Building a hard drive server.

rgrebby

rgrebby

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You know the story, too many files and a backup system that just a mess.

I have a semi decent old atx pc so I'm thinking of building a server where I can expand drives as I go.

I can't say I know much about it but I'm guessing I'll add a sata controller card on the motherboard to add more drives. But finding a box and drive rack is tough as I have no clue what I'm really looking for.

Any advice on building a server rack that'll let me access 4k footage.
 
have a look at freenas, that said, without a bit of knowledge running your own NAS could be painful. if its just a box full of storage then thats simple if you want to add raid for fault totlernace, then that is where a bit of knowledge will come in.
 
i'm thinking a box full of storage to start. If I can keep adding racks with more drives then all the better.
 
How much storage do you need? If you’re talking about racks of drives - you’ll need to look at disk arrays.
And raid cards designed for external storage - or disk arrays with stand alone controllers and fibre connections to your computer.
Dell do some good ones you can find 2nd hand - but it’s a steep learning curve if you want to scale rack by rack.
 
Hi,
Have a look at www.silverstonetek.com, FS212 converts 3*5.25 bays to 12*SATA, TJ04-E Case has loads of slots, and ECS04 controller. However compared to a Netgear NAS unit it can prove rather expensive. Netgear also has firmware/software for RAID and data recovery in the event of failure.
Personally I have an ANTEC NSK4100 case with room for 6 internal + 3 ext bays and more. Have 512Gb M.2 SSD on motherboard, 2*500Gb 2.5 SSD and a host of reclaimed 3.5 Sata Drives.

I hope this will give you a head start …...
 
Currently I'm on about 4tb per year so going back 10 years or so, although the earlier years are much lower.

I have seen this...

TerraMaster D5-300C USB3.0(5Gbps) Type C 5-Bay RAID Enclosure Support RAID 0/1/Single Exclusive 2+3 RAID Mode Hard Drive RAID Storage (Diskless) https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071S6ZCMM/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_uhP1EbHPFKDM1


I wonder if just getting these and filling them up would be cheaper.
 
TerraMaster is DAS (Direct Attached Storage) and may well meet your needs better. 4Tb drives are a bit expensive at £180 each for good performance certified disks, so perhaps starting with cheaper 2Tb would be good. Certainly better that NAS or filling an old PC with disks.
 
unless you know what you are doing I wouldn't build a server, to many things to look after and manage.
I would look at a decent NAS like QNAP etc, pay the extra have it all , also make sure you have cloud backed up
 
Thanks, I'll take a look. Cloud isn't too much of an option as we shoot a lot of raw video.
 
I've managed to pick up a 4 bay icy box and 2 8tb drives for £125 each.

Should sort me out for a bit.
 
rgrebby said:
I've managed to pick up a 4 bay icy box and 2 8tb drives for £125 each.

Should sort me out for a bit.
Click to expand...
Do you have a backup regime, or is that 8TB for data and 8TB for a mirror?
 
I'm planning to do this with my ancient Mac Pro, which still chugs along, but has increasing issues with new software, and even just internet browser functions. So I need a new Mac, probs gonna see what Apple come up with over the next few months. Brand new style iMac rumoured. The Mac Pro has four HDD bays, which can be converted to take SSDs via an adapter, plus spare PCI slots that can be adapted to take more SSDs. Plus there are a further two SATA ports, so plenty of provision for storage. The only real issue is that HDDs are relatively slow, and larger capacity (2TB+) SSDs are hideously expensive. So; a fair amount of work to be done configuring such a system. I'd like a 'temporary' volume where files I'm working on can be placed so they're on a fast SSD, but also RAID 0 for backup. I currently have 2x4Tb in RAID 0, for all backups, and a 500GB SSD for boot, with various other HDDs and SSDs plugged in as needed (for an older OS to run my scanner software, and a Windows disc to run under for example Fusion, for example). So I need a 'server' rather than a 'NAS', I think. Any advice gratefully appreciated.
 
StewartR said:
Do you have a backup regime, or is that 8TB for data and 8TB for a mirror?
Click to expand...


I already have things backed up on smaller 1 year drives plus I have my current external drives all hooked up to a USB hub. I'll keep both and store them separately. That way I'll have a clean set of drives that I can work on in the icybox then back up using free file sync if I edit anything on them.
 
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