Topic: Help selecting a network storage solution (Drobo, ReadyNAS, RAID, etc)

[spott]

Alrighty, after a moment of clarity today I realized that I've got about 1.5TB of FLAC's & SHN's archived on CD/DVDs and I need to do something with them, I'd like to setup some sort of network storage solution and then probably go with a Slim Devices setup or some other way of streaming the content...  after a bit of research it seems there's a few options:

Drobo Storage Robot: 4 SATA Drive Enclosure, hot swappable, that self configures and monitors... attaches with USB2.0, this thing has been getting glowing reviews from engadget, PC Magazine, and several of the tech blogs.  http://www.drobo.com/products.aspx  ($499 without drives)

ReadyNAS: 4 SATA Drive Enclosure, hot swappable, that self configures and monitors... attaches with Gigabit Ethernet, very similar to the Drobo device but attaches with Gigabit Ethernet (faster transfer speeds) but it's a bit more money ($1499.99 with drives, 2TB of storage) http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-ReadyNAS-Gigabit-Desktop-Network/dp/B000R9DB5K/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-3033869-3254422?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1189378102&sr=1-2

RAID Enclosure: Simple 2 bay drive enclosure... Gigabit Ethernet port http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=509 ($219.00 without drives)

WindowsHome Server: Similar to the 4 bay SATA enclosures with a M$ OS natively runnning "HomeServer", this is supposed to come out at the end of September http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/447351-0-0-225-121.html

What about building a RAID server, do people do this anymore or have "appliances" started to dominate the market?  I know the trends in the industry are focusing on SAN (Storage Area Networks) but I'm not sure what's going on in the consumer market.  I know 2 years ago I'd have told myself to build a linux box with a RAID card and a bunch of drives, but have these appliances changed the game?  Does anyone have some words of wisdom or good ideas for "safe" large volume storage?

Thanks in advance,
Spott

[spott]

Just ran across this one and it seems to be the best deal (by far) and has both Gigabit Ethernet and 2x USB2.0 ports, and a web enabled FTP

Buffalo TeraStation Live:
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/terastation/terastation-live/

2TB for $929.00 (drives included)

[pigiron]

Alrighty, after a moment of clarity today I realized that I've got about 1.5TB of FLAC's & SHN's archived on CD/DVDs and I need to do something with them, I'd like to setup some sort of network storage solution and then probably go with a Slim Devices setup or some other way of streaming the content...  after a bit of research it seems there's a few options:

ahhh!  the burden from the love of music

I've got about the same TB load and had a very similar, but a slightly different, goal... I simply got tired of burning shows so I (perhaps foolishly... only time will tell) wanted my masters on hard drives. When you couple that with no 24 bit streaming solution (at that time) it meant direct attach to the stereo... narrowing the choices even more.

So I went with your linux RAID solution and I'm really happy with it. But whichever solution you choose, I'm sure you'll really enjoy being able to instantly stack up or change complete concerts without even getting up from the easy chair.

A couple of random and cheap thoughts...

I found out that the data format on most of these hardware RAID solutions are not standard, so that means you may not be able to swap drives between different vendors (or perhaps even between different models from the same vendor)... for instance, my 3ware raid controller is a, now old technology, PCI card and their PCIe cards may not support my drives even though it's their blasted format... so that's why I've switched to linux software raid... works great.

also... with SATA drives being hot-swappable I really don't have a problem with not having my complete collection spinning online... in fact, I've found that i very rarely swap out my single raid1 drives even during a looong hard night of tunes... think of it as a 500GB CD 

went with this drive rack http://www.kingwin.com/product_pages/kf1000-bk.asp so now I'm not even locked into a vendor's tray since you simply slap in a raw drive... plus, they're cheap... and made by other companies also.

[jerryfreak]

the drobo is the most affordable out of the bunch, but you can do the same thing with an existing computer and a $100 4-channel RocketRaid pci card. 'NAS' is cool, but nothing you cant do with a windows box and properly configured shared volume

i've got an 8-channel rocketraid card, and i could actually grow that into 2 pci cards (16 channels) with another card. on a server based on win2k pro

Youre definitely on the right track getting your stuff to secure RAID5, depends on how techy you are whether you should buy a packaged solution or build your own.

Newegg has a grat selection of rocketraid cards, one great feature of them is OCE (online capacity expansion), i started out wit 4 drives and was able to expand it to six without bouncing the data to a second source

What about building a RAID server, do people do this anymore or have "appliances" started to dominate the market?  I know the trends in the industry are focusing on SAN (Storage Area Networks) but I'm not sure what's going on in the consumer market.  I know 2 years ago I'd have told myself to build a linux box with a RAID card and a bunch of drives, but have these appliances changed the game?  Does anyone have some words of wisdom or good ideas for "safe" large volume storage?

Thanks in advance,
Spott

[attheshow]

I use external drives for all my data storage. Plug them in when you need them, shut them off when you don't. Bonus, they're portable!

Here is an incredibly fast (especially with eSata or FW800 interface) and well designed enclosure:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW924AL2K/
Don't be put off by the fact that the company gears its sales to MAC users, these are universal. For 120.00 you get a very solid aluminum enclosure with a fan that holds 2 drives and has built in hardware RAID 0 (striping) and USB/FW400/FW800/eSata interfaces. I have an older version of the same and I love it! It runs very fast and very cool (good for HD life). For redundancy, just get two and copy your data to both (or find a software RAID 1 solution - support for this on OS X is included).

Regardless of what you buy, I strongly recommend buying your drives separate from the enclosure. It's worth spending a few extra dollars for a reliable Seagate drive with a 5 year warranty.

Good luck!

[spott]

+T's all around... thanks for the comments, I can't believe that I've been struggling with this as much as I have been.  I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a scalable solution that will grow with my collection / playback system.  I've run into the same situation as other folks, I just don't want (or have time) time to burn everything to CDR and then make a DVD backup, besides I've got spindles and spindles of DVD backups that just sit there getting no attention. 

I agree; from the sounds of things, the NAS appliances are nice but just plain pricey when the features can be replicated with an old machine, some drives, and a decent RAID card.  I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty, I'm just wondering if I should should make one of my old desktops into a RAID server, but I'm concerned about heat.  I've got an old Dell Dimension (P4) that's running Ubuntu 7.04 that I could use... how much cooling is required to "do it right". 

Since the posting I've found http://www.freenas.org/ which is still in Alpha but looks promising. 

[pigiron]

I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty, I'm just wondering if I should should make one of my old desktops into a RAID server, but I'm concerned about heat.  I've got an old Dell Dimension (P4) that's running Ubuntu 7.04 that I could use... how much cooling is required to "do it right". 

Since the posting I've found http://www.freenas.org/ which is still in Alpha but looks promising.

Don't let that stop ya... as an ex-EE, i worry about heat last, as it can almost always be tweaked... and unless you're a brainy uber geek, ya ain't gonna be able to pre-calculate it anyhoo. Duct tape some drives in that sucker, slap in lm_sensors and smartd  to get yourself a decent thermal fingerprint... from there you can cut and paste accordingly.

As for scalability, seriously, just try something. From the way you make it sound, all you need at this point is a couple of drives and a rack to get started.... cheap way to find out what you like/dislike and what works/doesn't... and who knows?... with the price of 750GB drives dropping, you may agree with me that having them all spinning isn't that important... if it is, hell, then get a bigger case, go external, or start over...

but the main thing is just do it.

now... having said all that... intelligent folks tell me that raid ain't the end cure, and backups should be on my list (as all those spindles of DVDs are doing for you)... but i've always done things the hard way

PS: that freenas looks like a sweet DIY external solution... thanks for the pointer!

[JWard]

I would buy an external enclosure that will hold multiple drives and then get your hard drives separately.  You can build an external RAID enclosure or a single enclure with high quality drives (ie Caviar SE16 or similar) and build your own external storage solution for a better value than one prebuilt.  You can always get your hard-disks on sale or with a rebate somewhere.  As for connection, I would recommend eSATA, but that would depend on what you are wanting to use it for. 

[phanophish]

I'm running a 1.5 (2 RAW) TB RAID 5 volume using the on motherboard controller.  My MB supports up to 6 discs and has worked like a champ for me.  500 GIG SATA drives are popping up pretty regularly for around $100.  Then I just run backups to 2 USB enclosures with a couple of 750s for true backup, but have not needed them so far.

[grayp]

any new thoughts here after experience?    i want/need to set something up.   i have an old desktop that i don't really trust right now but it does still work. 
i was thinking of going the nas route.   i saw the linksys enclosure with media server but all the reviews complained about how slow it was.

have tons of cds/dvds and external hard drives that i would like to consolidate and have room to grow.

want probably at least 1 TB with the ability to grow later.    any opinons welcome

thanks in advance,
gray