Hello. I’m looking into building a NAS and was told to come here for advice.
What it needs to do:
Store Data(duh)
Broadcast data via wifi and ethernet to devices(apple, windows, and custom built)
Be somewhat quiet
Possibly (can do with or without) run a Minecraft server (if it could, this feature would be unused for quite some time)
Have enough slots to run up to 20tb of storage and above (I want this to be futureproof, until I want to make a larger option)
Have redundancy
Hardware I have laying around:
i5 2400 CPU
ASRock H61M-VG4 motherboard
16gb corsair vengeance ddr3 ram
8gb generic samsung ddr3 ram
cooler for the CPU
gt 1030 GPU
240w PSU
some HP mobo i’ve never used
-500ft Cat5e cable
Luxuries that would rock:
usability without all slots full
expandability
Ability to find files in NAS via file manager
What I need:
Hard drives
Case + Fans
PSU
Whatever hardware I can’t reuse
Free software (AKA FreeNAS)
Compatibility with a Linux PC, Apple(if possible), and Windows 10
All in all, I think i may be able to reuse some of my hardware to get the NAS constructed. I’d like to be able to start with a few drives and work my way up (aka, put more matching drives in as I can afford them). It would also be nice to send out files and search the NAS for files. All help greatly appreciated!
But the parts you’ve listed would work (though it’s not really a NAS Killer 4.0) for basic NAS usage. If by “broadcast data” you mean plex, you will probably want a more powerful CPU (see the guide), however, if you just mean to function as a data store/file server, pretty much any CPU will work. RAM should be fine, though to be honest, I know nothing about the motherboard so if the 16gb kit is a 4x4 you might only be able to use that (if it is 2x8 you can use both kits).
As for the other parts you mentioned needing, plenty of options are outlined in the NAS Killer 4.0 build guide. I’m in the process of building one with the Cooler Master Elite 350 case (included PSU) and I swapped out the fans for Arctic F12s, which are dead silent. For hard drives, there is definitely the shucking route (taking out hard drives from WD external drives). The 10TB units often go on sale for $160, and if you join the discord server you can track those sales. There are also other drive options outlined in the guide.
Last but not least, software; As someone who was also considering free software because UnRAID’s pricing can be prohibitive, I’d recommend just evaluating whether or not paid is an option. If you absolutely can’t pay for the software I would not recommend going with FreeNAS, as there are some major problems with expansion down the line. I would take a look at this guide: The Perfect Media Server - 2019 Edition | LinuxServer.io which uses SnapRAID and MergerFS (amongst other things) and is completely free. As for compatibility with operating systems, that’s not really an issue as you can transfer data with any computers. Let me know if you have any more questions, I’d be happy to help!
None of you hardware is ECC capable. It can still be used, but you will not be running the recommended setup for a real NAS. That being said I ran non ecc memory nas for 4 or 5 years without a single bit of data lost, but just bear that in mind.
the CPU is low power with a passmark of <6K. It can serve for a NAS but will limit any additional functionalities like VMs or Plex.
The GT1030 GPU is useless for a nas or server, put it in a gaming pc. It lacks the transcoders that would be useful for anything in a server environment. It could be used for setting up bios but I would think its better used elsewhere.
I honestly would just start from scratch with one of the builds listed here instead of trying to use any of that.