Subj : Re: NAS vs. BIG OL PC TOWER
To   : Weishaupt
From : Nelgin
Date : Sun Jan 10 2021 04:11:55

Weishaupt wrote:
> Hi folks.
> One of the things that is also becoming clear is the issue of redundancy and
> the cost thereof -- meaning, the more drives you have, the more space you need
> for backups.  I am always torn between whether I should set up RAID or whether
> it makes more sense to have a bunch of external drives, or, as is currently the
>  case, a second old PC with a bunch of drives I just rsync everything to.

I considered a NAS. The reasons for getting one would be ease of use when
swapping out disks. It should have firmware/software that'll make it easy for
you. If you use a Linux server then you'll have to be come familiar with
mdadm.

That said, you'll get more bang for your buck. If you get a x?70 motherboard,
like a X570 then it supports upto 8 SATA devices natively, and you can always
add more via a PCI-E card. 

I have a mirrored pair of 250gb SSD drives for my boot/root/home drive and 4 x
4GB hard drives in a RAID 10 (mirrored and striped) for my database, files and
other data that is somewhat critical. I keep my documents and photos on there.
A PCI-E card then lets me add a blu-ray and a DVD drive. 

I use minidlna to provide DLNA services for my mp3 and video files, and
Ampache for serviing up songs locally or via a web interface.

Plus, with a Linux box, you can do anything else you want that Linux allows,
where as NAS is somewhat limited.

mdadm isn't something I use much, but I have a small cheat sheet on what to
when a drive is bad (remove it from the raid array, add a new disk and check
the mirror status).

I've been using Linux since 1995 or there abouts, so I'm used to it. You could
still use Windows to do similar if you're a pointy/clicky type person.

.