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Looking to build a file server - Suggestions?

T

TheLizardMan

Senior member
*nix/bsd + raid 5/6 card
server 2k3/2k8 + raid 5/6
drobo
whs

I had a moderate budget. In creating a file server to serve as a backup device for the most part, what option would you pick? Do you have any other suggestions as far as hardware or software is concerned?

Ideally I would like some sort of redundancy and if possible some sort of file corruption protection other than an array to backup an array. I recall reading up on a new nix/bsd OS that had a new file system in beta that was prone to file corruption, but it was late at night and I may have been seeing things 😛

If I did a whs build, i would buy a new system specifically for that build.

For a drobo I'd buy the drobo 2nd gen and just fill it with drives.

For the raid solutions I might get away with using an older machine and just picking up a raid 5/6 card and the drives.

Every option has their up side. I would just like to open myself up to other solutions.
 
Any card that supports RAID 6 will cost you big.
Storage is so cheap now... Why not keep it simple with some big drives in a RAID 0+1 array?

The "corruption" probably has more to do with the controller than the OS.
 
yeah i noticed that raid 6 is a hit to the wallet. if money was no option I could possibly put some more consideration into going that way.

so far raid 0+1, whs or drobo look good. But one problem i see with 0+1 is the availability of sata2 card with more than 2 ports :/

tnx
 
Yeah i am still considering WHS. But it seems to be a money hog if you plan on properly implementing it. Steep hardware requirements vs. *nix/bsd/xp/sk3. Mirroring being the only type of redundancy makes for a lot of wasted space if you plan on creating a large file server. From my price point, nothing is perfect. I just need to weigh the options a little more and just pick a path.
 
One idea would be WHS with no duplication. Instead using raid5 to maximize available disk space. The only down side would not being able to grow the array like WHS.
 
I love the automatic backup system built into WHS. I have it set to wake up my PC while I'm at work, do it's backup, and put it back to sleep. Very nice. Also, if you have more than one PC in your house, it'll keep tabs on their status as well. AV status and I believe HD status are monitored and reported if there are issues.

All that and the ability to easily expand your array seal the deal for me.

Jack, your link is busted BTW...
 
And stay away from the Drobo. I have one at work, and I hate the damned thing. I wish like hell we could setup a WHS box, but we can't due to licensing issues.

I've got 6 terabytes in my home WHS box, and I couldn't be happier with it. Only problem right now is I need to add more drives.
 
If it's mostly for BACKUP, then a WHS is the easiest and most-easily-expanded option. The automated backup management is great, since nobody enjoys doing backups. You can still enable redundancy for a shared folder for non-backup storage if you need it.

Not sure why you consider WHS a "money-hog". The software is $100 nowadays and you need to borrow a DVD drive for the WHS install process. Other than that, a spare five-year-old PC is an adequate starting point.
 
Glad I came upon this thread. I'm in the same boat as the thread starter. Using an old AMD cpu and was looking around for suggestions for a MB. Don't want to hijack the thread. I need to do some reading about some of the stuff here. Just wanted to say thanks to all the contributors.
 
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