My Storage Solution (1 Viewer)

[slimmj0k3r]

I've been running mediaportal roughly for a year and i love it!!

Currently my HTPC/Workstation:
AMD Phenom x4 Quad Core (2.6ghz)
MSI DKA790GX Platinum Motherboard
Corsair Dominator 4GB(2x2gb) DDR2 1066mhz
Corsair 1000w Power Supply
Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 1GB (pci-e) (connected DVI>HDMI)
WD Velociraptor 10krpm 150GB SATA HDD
Western Digital 1 TB HDD (Which is now full)


My new project consists of creating a media storage server. Originally i wanted to simply pickup a drobo and max that out but i figure i'd build myself something nice now for more space down the road . Looking to get some feedback from you guys. My mind is made up with Hardware raid as opposed to software raid as it suits me better, but onto the specs!


NORCO RPC-3216 3U Rackmount Server Case (16 Bays)
ENERMAX REVOLUTION85+ ERV1050EWT 1050W ATX12V (16 SATA power connections)
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX
Intel Core2 Duo 2.93GHz LGA 775
CORSAIR 2GB DDR3 SDRAM
Western Digital 2TB SATA 3.0Gb Internal Hard Drive (x4) (+raid 5)
HighPoint RocketRAID 2320 PCI Express x4 SATA II RAID Card (8 Internal SATA II Connections)

Total is $1866 (Price is a little steep but i figure i spend the $$ now and save it down the line without having to really buy anything else but HDDs in the future, with this setup i can run 8 and with another raid card i will be able to run the full 16).

I will be moving into a new condo hopefully by summer time which give me the ability to finally build my gigabit network! Currently only one TV is using mediaportal but i'm hoping to creating a TV/DVR server and expanding mediaportal onto a second television

Comments/feedback/questions welcomed!

 

[revs]

I would suggest that you seriously consider building a UnRAID box - thats what I ended up doing and I love it! (Had originally looked at all sorts of NAS/Drobo/WHS etc)

UnRAID

It is basically a DIY drobo - i.e. lets you add Hard Drives one at a time, and any size and thus gradually increase storage. It also doesnt have the downside of RAID (possibility of losing all the drives, having to buy identical drives etc!)

Also - Core2Duo for a FileServer? Bit of an overkill? I went for a low power (money saving!) CPU, I believe it was a celeron of some kind - plenty of power and easily streams multiple Blu-RAY rips around the house.

 

[slimmj0k3r]

Also - Core2Duo for a FileServer? Bit of an overkill? I went for a low power (money saving!) CPU, I believe it was a celeron of some kind - plenty of power and easily streams multiple Blu-RAY rips around the house.

Will look into UNraid. Originally i was set on Drobo, but with the addition of a TV Server (HD-PVR) I'm going to need all the space i can get!

Reason i went with a Dual Core Processor is because the server is also where i will be backing up all my movies (mostly blu-ray). Figured the extra power would come in hand when doing so

Unraid looks pretty simple, i've got an older Athalan PC here That i'd just need to buy a few PCI Raid cards and HDDs..... i'd be good to go!

 

[revs]

I have nothing but praise for unraid.

I looked at the Drobo and WHS for a few weeks and all the alternatives etc and decided UnRAID was the way to go. You dont need a beefy processor - its not doing much - so a power friendly cheap one will do.

I love that I can just add drives to it as I want and not have to worry about what size they are. And love that I can just rip one out and replace it with a larger one.

I had two big power failures, and panicked as the UnRAID box went down - but was very impressed to find that when the box came back up it did a self check and then started up fine.

Make sure you check out the UnRAID compatibility charts.

 

[slimmj0k3r]

Now using Hardware that is not on the compatible list doesn't necessarily mean it won't work? because neither my motherboard or the PCI Raid controller i want to use is on that list

 

[revs]

It may work - it might just be that no-one has tried, or no-one has put it on the website. It boots off a USB stick - so pretty easy to test out and see if it works without having to install a new OS, or anything

 

[slimmj0k3r]

Worked fine so far. Pulled the trigger on a 4port sata card and three 2tb drives to start with, since my motherboard is not compatible I've got to put it through a few tests to ensure it works

 

[revs]

Good plan - great to hear that it all works well! That reminds me, I need to go figure out how I can get the UnRAID box I have email me if a drive fails - otherwise I might not realise until its too late!

 

[slimmj0k3r]

Good plan - great to hear that it all works well! That reminds me, I need to go figure out how I can get the UnRAID box I have email me if a drive fails - otherwise I might not realise until its too late!

Let me know how that works out, I'd like to do the same!

Will have the server up and running tomorrow. Everything arrives today minus the Sata card

today i'm upgrading my media switch to gigabit as well as doing some minor re-wiring

 

[drealit]

UnRaid is fantastic. Definitely one of my more favored discoveries in the past 2 years. My server has been up for 24/7 since late spring 2008 (Abit AB9 Pro based with 9 drives attached currently). Find a buddy and split the cost of 2 pro keys... or just buy 2 and save 1 as a backup.

Some packages you'll want to check out (I bolded the must haves):

• unMenu - fantastic alternative GUI that has a heck of a lot more features than the stock one and is extremely powerful.
• cache_dirs (basically indexes your entire system so you don't need to spin up drives if you're just browsing - only during playback).
• screens - essential for telnet/putty remote sessions so that you don't kill whatever process you're working on when you disconnect (formatting new drives?).
• apcupsd - if you don't already plan on having a UPS protecting your equipment... you really should and this package is essential.
• clean powerdown - you absolutely need this for the most flexibility when you want a clean powerdown and it goes hand in hand with the APC package.
• bwm-ng - i use it for monitoring my network bandwidth coming to and from the server so i can verify everything is going optimally.
• ntfs-3g - unraid doesn't come with native support for NTFS drives. this is useful if you want to directly plug in/mount an NTFS drive and quickly copy something onto or off it.
• preclear_disk.sh - completely clears and runs a new drive through a gauntlet (test to make sure it won't fail anytime soon) outside of your array so everything else can run unhampered. clear multiple drives at the same time with multiple screen sessions or telnet windows.