Is server grade hardware needed for a media only NAS?

[Harold]

Posted here before and got a pretty decent build set up but it comes to about:
-$500 (diskless)
-$800-900 (with disks Red)

I found these cheap builds (don't seem to care about ECC):
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=104489

So I was wondering is the server grade hardware needed for a NAS that I will be using for streaming to my XBMC set up? Would my HDD really die if I don't use ECC?

 

[fracai]

It won't die if you don't use ECC hardware. Your pool will very likely die if you experience bad RAM. The statistics of this event are indicated by many studies to be likely, but certainly not guaranteed or predictable. If you don't care about the data that might be lost (backups, transient data, etc.), there's no reason to spend a significant amount. That said, there are posts on this board indicating ECC can be achieved without great expense.

 

[ser_rhaegar]

For $500 you could just build one with ECC or get a pre built like the Dell deal someone linked the other day or a Lenovo TS140 off Amazon.

 

[jgreco]

No, you can feel free to buy the pricier prosumer grade boards. Of course, once you get done remediating the deficits, you may well have spent an extra 50%.

The words "server grade" are not a euphemism for "super expensive."

Those "cheap builds" will all have like 1GB of RAM on the cheapest motherboards you can find, including super awesome nifty Realtek ethernets and other things that will hurt you. In the end, they'll end up being troublesome, expensive-to-remediate builds that'll make you want to cry. There's a reason I wrote the hardware sticky.

 

[cyberjock]

We are discussing the whole "server-grade" versus "pro-grade" ... again... for a reason? And that reason is????

 

[jgreco]

Feel free to post a link and close the thread...

 

[Harold]

So FreeNAS needs pro-grade hw. Is there any other solution for a NAS for an HTPC? (That stays under 500)

 

[cyberjock]

Feel free to post a link and close the thread...

Done!

http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/so-you-want-some-hardware-suggestions.12276/

Closing the thread. Everything is in that link.

 

[jgreco]

So FreeNAS needs pro-grade hw. Is there any other solution for a NAS for an HTPC? (That stays under 500)

No, FreeNAS does not need "pro-grade hardware." Feel free to throw it together on the cheapest piece of shit that you can cobble together from the early 2000's. Then be disappointed. Then throw it together on the most fscking expensive pro-grade gaming rig you can find today. Then be disappointed again. Then go read the docs and see that there are certain things that you really need to make a great NAS. Buy those not-super-cheap but also not-super-expensive things and ... storage nirvana.