Building a Home-made Network Attachment Storage

[chuckwillis]

i am currently interested in building my own NAS, as opposed to buying one.

i researched this topic and the whole process seems easy enough. all i have to do is build a low-end pc and connect it to my home network.

i'm new to the NAS subject. here are some questions i thought about:
1. wut about overheating problems? since the NAS will be on 24/7, will overheating be a concern and will leaving the NAS on 24/7 shorten my hard drive's lifespan?

2. generally, is it better to build a NAS with a server motherboard and server cpu?

3. since a NAS operates in a server/client mode, is the NAS the server? can ANY client on the network add/edit/delete a file in a NAS?

4. is it possible to "mount" disc images from a NAS using programs like daemon tools?

5. will streaming audio and video files go smoothly, or will there be hiccups?

6. a NAS does not have to have high specs, but exactly wut is the minimum/recommended hardware requirements for a NAS?

 

[ghost]

1. wut about overheating problems? since the NAS will be on 24/7, will overheating be a concern and will leaving the NAS on 24/7 shorten my hard drive's lifespan?

Fans, keeps it cool (few 120`s should do it).

2. generally, is it better to build a NAS with a server motherboard and server cpu?

Depends on the budget and the amount of users that will be accessing the NAS.

3. since a NAS operates in a server/client mode, is the NAS the server? can ANY client on the network add/edit/delete a file in a NAS?

Yes the users can add/edit and delete as long as the users are given permission.

4. is it possible to "mount" disc images from a NAS using programs like daemon tools?

Couldnt see why not.

5. will streaming audio and video files go smoothly, or will there be hiccups?

Again depends on the hardware and activity.

6. a NAS does not have to have high specs, but exactly wut is the minimum/recommended hardware requirements for a NAS?

All down to the amount of users and budget.

Also would be wise RAIDing the drives just incase of a drive failure.

If you post back the amount of users ya got, the type of data thats going on the NAS (personal data, music, archive, etc...) and ur budget we might be able to point ya in the right direction.

 

[chuckwillis]

well im planning on using a wlan (the NAS is gonna be wired). so i guess no more than 5 concurrent users. can a desktop system handle this or should i get a server system?

also, should i consider watercooling a NAS? is that even an option for a NAS?


edit: well there will not be any personal data, such as sensitive documents. i am intending to use the NAS as storage for music, videos, ISOs, and archiving other important files.

yea im leaning towards using raid5. i heard its a really good choice for something like NAS.


edit2: i read that a NAS uses little power consumption and it lowers the power consumption when it is "not in use". is there a way i can do this too? i dont want my NAS to use the power consumption of a typical desktop computer?

 

[ghost]

RAID 5 indeed if you have 3 or more drives. Watercooling is a deffo no for summin like that, stick with ya fans. 5 users isnt that many at all, I would just make sure you got a good set of drives, a good NIC and a nice load of RAM.

But this sounds like its gonna be more than a NAS device to me, its more like a server. Then In that case what you gonna use as a OS? Also how is ur internet set up? I ask because you could use the NAS/server to be the main PC and dispurse the internet connection throughout your network...

 

[INTELCRAZY]

i am currently interested in building my own NAS, as opposed to buying one.

i researched this topic and the whole process seems easy enough. all i have to do is build a low-end pc and connect it to my home network.

i'm new to the NAS subject. here are some questions i thought about:
1. wut about overheating problems? since the NAS will be on 24/7, will overheating be a concern and will leaving the NAS on 24/7 shorten my hard drive's lifespan?

2. generally, is it better to build a NAS with a server motherboard and server cpu?

3. since a NAS operates in a server/client mode, is the NAS the server? can ANY client on the network add/edit/delete a file in a NAS?

4. is it possible to "mount" disc images from a NAS using programs like daemon tools?

5. will streaming audio and video files go smoothly, or will there be hiccups?

6. a NAS does not have to have high specs, but exactly wut is the minimum/recommended hardware requirements for a NAS?

I stream stuff from my POS Dell all the time and it runs buttery smooth, AVI movies and everything.

 

[chuckwillis]

RAID 5 indeed if you have 3 or more drives. Watercooling is a deffo no for summin like that, stick with ya fans. 5 users isnt that many at all, I would just make sure you got a good set of drives, a good NIC and a nice load of RAM.

But this sounds like its gonna be more than a NAS device to me, its more like a server. Then In that case what you gonna use as a OS? Also how is ur internet set up? I ask because you could use the NAS/server to be the main PC and dispurse the internet connection throughout your network...

hmm why no watercooling?

it really sounds like a server? how?

well im only gonna use it for storing precious data. thats the only thing im gonna use it for. im not gonna do ANY general purpose computer activities on it.

im planning on using xp pro on the NAS (but i heard i should use ubuntu w/ samba server).


edit: btw, wut is the difference between a NAS and a file server?

 

[diduknowthat]

hmm why no watercooling?

well im only gonna use it for storing precious data. thats the only thing im gonna use it for. im not gonna do ANY general purpose computer activities on it.

Because if the watercooling fails...then your computer is basically screwed. Plus, the computer won't even generate anywhere near the amount of heat that'll require water cooling.

As for story precious data, just use RAID like others said.