NAS Enclosure Recommendations

mic_y said:
there are only 2 issues with this: using a small ATOM mobo limits your storage expansion and RAID capabilities (AFAIK, most of the ATOM boards don't support this stuff) leaving you with buying a RAID card...
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If you are using onboard RAID and the motherboard fails you have a pretty big problem, unless you can get the same MB to replace it. It introduces a single failure point and it might be a problem to find one after a year or two.
For home use software based RAID is a much better option, unless you have thousands to spend on a proper RAID card.
 
KhoisanX said:
If you are using onboard RAID and the motherboard fails you have a pretty big problem, unless you can get the same MB to replace it. It introduces a single failure point and it might be a problem to find one after a year or two.
For home use software based RAID is a much better option, unless you have thousands to spend on a proper RAID card.
Click to expand...

+1
 
If you plan on using a off the shelf NAS, please note that the network speeds are really bad. They might have a 1 gig interface, but they are extremely slow.
 
KhoisanX said:
If you are using onboard RAID and the motherboard fails you have a pretty big problem, unless you can get the same MB to replace it. It introduces a single failure point and it might be a problem to find one after a year or two.
For home use software based RAID is a much better option, unless you have thousands to spend on a proper RAID card.
Click to expand...

My bank account agrees with that. especially RSA prices or raid cards sucks.. :@
 
Hi Guys

Have also been looking into this.

The Seagate BlackArmour series is nice, but pricy.

I would also personally build own server. If small form factor is an issue, look at the Lian-Li PCQ08 or PCQ07 chasis (mini-itx). As mobo, used Intel Jet Geyser Mini-itx (socket 1156) for core i5-660. Also, this mobo features 5 SATA connectors and with Intel GPU on-board, full HD decoding is possible!!

Just my 2c :)

Cheers
 
KhoisanX said:
If you are using onboard RAID and the motherboard fails you have a pretty big problem, unless you can get the same MB to replace it. It introduces a single failure point and it might be a problem to find one after a year or two.
For home use software based RAID is a much better option, unless you have thousands to spend on a proper RAID card.
Click to expand...

+1 - rather just use the software RAID in your OS. Either way the CPU will perform the RAID calculations....
 
Spudman said:
Hi Guys

Have also been looking into this.

The Seagate BlackArmour series is nice, but pricy.

I would also personally build own server. If small form factor is an issue, look at the Lian-Li PCQ08 or PCQ07 chasis (mini-itx). As mobo, used Intel Jet Geyser Mini-itx (socket 1156) for core i5-660. Also, this mobo features 5 SATA connectors and with Intel GPU on-board, full HD decoding is possible!!

Just my 2c :)

Cheers
Click to expand...

That Lian-Li case is perfect. Plenty of 3.5" bays, everything you need, except I don't know about using that board. No on-board raid, and only 4 SATA ports and the chip's limited to a 660 (or 860S?). I guess you could put in an Adaptec card, but then you loose the price advantage of building your own system. Also, Raid 5 and 6 are a waste with only 4 disks. With 6 disks (5 in RAID 5 and a hot spare) you get 66% of the total drive space.

What about this case? I cant find any reliable reviews, so how do you think that Silicon Image RAID performs? How hard would it be to hook a network port onto this eSATA enclosure?

I'm also looking at storage seriously now. I need a big drive, automatic backups, and I'd like more speed than I've got right now. And I can't find anything suitable and cheap.
 
so, I eventually ended up buying the Seagate Blackarmor 400...

Still not sure that I made the right choice, but have not been able to test properly... Installed 3 x 2TB WD Caviar Green (Reason for the WD's was because I have a fourth already).

First few days I did not have time to even play around with the thing (been way too busy at work). Eventually when I got to working with the thing, I tried to force both Ethernet ports to run a 1gbps, and had to reboot the system. Eventually I clicked shut down, to test something else, and upon powering up, the HDD's started making weird noises. After some time, the drives stopped making noises and the system booted. I logged in to find out that 2 drives had "failed" (not a biggie as all of them were brand new, and no data had been moved to the NAS yet). I turned the NAS off, plugged the drives into my box individually, and realised that all 3 brand new 2TB drives were fried. They are being RMA'ed by suppliers now.

I seriously hope that there are no compatibility issues between this box and WD drives, as if there is, then I have some major fighting to do with Frontosa. Will report back once I get the drives back and can play around again...
 
I can't imagine that WD drives would be compatible. The NAS enclosure should provide standard power and SATA interfaces that any 3.5" drive would require. When you say the drives were fried, surely you don't mean literally, as in the electronics were destroyed, you could smell burning etc, as I doubt the warranty would be intact in that case? I'm interested to know how it killed so many drives at once.
 
South_Bit said:
I can't imagine that WD drives would be compatible. The NAS enclosure should provide standard power and SATA interfaces that any 3.5" drive would require. When you say the drives were fried, surely you don't mean literally, as in the electronics were destroyed, you could smell burning etc, as I doubt the warranty would be intact in that case? I'm interested to know how it killed so many drives at once.
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well, by fried i mean that when plugged in to a PC, they were not detecting in BIOS, and the heads were making weird noises... but no, not fried literally...
 
Ah ok. I'm not too surprised to be honest, reason being that I've already RMA'd three 2TB WD Green drives this year, all with head failures. I must say I expected more from WD, their drives are normally pretty rock solid. Hopefully we've just been blessed with a bad batch.
 
No way 3 drives failed just like that. You've far beaten the statistic for drive returns according to stats available from reputable overseas web-sites (Anandtech, etc.)

I'm thinking that "NAS" is the problem...
 
Gnome said:
No way 3 drives failed just like that. You've far beaten the statistic for drive returns according to stats available from reputable overseas web-sites (Anandtech, etc.)

I'm thinking that "NAS" is the problem...
Click to expand...

yup. also think that it is too coincidental that 3 drives fail after shut-down, at the exact same moment...

also RMA'ed the NAS, so will see what happens when it comes back...
 
I may be a bit late on this, but for people still looking, I've been pondering over one of these - HP ProLiant N36L It seems like everything you could need, and a supplier recently was selling off old stock at what would resale at about R1,275.00 incl Vat, on the 7th of April they had 12 left, but not sure what is left now...

This server would normally sell at R3,320.00, which is still pretty good for a NAS system me thinks?!
 
Savage152 said:
I may be a bit late on this, but for people still looking, I've been pondering over one of these - HP ProLiant N36L It seems like everything you could need, and a supplier recently was selling off old stock at what would resale at about R1,275.00 incl Vat, on the 7th of April they had 12 left, but not sure what is left now...

This server would normally sell at R3,320.00, which is still pretty good for a NAS system me thinks?!
Click to expand...
Have you tested it as a NAS?

Could be hardware compatibility issues. I've had a look and it doesn't use what I would call a mainstream NIC. Also they don't provide details on the SATA controller. Hardware is a mayor problem in the PC based NAS arena, never make assumptions!
 
Unfortunately I haven't tested it as a NAS, In my linux noobness, I assumed that if Linux is a major server OS, then surely they would have drivers to suit a device that is being sold as a mini server!?

Probably not the case though ;)
 
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