NAS Basics (Data Protection, Performance, Configuration and more)

Zarch

Thanks for the spot, corrected it now.  Got my words muddled up!! LOL!  

Zarch

Added: "Want a NAS? Ask yourself these questions."

Thoughts on content? or what could be added to make it more useful?

MikeK

It's a good guide for someone looking into a NAS solution, but TBH I feel it's spoiled a bit by the claims made in the power section!

These days, nobody in their right mind would spec a homebuild 4 drive NAS which consumed 200W 24/7, or indeed, anything like it!

Most of the commercially available NAS boxes, such as the DS1010  used in the example, are built using primarily commodity parts which are available to anyone - probably the only bits which aren't are the motherboard/mainboard and the PSU/case, but even then, commodity alternatives are available.

When you consider that the 5-bay DS1010  is £700 without drives, then it's quite expensive compared to an 8-10bay homebuilt NAS, probably coming in at around £150-£250 or so, depending on the actual parts chosen!
As to the actual power consumption of such a homebuilt device - it'd be pretty much on a par with the DS1010  (why wouldn't it be if it's built from similar parts)

Building a DIY NAS isn't for everyone, for a variety of reasons, but worries over power consumption shouldn't really be one of them!


Even if a homebuilt NAS used 100W (and that'd be a bit of a power hog to be honest these days - we aren't talking about a gaming rig here) compared to the DS1010 's 68W, and even if each was used at full power 24/7, it'd take over 12 years to make up the cost price difference -  well beyond the useful life of either if used in such a manner!
Used in a more real-world fashion, it'd probably take over 30years!!!

Zarch

Mike,

Thanks for the feedback, I hope I have now rectified matters in the guide?

I don't totally agree with this because we do see people saying they've got "parts in a drawer, can I build a NAS?".  But you are right, they'd be out of their tiny little mind to consider it.

Hopefully the "Build your own NAS" section gives a clearer picture on the potential solutions and power recommendations?

I've left NTM's power calculation in the "go green" section as I feel its valid to put people off reusing an old PC to build a NAS.

Let me know if you feel I've missed anything?

MikeK

I don't totally agree with this because we do see people saying they've got "parts in a drawer, can I build a NAS?"

It would depend on what parts they were talking about though - bolted together and used as a NAS they won't all consume 200W 24x7 (and in many cases nothing like it). This "200W 24x7" power profile is not at all typical, especially for a PC used as a NAS (at least any PC you are likely to find a typical home environment) - I guess that's the issue I have - very few people will be running their NAS device at full power 24x7, 365 days a year anyway, and of those, very few will be pulling anything like 200W/hr!


The power "calculation" seems to infer that a typical PC used as a NAS might cost around £160 more per year to run than a DS1010.
Fair enough, it does say "PC based business class server" - however very few people own such a system in the home environment, and even fewer will be attempting to press one into service as a NAS.
Used as a NAS in a home environment, there are very few PCs which would use 4.8kWhrs/day, or anything like that, even built from older parts.

computermike

Thanks for this introduction! wet my appetite for something i didn't realize i needed! The Scan website has a good basic introduction to RAID in all its forms, here is the link to page 1 (total 10 pages):

Scan.co.uk: RAID TekSpek Guide

Nice swimming pool analogy there to illustrate the performance gain brought by RAID0 striping: quicker to drain two 5,000l pools than one 10,000l pool, now i want two swimming pools!

They also have a page on DAS & NAS devices:

Scan.co.uk: Das & Nas TekSpek Guide

HMHB

The problem though with RAID 0 (striping) is that it doubles your chance of having a hard drive failure. If one of them fails then you've lost everything.

Chaihana Joe

Although JUS and JohnG have raised this over the years since this thread began, we haven't yet seen any realistic suggestions to the issue of data backup.

I've got a QNAP NAS with Raid 0 and I back it up to a USB2 external disk from time to time, but this is a long way away from being what I'd consider a proper backup strategy. The surprising thing is I don't see it being discussed much either here or elsewhere. NAS seems to be looked on as a solution to all our storage needs, including data integrity, whereas it's only half the story.

It would be really good if anyone could volunteer their own backup strategies and arrangements in the context of high volume, low cost, data security.

Smurfin

Therein lies your issue....it doesn't exist.  True back-up is expensive.  Best thing you can do is install a UPS and have a big enough NAS to facilitate RAID10.

Kristian

But that still doesn't protect your data from flood, fire or theft.  Chaihana Joe's idea of another external drive to back up the NAS is a good one.  It may not be mentioned in the FAQ (but it is now ) but we do give that advice (or at least say that NAS is not a backup) now and again in the threads.