Home Made NAS from older PC - help needed

condyk

condyk

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So I have a PC that I built from high quality components around 6-7 years ago. I replaced with another self build photo editing machine a couple of year back so it has sat unused since. My thought is that I can make it into a NAS but I don't know where to start exactly. I have two 1TB HDs in my photo machine I can use and I think 5 -6 various sized drives kicking around. The 1TB HDs I've just used for mirroring each other and the contain data only, no system. They need tidying.

The main thing I want to achieve is the ability to access my files anywhere and on any machine. I also want to stream FLAC/music. I have a smartphone, tablet, Chromebook and the photo machine, plus possibly via my work PC too, but not essential. I'd like a 'fail-safe' backup so across the two drives maybe and/or to my One Drive storage in the cloud.

My questions are which NAS software is reliable, cheap/free and easy for a relative non-geek to use daily. How do I set it up? Is it run/installed on a memory stick via USB or on one of the HDs? I assume connect to the router via cable rather than wifi?

Any help appreciated. I guess it could really help others too. Many have older PCs kicking around I'm sure.
 
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I use Openmediavault on an old HP Microserver, it runs from an internal USB memory stick. It is free to download and use.
 
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Things you should probably consider:

Power consumption - A desktop machine is probably going to use more power than a dedicated NAS unit from the likes of Synology

Hard drive capacity and arrays - The amount of ports on your motherboard and drive bays in the case, do you have enough ports/bays to expand your storage as you grow. Does your motherboard support RAID (if required). Do you need an extra card to support RAID.

Backup - What is your backup going to be. A mirror is NOT a backup.

OS - Depends how flexible you want to be. If your hardware supports RAID then you could just bung Windows on, then install whatever apps (Plex for streaming). Or you have Synology NAS OS you can install that, which has a plethora of addons such as DNLA for media streaming.

Remote access - Pretty easy to do with Dynamic DNS and router port forwarding.


That's before I've had a coffee, I'm sure more will crop up.
 
I agree with neil_g's comments above. If your old pc supports wake on lan or wake on time you can minimise power consumption by turning it off when not needed, e.g. overnight. My Openmediavault is part of my backup strategy, backing up my WHS server, which backs up our PCs and laptops and provides file sharing

My WHS server uses a low power i3 processor with ssd and 2.5" HDD and wakes up and shuts down automatically.
 
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neil_g said:
Things you should probably consider:

Power consumption - A desktop machine is probably going to use more power than a dedicated NAS unit from the likes of Synology

Hard drive capacity and arrays - The amount of ports on your motherboard and drive bays in the case, do you have enough ports/bays to expand your storage as you grow. Does your motherboard support RAID (if required). Do you need an extra card to support RAID.

Backup - What is your backup going to be. A mirror is NOT a backup.

OS - Depends how flexible you want to be. If your hardware supports RAID then you could just bung Windows on, then install whatever apps (Plex for streaming). Or you have Synology NAS OS you can install that, which has a plethora of addons such as DNLA for media streaming.

Remote access - Pretty easy to do with Dynamic DNS and router port forwarding.


That's before I've had a coffee, I'm sure more will crop up.
Click to expand...


Largely +1
If you insist on self-build, there are plenty of atom/celeron-based system-on-chip boards with 4+ SATA ports which are very energy efficient - if you're dedicated to the cause you could probably improve on the energy efficiency of a Syno NAS.
There are plenty of affordable cases around which take 4+ drives and a Micro ITX motherboard.
However, it's probably cheaper to buy a HP Microserver when they are on offer.

I'd look at MDADM (Linux) or ZFS (e.g. FreeNAS or ZFSonLinux (ZOL) to provide RAID.

Remote access - the most secure way of doing this is to use VPN rather than expose your 'NAS' directly to the outside world. This facility is increasingly available in home/office 'hubs' or, you could run virtualised pfSense on your NAS .....

Honestly, you can't do enough reading up on this before taking the plunge with your own homebrew solution. One mistake and pfft, your data is gawn.
 
broc said:
I agree with neil_g's comments above. If your old pc supports wake on lan or wake on time you can minimise power consumption by turning it off when not needed, e.g. overnight. My Openmediavault is part of my backup strategy, backing up my WHS server, which backs up our PCs and laptops and provides file sharing

My WHS server uses a low power i3 processor with ssd and 2.5" HDD and wakes up and shuts down automatically.
Click to expand...

Yeah I mean to be fair it's all subjective, my HP N40L microserver filled with 4x 3.5" drives and attached eSata 5 bay filled with 3.5" drives is on 24/7 no spindown or hibernation, with accompanying network kit. This time of year with no heating on our smart meter is averaging about £1-2/day (including all other normal usage of appliances, large plasma tv etc).
 
afasoas said:
Remote access - the most secure way of doing this is to use VPN rather than expose your 'NAS' directly to the outside world. This facility is increasingly available in home/office 'hubs' or, you could run virtualised pfSense on your NAS
Click to expand...
yeah true, I think the Synology OS has VPN options built in too.

i use FTP at the moment (was using VPN but between Firewall options right now) but lock the IPs able to access down. does me for the moment.
 
I used to have a PC as a NAS but now use several Buffalo units as small as a desktop USB drive and just work I have only had one fail after10yrs...............using a PC is not really worth it

PS never never use the inbuilt backup software it is rubbish I use Syncback
 
Lots of food for thought here fellas and I'll have to have a good mooch about options.

I have to say that first thought is that these days while I still have the curiosity of youth I have less of the willingness to go much beyond 'so easy it worked first time' with this kinda thing. I suppose am thinking about the old PC as it's sat there and I could save £200 or so by DIY. But then if I factor in all the terminology (and much of what is said above may as well be Chinese) that I'd waste a shed load of time that is worth more to me than the cash. I suppose the reality is I'm after a simple (or reasonably so) plug and play solution.
 
condyk said:
So I have a PC that I built from high quality components around 6-7 years ago. I replaced with another self build photo editing machine a couple of year back so it has sat unused since. My thought is that I can make it into a NAS but I don't know where to start exactly. I have two 1TB HDs in my photo machine I can use and I think 5 -6 various sized drives kicking around. The 1TB HDs I've just used for mirroring each other and the contain data only, no system. They need tidying.

The main thing I want to achieve is the ability to access my files anywhere and on any machine. I also want to stream FLAC/music. I have a smartphone, tablet, Chromebook and the photo machine, plus possibly via my work PC too, but not essential. I'd like a 'fail-safe' backup so across the two drives maybe and/or to my One Drive storage in the cloud.

My questions are which NAS software is reliable, cheap/free and easy for a relative non-geek to use daily. How do I set it up? Is it run/installed on a memory stick via USB or on one of the HDs? I assume connect to the router via cable rather than wifi?

Any help appreciated. I guess it could really help others too. Many have older PCs kicking around I'm sure.
Click to expand...

I use VortexBox. Installation is straightforward but like all Linux-based systems there are opportunities for endless tinkering. Does gapless streaming of FLACs via Logitech Media Server, controlled by the fab iPeng or similar, automatically rips & tags CDs to FLAC and MP3, iTunes integration, built DLNA server, Samba.

Not sure about RAID and OneDrive integration but the VB forums will provide the answer.
 
Simple plug & play route is probably an off the shelf NAS device from a reputable brand, there are a number of discussion threads covering these already. I have used Synology & QNAP professionally, (retired IT manager) had my fingers burn by Buffalo & WD. One point worth considering if you decide to go down the old PC recycle route, reusing old hard drives can be risky, they will fail on you at some point!
 
neil_g said:
all hard drives are risky, even new ones. thats why they give a mean time between failures average life :D

why you should always have backups in place.
Click to expand...
True,
However I have seen more drives fail after their warranty expires than during the warranty period. Drives more than 3-5 years old can be living on 'borrowed time' .

Drives that have not been used for a while can suffer from 'stiction' too
 
It it worth looking at the Synology DiskStation DS215j as seems to fit the bill?
 
I think that particular model has a very underpowered CPU and all the cheap NAS use weedy Marvel CPUs. Increase your budget to £200 and consider QNAP and Asustor as well as Synology. The QNAP TS-251 looks a decent choice.
 
Ah well that sucks for me because I found one on Amazon Warehouse for £118 delivered so bagged it. I guess we'll have to see when it arrives. The feedback on it and reviews elsewhere pretty much give it a 5/5 so may be fit for my meagre needs.
 
condyk said:
Ah well that sucks for me because I found one on Amazon Warehouse for £118 delivered so bagged it. I guess we'll have to see when it arrives. The feedback on it and reviews elsewhere pretty much give it a 5/5 so may be fit for my meagre needs.
Click to expand...

Unless you want to transcode, it should be absolutely fine. I used a DS211j for a few years without issue. I used Kodi on 1st generation RasbPi and with the license for hardware video decoding on the Pi, had no problem playing back full HD content.
 
Nah, never say never, but I can't see a need to transcode stuff. So should be OK I reckon.
 
Andrew Moore said:
http://www.freenas.org

I've used this many times before. It's a superb bit of kit and is regarded as being a great alternative to purchased options from QNAP and Synology etc.

Have a read up on it if you haven't already :)
Click to expand...

:plus1: For freenas

Used FreeNas years ago and guess it come on a bit since then

I'm looking into the possibility off installing freenas on an old netgear NAS. The netgear I've got doesn't do snapshots as where freenas does.
 
If you want something like the old FreeNAS then look at NAS4free which was developed from the original FreeNAS code after FreeNAS was taken over. It's more of a pure NAS and lacks many of FreeNAS's 'frills'.
 
personally i would always suggest a 4 bay over a 2 bay so that you can expand without having to buy a whole new unit.

but i dont think you'll be disappointed with synology, they do make some very good kit.
 
Fla5h said:
:plus1: For freenas

Used FreeNas years ago and guess it come on a bit since then

I'm looking into the possibility off installing freenas on an old netgear NAS. The netgear I've got doesn't do snapshots as where freenas does.
Click to expand...

Also using FreeNAS, on a HP Microserver.
 
What Neil was saying - another NAS or server.
 
I tend to keep a copy on external USB, an HP micro server and upload jpgs to cloud (Google at the moment). I've also been considering turning my memory cards to single use as they really are so cheap compared with film.
 
So the NAS arrived and it's well made with nice neat internals. Everything lines up well and all the screws are supplied so very easy to install the two drives. Got it started up and connect via browser. Asks me to update software and then tells me the two drives will be erased! So that sucks as I have all my data on them. So have now ordered another 1TB drive and formated the second so I'll have 2 drives ready to go and the third I'll have as an archive of everything back in the photo edit machine until I get installed and everything transfered over. Is very quiet and am happy so far, but I guess the fun starts when I have to get it all fettled.
 
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