Home NAS / Backup Server

[UsernameTaken]

I have an old computer laying around that I'd like to turn into a central backup server. All I want is a PC hooked up to my router so that I can have a central place for my foobar2k library, Picasa photos, Clonezilla backups, Windows restore states etc. Obviously I'd like to access the files wirelessly. I also want RAID-5 for redundancy. I'm going to buy two SATA hard drives (to start), other than that I'm all set for hardware.

Any suggestions for an OS? All my computers run Win7 so something that plays well with Windows and won't require a whole lot of re-learning would be nice. I was originally planning on doing this with Windows Home Server back in 09 but I know it received less than stellar reviews, especially the newer version. Anything I should look at in the same vein?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

You can't do RAID5 with only two disks, you must have three disks minimum (you loose 25% of the total disk space for redundancy), and all disks must be the same size/speed/cache. Also, do NOT boot from the RAID5 array, have another smaller cheaper drive for your OS, doesn't need to be fast or anything at all, it's just bad practice to boot from an array meant for backups.

You also must make sure your disks will work in RAID. That means staying away from Greens and low-end consumer disks, try to get ones that are meant to run in hot environments for long periods of time, and that won't park the heads every 6 seconds.

You are aware though, that if more than 1 disk in a RAID5 ever fails, it MUST be replaced immediately, otherwise you risk data corruption, if a second disk is lost before the array is rebuilt it will be toast.

Aside from that, I suggest using something like FreeNAS for the OS. Windows has limitations when acting as a file-server when it comes to consumer grade. But, if you are only going to have 10 total connections, you could use Win7 fine. (Each file a single computer opens on the "server" counts as a connection) If you don't wanna play with NIX, or need more connections, I suggest looking into FTP for everything, most all backup software available supports connecting to FTP, and you can use Filezilla FTP on Win7 and do everything perfectly fine.

 

[Alexffiala]

You can't do RAID5 with only two disks, you must have three disks minimum (you loose 25% of the total disk space for redundancy), and all disks must be the same size/speed/cache. Also, do NOT boot from the RAID5 array, have another smaller cheaper drive for your OS, doesn't need to be fast or anything at all, it's just bad practice to boot from an array meant for backups.

You also must make sure your disks will work in RAID. That means staying away from Greens and low-end consumer disks, try to get ones that are meant to run in hot environments for long periods of time, and that won't park the heads every 6 seconds.

You are aware though, that if more than 1 disk in a RAID5 ever fails, it MUST be replaced immediately, otherwise you risk data corruption, if a second disk is lost before the array is rebuilt it will be toast.

Aside from that, I suggest using something like FreeNAS for the OS. Windows has limitations when acting as a file-server when it comes to consumer grade. But, if you are only going to have 10 total connections, you could use Win7 fine. (Each file a single computer opens on the "server" counts as a connection) If you don't wanna play with NIX, or need more connections, I suggest looking into FTP for everything, most all backup software available supports connecting to FTP, and you can use Filezilla FTP on Win7 and do everything perfectly fine.

A good NAS hdd is WD red series drives. They're a bit slower than 7200rpm but if you're using this in a raid array and need long term, safe storage, red's are great.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

They have a high failure rate, and are not much better than greens... The "best" consumer grade you might consider are blacks, for warranty, and performance.

 

[Alexffiala]

I've had 7 3TB WD Reds for about a year now running (almost) 24/7 in a file server. They are very reliable. From what I've read, their failure rate over time is much better than most drives, including the comparable Seagate and Hitachi alternatives.

I have blacks too, though. They're great drives but I would never rely on one for long term storage in a server or NAS configuration. They're simply not meant to handle that kind of load for such a long time. Black operating temperatures are about 39-42c which is substantially higher than the Reds at about 31-33c.

Reds also have pretty much the same warranty as Blacks, 3 year limited warranty.

 

[carnageX]

I've had 7 3TB WD Reds for about a year now running (almost) 24/7 in a file server. They are very reliable. From what I've read, their failure rate over time is much better than most drives, including the comparable Seagate and Hitachi alternatives.

I have blacks too, though. They're great drives but I would never rely on one for long term storage in a server or NAS configuration. They're simply not meant to handle that kind of load for such a long time. Black operating temperatures are about 39-42c which is substantially higher than the Reds at about 31-33c.

Reds also have pretty much the same warranty as Blacks, 3 year limited warranty.

Just get some server-grade SCSI drives then .

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Last I checked, blacks had 5 year, and could tolerate higher heat, which you have higher heat in a NAS, blacks also support most everything that a Red does, minus a few RAID specific things which is rather useless. I ran 3x 80GB 7200RPM Blacks in R5 for 8 years and never had a single issue from them. Reds on the other hand, are too new to depend upon.

 

[Joe C]

I use the WD Enterprise drives....they are designed to be for continuous use, and last time I checked, same if not less than a Black drive, with 5 yrs warranty

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I also prefer the enterprise grade ones that WD offers, usually a few bucks more, but can be found on sale once in awhile for cheap. But I was speaking strictly consumer grade.

 

[Reckless]

Slap on one of the puppies and I can beat you with RTFM.
Network Backup for Business | Arkeia


Back to the topic.
If you plan on getting this super bad-ass Backup Server you will want Datacenter drives. WD se (Blue).

Raid-5 is overkill. Get two 2TB drives and mirror them.

Also if you plan on going crazy with backups, software and RAID, it will require you to purchase Windows Server.

Just get an external hard drive