First Time - Good enough for my use?

[dinggus]

Why: Basically, I want to condense all my HD's into one main box, that way it's easier for me to organize everything I have and make sure I don't have duplicates. I will basically hook the box up to my network and basically use it to stream movies to my AppleTV 2.

 

Budget: I don't have one, but if I can manage not forking out a ton of cash, that would be nice. If you feel I don't need an item that's pricey, let me know!

 

Capacity: 12TB for now.

 

Expandability: If needed, I'd like to upgrade when needed.

 

Add-ons: Plex Media Server, AirVideo. What ever other Add-on's are recommended.

 

Hard Drives: Green, since all I'll be doing is WiFi to my AppleTV2.

 

Here is what I've come up with:

 

Case - Lian Li PC-Q25 (hopefully I can get silver)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339

 

Motherboard - BIOSTAR TH61ITX+RCH LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138335

 

RAM - CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145315

 

CPU - Intel Core i3-2100T Sandy Bridge 2.5GHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116394

 

Power Supply - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171036&Tpk=COOLER%20MASTER%20Silent%20Pro%20M600

 

Hard Drive - SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245 = 2TBx6 = $1140

 

or

 

HITACHI Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145493 = 3TB*4 = $920

 

But I'd need a main HD, correct? So if one fails it'll transfer files from the failing one to the main one?

[joshpond]

CPU is a Core i3-2100T, just a typo.

 

I think 4GB ram is enough but ram is cheap.

 

3TB vs 2TB is going to come down to if you want to run with the beta at the moment. If you are happy to trouble shoot and if things don't work out you are happy to wait then I would go with the 3TB drives. The more add ons the harder it may be with the betas/more problematic.

 

I do like the hitachi drives better than the sammys though.

 

Josh

[Johnm]

I do like those samsungs, I have dozens of them in hardware raids. they are pretty solid. but, that is  to much to pay for them.

 

I am going to guess he  is going to run the beta for AFP anyways. If that is the case, the price on the 3TB is better.

 

I would make sure that the  that PSU will physically fit in that case. that's one of those cramped ones.

 

that is also a pretty beefy PSU for a case that tops out at 7 drives.

You could probably drop down to a 650 or 550 and save A bit of cash. I think Raj had recommended a PSU that was good for that case with modular plugs.

(to powerful is not bad, It just costs extra)

 

 

keep in mind that mobo only has 4 sata ports if you are planing on 6 drives as you had listed.

 

[prostuff1]

I highly recommend a modular PSU (we use the COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600) for that small case.  You are going to want to save as much space as possible in that case so a modular PSU will go along way towards that.

[dinggus]

CPU is a Core i3-2100T, just a typo.

 

I think 4GB ram is enough but ram is cheap.

 

3TB vs 2TB is going to come down to if you want to run with the beta at the moment. If you are happy to trouble shoot and if things don't work out you are happy to wait then I would go with the 3TB drives. The more add ons the harder it may be with the betas/more problematic.

 

I do like the hitachi drives better than the sammys though.

 

Josh

 

I'll probably run 3TB. I never had issues with any beta program's, so I think I should be fine.

 

I do like those samsungs, I have dozens of them in hardware raids. they are pretty solid. but, that is  to much to pay for them.

 

I am going to guess he  is going to run the beta for AFP anyways. If that is the case, the price on the 3TB is better.

 

I would make sure that the  that PSU will physically fit in that case. that's one of those cramped ones.

 

that is also a pretty beefy PSU for a case that tops out at 7 drives.

You could probably drop down to a 650 or 550 and save A bit of cash. I think Raj had recommended a PSU that was good for that case with modular plugs.

(to powerful is not bad, It just costs extra)

 

 

keep in mind that mobo only has 4 sata ports if you are planing on 6 drives as you had listed.

 

 

I'll look into it the PSU, thanks! I'm rusty, SATA ports are what the HD's connect to? How would I connect those, or should I pick a different MB?

 

I highly recommend a modular PSU (we use the COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600) for that small case.  You are going to want to save as much space as possible in that case so a modular PSU will go along way towards that.

 

Thanks, I'll look at it.

[Rajahal]

Yes, you need SATA power ports from the PSU to power the hard drives.  The Cooler Master PSU that prostuff recommended (which I also recommend) has 6 SATA ports.

 

You also need one SATA data port per hard drive.  The motherboard you chose only has 4, but you can cheaply and easily add two more to the PCIe x16 slot with one of these SIL3132 2 port PCIe cards.  These cards are plug-n-play with unRAID, and very reliable despite the low price.  Monoprice.com is also a great source of SATA cables, as you may need a few extras (typically only 2 come with the motherboard).

[dinggus]

Thank you, I updated the list, how does it look?

 

The total for the box + HD's come out to $1,423.91 shipped. Quite expensive, are the HD's only expensive due to the tsunami that happened? Also, my priority drive will have to be 3TB as well, correct? So then I'll have to buy 5 instead of 4?

[Hoopster]

Yes, you need SATA power ports from the PSU to power the hard drives.  The Cooler Master PSU that prostuff recommended (which I also recommend) has 6 SATA ports.

 

You also need one SATA data port per hard drive.  The motherboard you chose only has 4, but you can cheaply and easily add two more to the PCIe x16 slot with one of these SIL3132 2 port PCIe cards.  These cards are plug-n-play with unRAID, and very reliable despite the low price.  Monoprice.com is also a great source of SATA cables, as you may need a few extras (typically only 2 come with the motherboard).

Actually, in the case he is using (I have the same case) the 5 hard drives in the hot swap bay don't use SATA power connectors, they use three 4-pin Molex.  The 2 or 3 hard drives mounted on the bottom tray will need SATA power connectors.

 

I used the non-modular Corsair CX430 PSU in that case because it is shorter.  The only cables I did/will not use are the PCIe and one of the SATA power cables.  They tuck in nicely between the back of the PSU and the drive cage because the PSU is only 140mm (5.5") long.

[dinggus]

I also really like the convenience of this case

 

 

Because eventually in the long run I might have more than 12TB.

[Rajahal]

That's the first server I built for a client!  I too like the design, although I have since shied away from using the red hot swap bays as they have somewhat sub-par cooling.  You can see my latest versions of that server here and some custom versions here.

[dinggus]

What case is it? Looks awesome!

[Rajahal]

Cooler Master Centurion 590.  The case is no longer made so it is very difficult to find.  However, I actually have one for sale!  I'm building a server very similar to the one pictured above using that case and different drive bays.  PM or email me if you are interested in purchasing it!

[dinggus]

I found that case for sale,  what is the name of the 5 bay drive in that case?

[Ford Prefect]

Hard Drive - SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245 = 2TBx6 = $1140

 

or

 

HITACHI Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145493 = 3TB*4 = $920

 

But I'd need a main HD, correct? So if one fails it'll transfer files from the failing one to the main one?

 

...you are missing the parity drive if 12TB net capacity is what you want.

The parity drive must be the largest disk in your array.

Based on your 12TB design, you could go for 7x2TB, 5x3TB or 6x2TB+1x3TB to add the parity drive

If you go for the same drive model in a new build, I'd recommend to source from more

than one shop (mixing production batches of the manufacturer) or mix drive make/models in order to

get some spread on the MTBF lottery

[dinggus]

Okay, this is going to be pricey, lol.

[Rajahal]

I found that case for sale,  what is the name of the 5 bay drive in that case?

 

Those red drive cages are made by iStarUSA.  I don't remember the exact model number.  However, I don't recommend using them in any heat-sensitive build (with 7200 RPM drives), as the airflow through those drive cages is pretty sub-par.

 

Where did you find the Cooler Master 590?  That case is discontinued and thus quite difficult to source.  I've only been able to find them used.

[dinggus]

I found that case for sale,  what is the name of the 5 bay drive in that case?

 

Those red drive cages are made by iStarUSA.  I don't remember the exact model number.  However, I don't recommend using them in any heat-sensitive build (with 7200 RPM drives), as the airflow through those drive cages is pretty sub-par.

 

Where did you find the Cooler Master 590?  That case is discontinued and thus quite difficult to source.  I've only been able to find them used.

 

The site says the case is on back/pre-order, so I doubt they have updated it discontinued on their site.

 

I'd really like to build this, but just nervous, don't want to waste my money. I should probably just go with a bigger tower since I do plan on slowly adding more storage.

 

Here is the case I seen from another thread, I really like it.

http://www.raidmax.com/chassis/platinum.html

 

I just need some encouragement that I won't break anything, lol.

[dinggus]

How many TB's can this case hold?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147112

 

I like the case and how would this build do?

 

Motherboard: MSI G31TM-P21 LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130234

 

CPU: Intel Pentium E6600 Wolfdale 3.06GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E6600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116347

 

RAM: G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL6D-8GBMQ

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231182

 

Power Supply - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171036&Tpk=COOLER%20MASTER%20Silent%20Pro%20M600

 

To be honest, I just want this to be a nice media center server, but at the lowest cost possible since it's my first build.

 

Would it be better and a cheaper option to buy a MicroServer N36L?

[Rajahal]

The RAIDMAX case does look very nice, I'm a fan.  The cheapest and easiest 20 bay case is the Antec 1200 V3.  A solid case all around.

 

The Rosewill case can hold a maximum of 4 external drives (6 TB, assuming one drive is parity) and 6 internal drives (12 TB).  However, I don't really recommend using the internal bays as they will be a pain to work with (swapping drives will involve all kinds of mucking about with cables and screws).  You could also increase those TB numbers if you use 3 TB drives and unRAID beta.

 

That MSI motherboard doesn't have gigabit LAN.  Don't buy it.

 

If you want a good motherboard for a small (up to 6 drive) server, go for the ZOTAC GF6100-E-E as I describe in this section of my Greenleaf Prototypes Blog.

 

Just yesterday I found a few new cases that would work well for servers maxing out at 6 external drives.  Check out the 'miniTower Cases' section here.  For larger servers (9 - 15 drives), check out the cases in this thread.

[dinggus]

Thanks for the response, the Antec 1200 V3 is an ugly case.

 

I think I should make a build ASAP. Came home and my 2TB only has like 50GB left on it, which is my main one. I just need to hurry up and decide, lol.

[dinggus]

Never got around to this, got back from my deployment in April and moved in 2 months after getting back. I need to think about this because my 2TB HD is crashing and now I'm rushing to get a new HD before it's to late.

[dinggus]

Is this still a good build? Don't want to waste my money to find out parts are not compatible or it sucks.

 

I'd like to hold 8-12TB in the smallest case I can get.

[Johnm]

at this time for a new build, I would probably not invest any time or money into a new LGA775 build.

it is now 4 generations behind and pretty much EOL. finding the parts will be over priced for mostly obsolete parts now.

(great example, the 8GB ddr2 you listed is $169 now. you can get 32gigs of quality DDR3 for $80)

 

if you already have the parts, then great. If your are purchasing new, I'd look at something newer, after all, it should last for years.

[bcbgboy13]

Is this still a good build? Don't want to waste my money to find out parts are not compatible or it sucks.

 

I'd like to hold 8-12TB in the smallest case I can get.

 

If you are looking only for this one then take a look here - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=11585.0

and the newer hardware here - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859107052

 

This has been significantly cheaper in the past and also available on Ebay for $250 or so (not sure what happened now)

[dinggus]

Is this still a good build? Don't want to waste my money to find out parts are not compatible or it sucks.

 

I'd like to hold 8-12TB in the smallest case I can get.

 

If you are looking only for this one then take a look here - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=11585.0

and the newer hardware here - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859107052

 

This has been significantly cheaper in the past and also available on Ebay for $250 or so (not sure what happened now)

 

So all I'd have to do is add the hard drives?