). They seem pretty sweet.

 

[rabiat]

Update on this build:

I have been really swamped with work and other projects/hobbies, so this build has been delayed heavily :(

I started today re-reading documentation and planning out my burn in process and how I will setup freeNas, etc. After an initial setup and checking out cable management, I decided to order some better & shorter cables to make things work better with this NSC800 case, because right now space is really tight. Hopefully within the next week I will get the entire thing cabled up and begin burn in testing, my plan is to slowly migrate all my current data into this baby by November. Should be fun.

I have a similar NAS build as you are currently putting together, NSC-800 case with C2750D4i. I would really recommend using a SAS HBA like the IBM m1015 (flashed with IT firmware) as it will ease up the cabling. It will be very tight to run 8 individual SATA cables from the mobo to the drives.

 

[jgreco]

That adds more watts (about 11 watts).

 

[rabiat]

That adds more watts (about 11 watts).

Yes it does, but I think it's worth it. One might be able to find other SAS HBA's that draws less power but I think it's worth to at least consider a m1015 as you can get them pretty cheap from eBay.
Running 8 SATA-cables through the case will most likely impact the air flow over the C2750 heatsink.

 

[jgreco]

That's a matter of technique, I'd think. A pair of SFF8087 cables isn't necessarily going to be any better. It pays to get all OCD about the specifics in small spaces.