Recommended specs for small personal NAS

[Mugatu]

Looking for some advice on a project of mine and figured you guys could help me get started in the right direction!
I want to be able to access/store pictures from my phone to my computer and futur NAS on my LAN when outside my house. I'll be using a Raspberry Pi as a VPN server access and have that part researched enough to give it a try (setting up the RPI on openvpn, giving equipment a static IP address, getting a DDNS, setting port forwarding, etc).
I already have a laptop attached to my router (ASUS RT AC1750B1 running latest Merlin firmware) and want to test the connectivity and functionality with it.

If all goes well, the next step will be building a budget NAS. Something like 1Tb in raid 1 setup. This is where I still have interrogations about performance and parts required for a safe and relatively cost friendly build.
I was thinking of buying an old desktop pc and fitting in 2 x 1Tb WD blue HDD for this purpose. Good idea or should I get a cheap new desktop computer? If so, what kind of specs (processor, speed vs threading, RAM, etc)?

Thanks for your time!

 

[L&LD]

@Mugatu, what is your budget for this build?

I would recommend a 'real' NAS instead. QNAP (my preference) or Synology is highly recommended over a DIY build when you also value your data highly.

 

[Mugatu]

Hi l&ld, since this is more a project than a bulletproof data solution I would prefer to keep it on the DIY side.
What would be best in the Windows PC category for the task?

Budget would be best under 400$ but since I don't know exactly what specs to aim, it's hard to say.

 

[degrub]

Search for PI NAS and i think you will find plenty.
Btw, i would use WD Red drives instead.

 

[Mugatu]

Yes I've seen those, only issue was some users reporting transfer rates on the slow side of things as the PI's ressources seemed exhausted by the task. Also the USB ports can't power a HDD or SSD so I'd need external power and the power adapters I could see on Amazon aren't well rated (people had power problems after a few weeks). These problems oriented me to a PC solution.

I'm taking notes for the red instead of blue, care to explain why?

 

[degrub]

Controller parameters set to avoid time outs and drive being marked failed by the OS. TLR as i recall. WD’s cut sheet should have the rest of the tweaks. Last time i looked at them was when they were introduced and i was deciding between those and enterprise drives.

Look at the specs for the lowest priced synology or qnap diskless 2 drive box and try to beat the cost.

dont forget about operating cost as well. That is the biggest argument against repurposing a pc box. That and noise.

any reasonably clocked dual or quad core cpu should be fine unless you need hardware acceleration for encryption or transcoding video.
Just look at the cpus/ram/i/o used by synology and qnap for their products for an idea versus what and how you think you plan to use it.
Simple file storage and random access doesn't take much horsepower. Enough cache ram to keep the network and disk i/o saturated, 2-4 GB should be more than enough.

 

[Mugatu]

Thabls for the reply, I'm sensing that QNAP and Synology should not be ruled out hehe. I'm fine with their product but was aiming at a Windows PC for the familiarity of the OS and had a few recommended softwares in mind. Any QNAP/Synology model come to mind for their reliability of use (2 bay model)?

 

[Smokindog]

COMMENT PURELY INTENDED FOR "OPERATING COST" info!!!

I use a re-purposed i7-4770 for NAS, home automation, camera aggregation/storage, alarm system monitor, ripped music, photos, and OTA streaming server/DVR.

It's got 16Gb memory, 3 x 4 tuner ATSC cards, boot SSD, BluRay, and between internal and external enclosures (single and 4-bay) there are 7 "spinners" of 2-4TB sizes and multiple types from 7200 desktops to 5400 NAS drives.

Not going to go into the configurations (non-RAID and RAID) because I simply wanted to point out operating cost.

All this is plugged into a single UPS and on average it consumes about 2KWh per day according to the UPS or about 16 cents per day for me.

 

[L&LD]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N78FRVZ/?tag=snbforums-20

The familiarity of the os is easily trumped by the many features offered and the stability with the recommended WD RED HDDs.

On the DIY side, almost anything you can buy used for your indicated budget will be much more powerful than the above entry-level NAS. I wouldn't trust it with my data though.

Many customers are running QNAP NAS' for over a decade with just a few HDDs replaced (as needed). I haven't seen a used PC do that.

 

[Smokindog]

Always a difficult debate with the DIY discussions. If I were doing this for someone else and/or a business I'd definitely go purpose built with the required reliability. I'd have hard requirements defined to measure against!!

However at home I find myself replacing drives way before MTBF windows are even close to expiring to increase capacity or for other reasons.

So what you did call out here is the need for those hard requirements

Like I said, someone had tossed out operating costs so that's really the only reason I even chimed in! I was surprised how inexpensively things can be run with general compute products. Seems everything can go into low power states these days, unlike 15 years ago!

PS - Anything on my "server" that is critical data is mirrored on another machine with a monthly epoch dump, 3 copy rotation. Probably 3-4TB total. Again, that goes with the requirements This W10 PC has been going 24x7 for about 5 years now. It was my desktop prior to that since Q2'13)

PPS - Many of the QNAP devices are either Intel Atom or Intel Core driven.
https://www.qnap.com/static/landing/product_comparison/t_models.html

PPPS - not sure why the familiarity of the OS has anything to do with whether you use RED HDD. You lost me there. I've got RED, GREEN, BLUE, BLACK, and WHITE in my frankin box

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N78FRVZ/?tag=snbforums-20

The familiarity of the os is easily trumped by the many features offered and the stability with the recommended WD RED HDDs.

On the DIY side, almost anything you can buy used for your indicated budget will be much more powerful than the above entry-level NAS. I wouldn't trust it with my data though.

Many customers are running QNAP NAS' for over a decade with just a few HDDs replaced (as needed). I haven't seen a used PC do that.

 

[Mugatu]

Thanks a lot for the input. I am also considering FreeNAS which requires a slightly beefier machine (8GB RAM minimum, 16 recommanded) and is bringing the total cost higher then expected. Probably more than I had in mind.
I'm not really worried about the operating cost but reliability weights more.

I'll start with the Raspberry and getting it running as a VPN internet access to my LAN. Once I can access my laptop and confirm this part works, I'll get on with the NAS. This will give me time to decide whether I go with the prebuilt or custom way since both seem to have their pros and cons..

 

[L&LD]

PPPS - It doesn't.

A QNAP NAS + WD RED drives are highly stable and reliable on the latest QTS os. No issues with Rebuilds (when necessary) or anything else either (temps, noise, etc.).

 

[MichaelCG]

I have run my home file server for almost 10 years now on a Phenom II X6 Windows7 box. It was easy, simple, and overall reliable. I used the system for file services, virtual machines, and HTPC duties for many years. I did NOT use Windows to do the drive mirroring though, I used the chipset. The biggest challenge over the years to using a PC was where two things:

1.) When you needed to reboot, it was extremely disruptive to the rest of the systems consuming the file server services. Monthly patching, normal Windows madness, etc.
2.) When a drive did fail, it was a PITA to detect in a timely manner as well as replace/rebuild.

So if you have the budget, buy a proper NAS. If you don't, build it. For a budget NAS, don't worry about Red drives. I have successfully used standard desktop drives for this function for a long time. Are the NAS drives better? Possibly. But the price point of desktop drives can't be beat.

As for the comment about a used PC not lasting....I have two used Enterprise class desktops as utility boxes that are from the late 2000's that have been chugging along just fine in my basement for many years now. They are for sure past their prime, but they served their function well. I am in the process of buying a new Synology NAS which in theory will replace all of this legacy gear with one box.

 

[dosborne]

My vote is to get a true NAS box. A simple 2-bay unit will perform well and take up little extra space and run you about $200. Just stick with the name brands.

 

[Mugatu]

Thanks for your input MichaelCG and dosborne. The further I go, the more a proper NAS is gaining over a built for my purposes.
Currently having more fun than I thought fiddling with the Raspberry Pi (pretty geeky but meh, having fun nontheless). Using Putty, getting acquainted with a debian based OS and Terminal, etc.

 

[netware5]

My vote is for DIY NAS.

I am strong supporter of DIY NAS. You may use XigmaNAS OS instead of FreeNAS. XigmaNAS (former NAS4Free) is a successor of the original FreeNAS. It is stable, simple, not bloated with a lot of "extras". The XigmaNAS community is much more co-operative and friendly compared to the FreeNAS one. Just try to ask some "stupid" question in FreeNAS forums and you will understand what I am speaking about.

The important point when you start to build your own DIY NAS is the hardware. The reason why "real" NAS boxes are often recommended is the reliability of the dedicated NAS hardware. Most people associate DIY NAS with just ordinary PC hardware. No, this is not the case. In order to have a good DIY NAS you need server-grade hardware. Such NAS will outperform any commercial NAS box. There are many SOHO server boxes on the market. You even may choose a secondhand one.

I am a former owner and user of commercial NAS, but after that NAS reached EOL I faced a huge problem: how to read the data from HDDs. Proprietary RAID controllers make data unreadable unless you have the same controller. Failure of the NAS hardware (not the HDDs) will require to find a replacement with the same RAID controller. While DIY NAS with XigmaNAS, FreeNAS or any other OS with ZFS support will not need RAID at all. In case of box failure you just take the HDDs out, plug them in any PC, boot the XigmaNAS (or FreeNAS) from USB flash and you will have access to your data again. The DIY NAS also gives you a full control over the OS, which is not the case with "real" NAS boxes.

Currently I am using HP Microserver Gen8, 16GB RAM, Xeon 1265L CPU, and 2x4TB WD REDs. Perfect and trouble free performance. The XigmaNAS OS is also hosting one Ubuntu Server VM to provide OpenVPN and print services.

Important: Use only NAS grade HDDs. WD REDs are golden standard.

 

[RMerlin]

The DIY NAS also gives you a full control over the OS, which is not the case with "real" NAS boxes.

On the other hand, it means a more maintenance work than a QNAP/Synology where you just update through the webui, and a few clicks later you're done.

I went through that experience when I used a DIY HTPC. Maintaining the OS and application took a lot of my time. Those Ubuntu updates at the time seemed to break all kind of stuff every single time. X config requiring manually fixing. Power management randomly breaking following certain OS updates. Moving to a NAS (and now nVidia Shield) running Kodi saves me hours of work. Updates are just one click away.

So if going the DYI route, be prepared to invest a lot more time in maintaining the device.

 

[netware5]

On the other hand, it means a more maintenance work than a QNAP/Synology where you just update through the webui, and a few clicks later you're done..............

XigmaNAS and FreeNAS are updated via WebGUI. Just few clicks Nothing to fix manually. The FW update is just as simple as updating your FW for Asus routers. FreeBSD is not Linux.

 

[dosborne]

I found that a home grown NAS just took too much effort. Yes, you can custom build it and potentially get better performance, but I like the simplicity of a ready-made NAS that I'm getting old. Plug it in, turn it on. Done. No worrying about if your hardware is compatible etc. Drawbacks of course too. Harder to replace parts if they fail, but I tend to buy things in pairs and keep a spare in the box in case I need it.

 

[MichaelCG]

This argument about buy vs build is no different than with our routers/firewalls. Some people want to buy a device that is mostly an "appliance" while others don't mind some tweaking to get certain features. As much as I liked my ASUS routers....I don't think I could ever go back to something so limited. I much prefer a pfSense, OPNsense, or a Sophos gateway for more flexibility/features. However.....on my storage system, I am going the other direction and moving to a pre-built NAS due to not wanting to muck with it much and just needing it to work.

The point is....we have options...lots of them. Every one of them comes with a trade-off somewhere (price, features, performance, management overhead, etc) that has be reviewed for the individual's use case.