Hello all...
This is my first post here and I would like to ask your advice...
The company I work for ( production company ) needs 8 TB of storage space in RAID 5 configuration for back-up of video footage.
Commercial solutions are either too expensive or with limited scalability.
So I offered to build 2 NAS storage systems for them using NAS-LITE.
I know of course that NAS-LITE system requirements are not high but since Im not paying and the systems will be used for professional work I decided to build them from scratch using brand new components.
So the system requirements for each NAS machine are the following:
1) 4TB volume
2) RAID 5
3) Instant recovery from HDD failure
4) Gbit LAN
5) The ability to connect and share external USB or Firewire HDD's in the future
After thinking and searching a lot I concluded in the following parts:
CaseChieftec Aegis CH-05 BlackIt features 7 internal 3.5" HDD slots and 3 5.25" device lots (more than enough)
LinkMotherboardGIGABYTE S775 GA-945GCM-S2L (945GC) Vga/GLanIt offers on board VGA and Gbit LAN support plus 4 SATA and one IDE chanel for future upgrades. The manual claims also that the board can boot for usb sticks (so I can use it with NAS-LITE USB version)
LinkCPUDual Core 2220 (S775/2.4Ghz)I think this CPU can provide all the necessary computing power for now and for future upgrades
LinkRAM2x Trancent 1GB DDR2 DIMM PC2 6400-800 Nothing special but plenty of RAM to cover the need of the machine (just in case it get hungry
)
RAID ControllerIntel RAID 6 port SATA SRCS16That was the hardest part, to find a controller in Greece that is supported by NAS-LITE.
In the NAS-LITE hardware reference manual the controller is not mentioned as Intel manufactured but under the family of "LSI Logic MegaRAID Controller Driver"/ "MegaRAID RAID Controller SRCS16".
This is the same controller? It will work or not with NAS-LITE?
This controller is IDEAL for me because it has 6 SATA ports and offers the option for a "HOT SPARE" ( a drive that is waiting to be commissioned automatically when another RAID drive fails).
Also supports sound alarm on hardware failures and is fully hardware dependable.
So I plan to use 5x 1TB SATA HDD's for the RAID and 1x 1TB HDD as a ''HOT SPARE''
LinkHDD's1 TB SATA II SAMSUNG HD103UJ SPINPOINT 32MB Cache6x 1TB HDD at 7200 rpm, nothing to comment other than at spin-up requires 2.4A current (so at 6 HDD's require 14.4A)
LinkPower SupplyChieftec GPS-550AB-AA 550Watt power supply. You think that it has enough power to give to the HDD's spin-up or it will be wise to upgrade to the next model of 650Watt?
LinkThose are the components of the machine i intend to build... The total cost is around 1100 Euro ( 1750 USD).
Not expencive for a machine with that many HDD's, reliability and great scalability.
But my main concerns right now is if the RAID controller is compatible with NAS-LITE and if my power supply is enough to drive the whole system.
Also a MAJOR question I have is the following... The computer that is going to use those two NAS systems is operating under Windows XP ( because of hardware and software compatibilities issues of the AVID editing software). Windows XP are able to ''see" and use a partition of 4TB without problem or there is a limit to that?
Waiting to hear any comments from you guys.
Thanks in advance
Chriss