Hi there,
So, I wanna build a FreeNAS box. This thread is me thinking loudly/foolishly. Its kinda of public brainstorming, so please bear with me and help if you think you can.
Objective:
This is to understand the approximate size for the setup. Lets think of each item:
Form Factor:
Software:
Hardware:
The first option got better CPU and is $55 cheaper. Any comment? Data from cpubenchmark.net:
To Do:
Any comments / criticism is welcomed....
Cheers,
Abdul
So, I wanna build a FreeNAS box. This thread is me thinking loudly/foolishly. Its kinda of public brainstorming, so please bear with me and help if you think you can.
Objective:
- MediaServer (Plex)-> clients two Roku's connected to Plasma TVs + 1 LED Smart TV. Max 2 concurrent streams.
- Backup phone data (mainly pictures/videos).
- Backup 4 laptops 1 PC
- Backup 3 tablets/iPads.
- Archive 20 years of old video tapes (around 50 to 60 8mm and Hi8).
- Archive hundreds of old paper photos and digital P&S/DSLR.
- Maybe Personal Cloud
This is to understand the approximate size for the setup. Lets think of each item:
- ~300 movies (2GB per movie) = ~ 600GB
- average of 8 active smart phones in the house at an average of 4GB per phone permanent backup (no incremental or differential) = ~32GB per year (assuming new phones every year).
- Each PC/laptop require about 80GB backup -> 400GB
- 3 Tablets/iPads * 10GB = 30GB
- Lossless home video archival requires ~370MB/min, for a standard 2hours tape that equals to 44.4GB per tape. To archive a max of 60 tapes the space needed is 2,664 GB
- I would guess there is an estimate of 500 to 700 paper photos that need to be archived. To scan these mostly 4"x6" pictures to digital format will take months. Anyhow, assuming 8MB per photo at 600 dpi PNG file, space required for 700 pictures is around 5.6GB
Form Factor:
- The main two I'm thinking of is either mATX/minitower or miniITX/minicube. The good thing about mATX is ability to use it as a desktop + FreeNAS. After thinking about it for few days I'm leaning towards the miniITX/minicube since I can configure it and forget about it in the corner of the house and just get my self a normal desktop. So, miniITX / minicube win.
Software:
- I looked around and found few NAS software. It seems FreeNAS is the most used and most reliable one. No further comment here.
Hardware:
- First Option
- Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX: $95
- Motherboard: ASRock Motherboard, Mini ITX DDR3 1600 LGA 1150 E3C226D2I: $225
- CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4 3 FCLGA 1150 Processor BX80646I34130: $120
- RAM: Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3L 1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM 240-Pin Server Memory CT2KIT102472BD160B: $170
- HDD: 6x4TB WD Red WD40EFRX drives: $173x6=$1038
- PSU: EVGA 430W 80PLUS Certified ATX12V/EPS12V Power Supply 100-W1-0430-KR: $35
Total Cost: $1683
- Second Option
- Motherboard/CPU: ASRock C2750D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard FCBGA1283 DDR3 1600/1333: $400
- (Everything else stays the same)
Total Cost: $1738
- i3-4130: 4819
- C2750: 3929
To Do:
- Understand FreeNAS more. Especially how to divide this hardware setup into two independent yet identical storage pools to use one for backup the other for production.
- Build a backup plan for the whole setup.
Any comments / criticism is welcomed....
Cheers,
Abdul