BUILD First hardware build...

[adramalech]

Okay so I am not new to building computers. I have also used a ZFS ZPool mirror in Arch Linux to store data on my main rig. However, I am tired of the fragmentation of my data, and less than reliable support of ZFS outside of BSD and want to centralize it into a single entity.

I have used consumer pre-built NAS in the past but really wanted to stress reliability and bang for the buck. I chose WD Red drives because they are cheap for good performance, however they don't scale well above 5 drives from what I have read. Therefore, I might want to go with the new WD SE drives which are a little better than the Red drives and more reliable.

I will be using this solution mostly for securely storing my media data, "incompressible data", that I don't like storing on my SSDs and don't want to lose from drive failure which currently is on one Caviar Green 2TB drive.

I most likely will go for a Raid-Z2 or Raid-Z1, haven't decided. I am also wondering if I switch out the motherboard to one with 6 x Sata III ports instead of 4 and put a fifth drive for more storage, or for a hot-swap spare (if I go with Z2 or Raid 1+0). Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

My parts list:

LIAN LI PC-Q25B Mini-ITX Tower w/ 5 hot-swap drives. $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339

Seasonic Platinum 400Watt Modular Fanless Quiet PSU with Active PFC ATX12V. $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151097

GSkill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 1.5V CAS 9. $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

Intel i5-4570S 65W TDP 2.9GHz LGA-1150 Quad-core w/ HD 4600 iGPU. $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116897

Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI 4 x 6 Sata III slots, dual Gigabit LAN and HDMI, DDR3-1600. $135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128615

4 x WD Red 3TB 64MB Sata III. $604
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236344

1x LaCie 16GB RuggedKey USB3.0 256-bit AES flash drive for boot disk. $36
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820154042

Total: $1,355 (w/o shipping estimation)

 

[adramalech]

Okay so I have updated the build to a version 2... I usually only buy into Intel because it seems better, but I might sacrifice a little to switch over to a Richland CPU and have only 3 x 3TB WD Red for Raid-Z1 struggle with it but for right now with the price of drives... I don't see myself using a lot right now. In the future I see myself using much more but for now a simple yet elegant setup that can also be multi-purpose would be awesome... So this is probably the finalized specs.. I might want to hold off on buy the drives till they go on sale they are $151 a piece right now on Newegg and about $146 a piece on Amazon.

Updated Parts List:

Fractal Design 304 mini-itx case $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352027

3 x WD Red 3TB 64MB Sata III. $453
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236344

ASRock FM2A85X-ITX FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) 8 x Sata 6Gb/s $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157357

Corsair Vengence 1600 DDR3 8GB dual-channel kit 1.5v $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144

SeaSonic SSR-360GP 360W 80+Gold $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151117

AMD A4-5300 Trinity 3.4GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) 65W Dual-core Radeon HD 7480D $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113283


Total Price: ~$800.00