Small confusion - looking for some direction please

[edward]

Hi there,

Name is Edward, based in London UK (and surprisingly it is sunny at the moment! ).

Ok, I have been cruising the highways and byways of the net and have a general idea of what I want and how to get there. But I need some kind help please to fll in some blanks. You guys seem to be a really friendly bunch of folks and also know what is what.

My wants:
NAS
Media server
Remote access

My current setup
Homeplug Network (200mb) - performs brilliantly.
Mixture of different computers. Desktops, Laptops, Win7, Vista, Ubuntu etc. Connected via ethernet and/or WiFi.
Main (i7 Win7) machine effectively now acting as media server (to dlna clients such as TV).
Currently backing up to eSata external drives.

My ideas (so far)
WHS (2008 and maybe later Vail) or FreeNAS or ???
Need some application that can transcode video streams on the fly when required (to dlna clients).
Will build a new box (probably using an i5 Intel processor with suitable mobo (lots of sata ports).

Some issues I see:
- Lack of future proofing

- Vail now not includes Drive Extender. Is this really an issue or can I use something like flexRaid or unRaid to fill that gap?

- Is WHS a good way to go? Is Freenas (for example) a better route? Cost is not a major issue here (within reason).

- Not sure how I can future proof media streaming (e.g. MKV video format changes, will my system adapt to that easily?) Or maybe I should think about creating a diskless HTPC client and use that for pulling raw video content from the NAS? In which case i can go with a lower powered NAS box?

- How do I backup the NAS (another NAS or just simply via external connected drives?

- Should I use an SSD in the NAS, or would that be overkill?

- What would be my optimum initial drive set up be? I have currently about 2tb of data (growing fast).



Once I have a clearer idea as to what my options are I will just order the parts, build the rig, throw the software at it and see how it goes.

Maybe I should just be simple about all his and go out and get something like a qnap system. But where is the fun in that huh?

cheers
Ed

 

[stevech]

With WIndows based DLNA and file server, why do you need a NAS?

 

[edward]

Hi Stevech, thanks for the question.

At the moment I'm heavily reliant on one main machine which is acting as the main storage for music, pictures and vids as well as a file server (for dlna/uPnP stuff).

I perceive a high risk relying on one main machine for day to day duties (as well as functions mentioned above). Also I'm not currently backing up data on other machines (mainly laptops) in a consistent way.

I see NAS as providing a solution to these two key issues. But I guess I also want the NAS box to do more than a traditional NAS set up, such as transcoding video files on the fly.

The idea of a DIY approach is to provide maximum flexibility (scalability and future proofing).

Does the above make sense, or am I over complicating things?

I'm confident in specifying and building a rig as well as troubleshooting a new software install. I guess I just don't want to go down the wrong NAS road to start with.

cheers
Ed

 

[stevech]

IMO: transcoding overloads the low cost NAS. Need a hoo-hah PC to do that. And since NAS file I/O is a very light CPU load, may as well have that PC do the file serving (shares, etc) as well.