BUILD Validate my first setup

[Alex Kwa]

I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on a new NAS setup. Would really appreciate if you guys could validate my choices for compatibility and recommend any improvements to it. Main use is media storage that does automatic download and transcoding server. My main system is a MacBook Pro.

I will start with one new HDD and upgrade as and when I need it.

Here is what I came up with so far

• Case Lian Li PC-Q26B ¥26722
• Power Corsair RM550 ¥12680
• Motherboard ASRock Rack E3C224D4I-14S ¥78962
• Ram 2 x Kingston 8GB ECC KVR1333D3E9S/8G ¥19822 (for 2)
• FreeNAS Flash Drive SanDisk USB Flash Drive Cruzer Fit 8GB ¥525
• HDD WD Red 6TB ¥32832
• And additional old drives Seagate 4TB and Samsung 2TB

Total ¥ 171543
US$1374

Some questions:

• I don't have a monitor, do I need one for setup? If so, will a television monitor Sony Bravia HDMI input, no d-sub do?
• The end goal will to be utilise all the HDD drives eventually. Will the PSU hold out?
• While this is mainly build toward a NAS system, I might decide to make it a DAS drive for improved speeds. Any issues that I should note? What is the optimum way to connect this to my MacBook Pro?
• Do I need anything else? I only have a MBP and nothing else. Do I need any wires, software etc?

 

[DrKK]

• I don't have a monitor, do I need one for setup? If so, will a television monitor Sony Bravia HDMI input, no d-sub do?

• The end goal will to be utilise all the HDD drives eventually. Will the PSU hold out?

• While this is mainly build toward a NAS system, I might decide to make it a DAS drive for improved speeds. Any issues that I should note? What is the optimum way to connect this to my MacBook Pro?

• Do I need anything else? I only have a MBP and nothing else. Do I need any wires, software etc?

No, that motherboard only has VGA/d-sub. HOWEVER, this motherboard *DOES* have IPMI on it, which means, that you can see the system console remotely via a web browser with Java. So you can use another computer (e.g., laptop?) to view the "screen"...which you will need to do during setup.

The power supply is more than capable of a large number of those hard drives. No problem.

I don't know anything about Macs.

 

[DifferentStrokes]

How are you planning on setting up those hard drives? Z2, Z3, Mirrors?

Consider ordering one more USB drive for a mirrored boot device.