Ongoing New Setup (1 Viewer)

DJBlu

Portal Pro
August 14, 2007
1,670
813
Llanelli
Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Hi,

Just thought I'd let you all in on my new setup.

Took the plunge a year ago and went Multi Seat. I say Multi seat. TV Server upstairs client downstairs.

Anywhoo, after collecting a lot of TV Series and realising how quiet it kept my mother and missus at christmas I have decided to add 2 more clients to the house.

Current config is, TV Server with Data, 2.5TB (2x1TB & 500GB) non raid, silly I know. Client is an Eeebox 1501, although this is a little slow on navigation within MediaPortal it packs real punch when decoding HD.

So onto the new system.

NAS

Firstly I decided to create a NAS that will act as a Gigabit DCHP client/router/firewall for all the network in the house, everything is wired except for the laptop but this will connect via the ADSL+ router.

I have an ASUS Alive Micro ATX motherboard with an Athlon XP 3500+ AM2 processor and stock fan, these are spare from an old htpc I created over 2 years ago. Couple this with the following items,
2GB Ram
2x2TB 5400rpm drives in RAID5
2x1TB 7200rpm drives in RAID5
The Case has space for another 4 drives.

I have yet to decide which software to run on this, I will read up on it and decide in due course.

TV Server

This is already built so I will just be adding to it.

Phenom II X4 620 processor
4GB Ram
16GB SSD Hard Disk for timeshift
Gigabit LAN
2 x TBS dual DVB-S2 cards. Connected to Sky Dish 4xLNB
1 x Hauppauge Nova-HD. Connected to Motor. 42e - 30w. Currently looking at improving diseqc for this.
This TV Server will now act as a client in the Living room which in turn free's up the Eeebox for use in another room.
Connected to the 42" TV in the living room.

TV Client

Asus Eebox 1501

Great little ION powered box that has a gigabit LAN connection and HDMI.
This will now be placed in the bedroom with the 32" TV.

All this will be connected via CAT 6 cabling through a 5-port gigabit switch.

I have a few questions if people can help.

I have never had the need to use a RAID configuration before, I have chosen to go for RAID 5 as I am installing 2 new drives. The question is this, can RAID 5 accomodate mixed sized drives? and if so can I create the Array with the 2x2TB drives, copy the data from the 2x1TB drives, delete the partitions on the 2x1TB drives and then add them to the Array?

Also what do people recommend for the NAS software.

Should I go linux or use Windows Server 2008?

Thanks in advance.
 

Jay_UK

Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • October 6, 2009
    1,781
    283
    Derby
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    Hi there,

    I can not comment on the NAS software/OS - A lot will depend on any extra "services" you may wish it to do (backups, printing, DNS, DHCP, etc)

    As for RAID, it comes down to your RAID controller. Normally, when you create an array (RAID1,5,6 most common types - unless you class RAID0 as a RAID) the disk size is governed by your smallest disk in the array. eg RAID5 with a 200GB, 300GB and 100GB, would equate to the RAID array only utilising 100GB per disk, and then RAID5 you loose a disk. So in reality you only end up with 200GB usable (out of 600GB total)

    Some RAID controllers allow on-demand/online array expansion (without destroying the existing array), trying to insert another (smaller) disk will certainly be a challenge, as it will need to "rebalance the data and parity across the disks, but in a smaller usuable capacity) - Like I said it will be down to the controller (assuming H/W based RAID)

    OS based RAID can give more flexibility, but may have performance overheads.

    J.

    ps - RAID5 needs a minimum of 3 disks - so you wont be able to create it with just 2.
     

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