Small Business NAS Hardware Recommendations?

[Peanut4848]

Hi All,

I want to ask for some advice about building a new NAS. As a graphic designer i need to be able to access the files fast and reliably. Also I am not sure but is it possible to access the NAS form outside the LAN/WAN. I have a low budget and the build would need to be under $500 if this is possible. I have an old pc case and a power supply so those dont need th be in the price. If anyone has any tips for a first time build thst would be much apreciated.

Thanks,
Gabriel

 

[danb35]

How much data do you need to store? How many people will be using it? Will you be doing anything other than file storage? Does your budget include the disks?

Best budget option I know of right now in .us is the HPE Proliant ML10 for US$200. Just add some RAM (at least another 8 GB) and your desired disks. I understand that model is available outside .us, but not sure what the pricing would be like in .au.

 

[joeschmuck]

First of all, I would be very sckeptical if you could purchase just the hard drives alone for under $500, but no matter which NAS solution you choose, you will still need to purchase hard drives. @danb35 gave you great advice above. You need to be very specific in what requirements you need. We can help you with all of your questions, such as accessing the data on the internet but that is not a FreeNAS question but more a Router question. Also, is your intentions to work on graphics files directly on the NAS or copy them to a local PC and work the files there? This makes a difference as you will need a fairly advanced system to manage that, which means more money.

 

[Peanut4848]

Hi danb35,

I only need about 1-2 tb of storage and there will only be 3 people accessing the NAS at most (usually only 2). I don't plan using the NAS for anything other then a file store (so no decoding of video or the likes).

joeschmuck, what do you thing would be safer or economical working off the NAS or copying the files? It would be more practical to just work off the NAS than having to copy each file off the NAS.

Thanks for your help!

 

[danb35]

what do you thing would be safer or economical working off the NAS or copying the files?

There isn't really going to be a difference in safety, but working directly on the NAS could increase performance requirements depending on the sorts of files you're working with. Video editing, for example, is pretty demanding. Working with smaller files is generally not a problem.

Do you have plans already for backing up the system? Because RAID isn't a backup--particularly if you're editing files directly on the server, you need to have a backup to protect against things like user error, and in any event catastrophic hardware failure can kill your data as well.

 

[joeschmuck]

I agree, small file work like graphic images would be fine on the NAS but if it were actual video content then you need a very good computer for the NAS and heavy resources, also you may need to upgrade your network connectivity.

If you are thinking that you only need 2TB for the next 3 to 5 years then double that is my advice. And it sounds like you are not using this as a backup device but just extra storage as previously pointed out by @danb35 so if this is true, you could get away with a mirrored pair of 4TB hard drives. If the data is critical to you then I'd do a 3-way mirror of 4TB drives.

When you do buy your hardware and put this together, if you feel the system takes to long to produce the files, you should post what is going on and be very specific on the protocol used, network connectivity (wifi is slow) and the system configuration. The first thing we are likely to tell you is to increase your RAM. Of course if you are working on video files then it's a bit more complex than that. There are other folks here that have build video editing FreeNAS systems, you could do a search if you like to find out more.

 

[Evertb1]

I have an old pc case and a power supply so those dont need th be in the price.

Thanks,
Gabriel

You already received some great advice ffrom @danb35 and @joeschmuck. Allow me to ad some of my thoughts here. As long as a case is halfway decent it will not be a problem. But the same can't be always said of an (old) psu. I feel that a reliable and stable system starts with a rock solid psu. I have build and updated a lot of systems in 20 years or so. Gaming rigs but also al kind of (business) workstations. And I have seen a number of systems acting up because of a bad, unreliable psu. So if you are not 100% sure about your (old) psu make some room in your budget for a good one. If you act on the advise of @danb35 and look for something like the Proliant it gues it will be OK.

 

[joeschmuck]

Since @Evertb1 brought up the old power supply topic, just one more thing. The motherboard power connector has changed over the years so if you have a fairly old power supply it my not even be compatible with a current motherboard. These are things to consider. However a good quality power supply doesn't need to cost a lot of money either. But I think the best advice here was to purchase the HP ML10 that @danb35 recommended.

 

[Ericloewe]

Well, ATX has been is use for so long that anything remotely usable follows the standard (some OEM stuff excluded).

 

[joeschmuck]

Well, ATX has been is use for so long that anything remotely usable follows the standard (some OEM stuff excluded).

LOL, you have not seen what I have in my basement of goodies and I likely have an operational ATX V1.0 (or close) power supply hiding down there. "used for so long" is a very relative term and I don't consider 2004 (13 years) that long of a time. ATX12 V2.0 came about in 2004 which uses a 24 pin connector which is the current style in use. The current standard is ATX12 V2.4 from 2013. Of course I'm assuming you are referencing the ATX power supply connector and not the ATX motherboard format so if I misunderstood, accept my apology.

 

[Stux]

Chucked out an AT PSU the other day. With the side by side connectors.

AT -> ATX 1.x -> ATX12V 1.x -> ATX12V 2.x

Which brings us to 2.4.

Primary difference being an ATX12V is is post P4 and delivers more 12V. 2.x is post PCIe and delivers almost all 12V.

And actually, we all tend to use EPS12V PSUs with enough CPU power headers for dual Xeon.