Looking into NAS systems

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Im looking for a little bit of help. I am looking to create a NAS for my home but I have never worked with one before. Love the idea behind them but Im just a bit confused. Basically, I want the NAS to be a central location for everyone in the house to backup to. Ill probably end up using Cobian or something. Ill take suggestions for backup software that may be better. GUI preferably and easy to use.

Im thinking of using either 3 or 4TB drives up to 4 hard drives total. The equipment I want is listed below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236599 x4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816856039

As I said, i wanna hook this up to my computer and have all computers access it over the network so they can save their media/pics/backups on it.

I also wanna be able to stream over the internet to another device/computer. Preferably with plex.

Do I need to have windows installed on all this then use FreeBSD or can I somehow just install FreeBSD on the hard drives within that raid enclosure? This part is where I get confused. How to actually set this up so I can put plex on the hdds so I can stream my media.

Thanks!

 

[Easy Rhino]

A NAS is its own unit. What you are describing sounds like a RAID array hooked up to your current PC? Or do you have a dedicated PC for this?

 

[newtekie1]

You'd hook that up to your PC, then install Plex Media Server for Windows on your PC. The enclosure just shows up as another drive on your PC, you can't install an OS or anything to it.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

A NAS is its own unit. What you are describing sounds like a RAID array hooked up to your current PC? Or do you have a dedicated PC for this?

This is one of the things I was trying to distinguish between. In my attempt to make this thread, answer phone calls, remote into client machines, etc I coudldnt think of how I wanted to ask this. What makes the NAS much more different than a RAID array hooked up to my current PC?

You'd hook that up to your PC, then install Plex Media Server for Windows on your PC. The enclosure just shows up as another drive on your PC, you can't install an OS or anything to it.

So basically just as I have plex set up now except the location path for the videos would point to the raid array instead of the location their at now? This is how I was thinking it would be.

Would there be a way for me to access this enclosure over the internet?

 

[newtekie1]

This is one of the things I was trying to distinguish between. In my attempt to make this thread, answer phone calls, remote into client machines, etc I coudldnt think of how I wanted to ask this. What makes the NAS much more different than a RAID array hooked up to my current PC?

Well, a NAS is its own stand alone device that really does nothing other than provide access to the storage space over the network.

So basically just as I have plex set up now except the location path for the videos would point to the raid array instead of the location their at now? This is how I was thinking it would be. Would there be a way for me to access this enclosure over the internet?

Yep, you'd do it exactly like you have it set up now, but point Plex to the RAID enclosure.

If you want to access the files over the internet just install Filezilla server and access the files via FTP.

Also, you might consider this over the USB enclosure you are looking at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111456

Yeah, it is a little more expensive, but it give you the ability to add a 5th drive later if you want, as well as 2 more drives stored in your computer(all configured as one large storage space). Plus it uses a well known Highpoint card to do the RAID, so you won't have to worry about janky issues down the road due to some off the wall RAID chipset causing problems.

The only real down side is the card is a PCI-E x4 card, so you'd need an x4 slot in your system, or a spare x16.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Well, a NAS is its own stand alone device that really does nothing other than provide access to the storage space over the network.



Yep, you'd do it exactly like you have it set up now, but point Plex to the RAID enclosure.

If you want to access the files over the internet just install Filezilla server and access the files via FTP.

Also, you might consider this over the USB enclosure you are looking at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111456

Yeah, it is a little more expensive, but it give you the ability to add a 5th drive later if you want, as well as 2 more drives stored in your computer(all configured as one large storage space). Plus it uses a well known Highpoint card to do the RAID, so you won't have to worry about janky issues down the road due to some off the wall RAID chipset causing problems.

The only real down side is the card is a PCI-E x4 card, so you'd need an x4 slot in your system, or a spare x16.

The PCI-E x4 isnt an issue. I only have a single card setup on my computer.

I was looking at the 4 drive bay one because honestly I dont need a 5th bay and if I ever did im sure there would be a new hdd standard by then. But comparing the 4 bay and the 5 bay, the only difference aside from the obvious, is that the 4 bay doesnt actually come with hdd trays. Which kind of annoys me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111454

 

[remixedcat]

Build your own. You get much more bang for the buck

 

[Aquinus]

What makes the NAS much more different than a RAID array hooked up to my current PC?

A NAS is a standalone computer that runs on your network.
A RAID enclosure needs to be plugged into a computer to be used and managed.

So, a RAID enclosure would need a PC to become a NAS. A NAS is just a computer on a network with network storage using something like FTP or Samba.

A dedicated NAS will also typically use less power than a full fledged computer as well as it doesn't need to be incredibly powerful; maybe an Intel Atom or one of those new AM1 APUs with a RAID card.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Build your own. You get much more bang for the buck

I don't have the room to put a full fledged tower somewhere in my house. My room is you cramped for another tower but will accommodate something Like what was already linked by myself and newtekie. And if it can't go in my room it would have to be setup wirelessly.

A NAS is a standalone computer that runs on your network.
A RAID enclosure needs to be plugged into a computer to be used and managed.

So, a RAID enclosure would need a PC to become a NAS. A NAS is just a computer on a network with network storage using something like FTP or Samba.

A dedicated NAS will also typically use less power than a full fledged computer as well as it doesn't need to be incredibly powerful; maybe an Intel Atom or one of those new AM1 APUs with a RAID card.

So by that definition a raid array is basically a nas. Just the only difference is software that allows outsiders access? And possibly more power consumption.

 

[Aquinus]

I don't have the room to put a full fledged tower somewhere in my house. My room is you cramped for another tower but will accommodate something Like what was already linked by myself and newtekie. And if it can't go in my room it would have to be setup wirelessly.
So by that definition a raid array is basically a nas. Just the only difference is software that allows outsiders access? And possibly more power consumption.

The enclosure is like the drives for a NAS, nothing else. It still requires a device to drive it. A NAS doesn't need a device to drive it, it works by itself. So no, a RAID enclosure isn't really a NAS, you can use it as one with extra hardware, but it's not a Synology box or something.

 

[mikolajek]

To put my little input into this thread - I used to run my own NAS server using my old PC and FreeNAS software and I wouldn't recommend that solution if you can afford buying a boxed-one, like Synology, Qnap, iOmega, Thecus or any other. It's big, noisy and power-consuming when compared with out-of-the-box product. Personally I'm stuck to Synology products, but tried Qnap in the past as well (however, I prefer Synology's DSM over Qnap system).

 

[erixx]

I would buy an empty barebone "boxed" standalone NAS by the brands mentioned above and install the drives I wanted. I have a WD MyCLoud and it is just connect and forget, and it is in suspended mode most of the day. And you can access it from over the internet with your tablet, etc. (I keep this disabled).