Hello All,
I thought I would share the last week of research etc
To start the story, I currently have a Readynas NV+ with 3x2TB WD EARS which has been running like a trooper with no issue for years now. Its full of SD movies and TV shows. I play them off a WDTV live onto a nice Pioneer PDP-508 XDA Plasma TV. Wife, kids & me all happy. However, I went round to a friends house and saw his HD setup. Thousands of dollars on this commercial setup which was way OTT priced, but looked great. As much as I am not going to spend that amount of money - /me wants!
So, as usual I try and see if I can get it on the cheap.
My issues are - lack of HD content (easily rectified) - replacement strategy now in place. No HTPC (For XBMC), sucky NAS (Raid 5 redundancy but no backup), max storage 6TB with redundancy, HD media now going to become important.
I started a thread last week seeing if I could just grab a mac mini, plug 2 x WD essentials 4TB into USB3 ports and perhaps get a couple more later, fudge it someway and all be good. Well, every bit of research I have found on all these threads has just told me what a silly idea that is ....
So ... this is what I propose to do. Would love to hear peoples comments!
Step 1: Ditch ReadyNAS NV+
Box is sparc. Can only do max 2TB drives. Slow. Max capacity 6TB inc redundancy on RAID 5 or 8TB RAID 0. Not enough for HD content when all movies are ~15GB. Will soon dissapear.
EDIT: Movies are not 15TB. changed to 15GB. I blame the wine!
Step 2: Build max 10 disk NAS using UnRAID with following specification ....
CPU: Intel G550
Mobo: ASUS P8B75M-LE
Case: Antec 302
Memory: Kingston 2GB 1600
PSU: Antec HSG 520
HDD: (Start with - because case, psu etc allow expansions) 2 x 3TB WD RED NAS drives in RAID 0. 6TB of space.
HDD Cache: 1 of the WD 2TB EARS I have in the NV+
AUD$ 669
Step 3: decide that my HD content is important to me so build another NAS to spec above - Another WD 2TB EARS from NV+ gone.
AUD$ 1338
Step 4: Build dedicated HTPC for XBMC to following specification ...
CPU: Core i3 3225 (for integrated GPU)
Mobo: same as NAS
Case UNKNOWN! but figure around AUD$ 150
Memory: Kingston 4GB 1600
PSU: same as NAS
HDD: 1 of the WD 2TB EARS I have in the NV+ (thats all 3 of them gone now)
Tuner: already have a suitable one
IR receiver: already have a suitable one
AUD$ 414
Step 5: configure primary NAS to back up to secondary NAS thus protecting my data (Not worried about physical security - e.g theft or fire)
Step 6: setup awesome XBMC build outputting my newly aquired HD content on HTPC from shares on primary NAS via HDMI
Step 7: Install SabNZB, Sickbeard & Couchpotato on secondary NAS - Unraid plugins!
Done! And its going to cost me AUD$1752
Sure there are flaws in my plan still. Yes, I am spending more money than a cheapo approach! But hopefully I am now doing things "right .."
Anyway, shouldn't post at 2:15am after wine when everyone in bed. But there you go. Would love to see what conversation this generates!!
=:-)
I thought I would share the last week of research etc
To start the story, I currently have a Readynas NV+ with 3x2TB WD EARS which has been running like a trooper with no issue for years now. Its full of SD movies and TV shows. I play them off a WDTV live onto a nice Pioneer PDP-508 XDA Plasma TV. Wife, kids & me all happy. However, I went round to a friends house and saw his HD setup. Thousands of dollars on this commercial setup which was way OTT priced, but looked great. As much as I am not going to spend that amount of money - /me wants!
So, as usual I try and see if I can get it on the cheap.
My issues are - lack of HD content (easily rectified) - replacement strategy now in place. No HTPC (For XBMC), sucky NAS (Raid 5 redundancy but no backup), max storage 6TB with redundancy, HD media now going to become important.
I started a thread last week seeing if I could just grab a mac mini, plug 2 x WD essentials 4TB into USB3 ports and perhaps get a couple more later, fudge it someway and all be good. Well, every bit of research I have found on all these threads has just told me what a silly idea that is ....
So ... this is what I propose to do. Would love to hear peoples comments!
Step 1: Ditch ReadyNAS NV+
Box is sparc. Can only do max 2TB drives. Slow. Max capacity 6TB inc redundancy on RAID 5 or 8TB RAID 0. Not enough for HD content when all movies are ~15GB. Will soon dissapear.
EDIT: Movies are not 15TB. changed to 15GB. I blame the wine!
Step 2: Build max 10 disk NAS using UnRAID with following specification ....
CPU: Intel G550
Mobo: ASUS P8B75M-LE
Case: Antec 302
Memory: Kingston 2GB 1600
PSU: Antec HSG 520
HDD: (Start with - because case, psu etc allow expansions) 2 x 3TB WD RED NAS drives in RAID 0. 6TB of space.
HDD Cache: 1 of the WD 2TB EARS I have in the NV+
AUD$ 669
Step 3: decide that my HD content is important to me so build another NAS to spec above - Another WD 2TB EARS from NV+ gone.
AUD$ 1338
Step 4: Build dedicated HTPC for XBMC to following specification ...
CPU: Core i3 3225 (for integrated GPU)
Mobo: same as NAS
Case UNKNOWN! but figure around AUD$ 150
Memory: Kingston 4GB 1600
PSU: same as NAS
HDD: 1 of the WD 2TB EARS I have in the NV+ (thats all 3 of them gone now)
Tuner: already have a suitable one
IR receiver: already have a suitable one
AUD$ 414
Step 5: configure primary NAS to back up to secondary NAS thus protecting my data (Not worried about physical security - e.g theft or fire)
Step 6: setup awesome XBMC build outputting my newly aquired HD content on HTPC from shares on primary NAS via HDMI
Step 7: Install SabNZB, Sickbeard & Couchpotato on secondary NAS - Unraid plugins!
Done! And its going to cost me AUD$1752
Sure there are flaws in my plan still. Yes, I am spending more money than a cheapo approach! But hopefully I am now doing things "right .."
Anyway, shouldn't post at 2:15am after wine when everyone in bed. But there you go. Would love to see what conversation this generates!!
=:-)