- 5,161
- Massachusetts
Hey there...I've recently made the decision that I need to drastically rethink my home network and storage situation. Currently, there are 2 laptops (WiFi), 1 desktop (Ethernet) and a headless HTPC/Torrent Box/File Server (Ethernet), 1 HP Color Laser Printer (Ethernet) & 1 Sony XBR-55X850D (WiFi). There are various smartphones and tablets that connect & disconnect frequently throughout the day. My biggest concern at the moment is the quickly growing storage requirements. At the moment my server is running a total of 54 TB with a combination of 1, 3, 6 & 8 TB drives. None of this is RAID. None of it is currently backing up anything more than the user folders of me and my roommates (ALB123\Pictures, ALB123\Downloads, ALB123\Documents, etc...) two laptops and one desktop.
There is a ridiculously massive number of movies, complete tv shows, comics, volumes of magazines, tons of books and a lot of music living on that server. A) I need to start thinking about backing up - at least whatever we deem the most important stuff and B) We need to have plenty of room for continued growth. While I don't think it will continue growing as fast as it did, Movies & TV Shows will definitely increase at a decent pace.
I'm looking at building a new server with a big case for 10 3.5's which would really help in the present because I'd also like to unload the burden on my current server. It's doing too much...and I'm looking to expand the workload with a PLEX Server for friends and family to access. I suppose I could build my own NAS using FreeNAS and a big case...but I have zero experience with FreeNAS and ZFS makes me nervous especially with all of my current drives running NTFS.
I've come across 15 & 16 bay hard drive enclosures that aren't really that expensive ($400-$500), but that would mean plugging that into my current server which doesn't lighten the load on this aging Intel i5, 6GB RAM server. It's weird. I didn't think this situation I'm in would be all that uncommon nowadays. Heck, with 100Mbit internet connections and sub-$200 External 8TB HDDs available, I'm shocked there aren't my questions haven't already become commonplace.
Oh, I almost forgot. I have a Cisco (Linksys) AE3500 Wifi Router (4 port 1 Gigabit). Both desktop & server are on Gigabyte NICs, but I also want to look toward the future as far as the network components go. I've been looking at some of the Cisco Small Biz Routers. Was surprised the prices weren't that bad. I know some people who have traditional Cisco routers and they added an external device as the Wireless Access Point for WiFi connections...but I don't know if I will need to purchase an additional switch too.
As you can see, I'm pulling my hair out and I'm running in circles, not even knowing where to begin. I'd love to hear from people with very large data storage systems - hearing about how easy your 2-port NAS is really won't help. I'm open to any and all suggestions that discuss at least some of the points I've raised here in this post. Thanks for taking the time to read...There are probably a whole lot of incoherent rambling - I haven't slept in 2 days now and I'm just about to crash here at the keyboard.
Thanks again!
There is a ridiculously massive number of movies, complete tv shows, comics, volumes of magazines, tons of books and a lot of music living on that server. A) I need to start thinking about backing up - at least whatever we deem the most important stuff and B) We need to have plenty of room for continued growth. While I don't think it will continue growing as fast as it did, Movies & TV Shows will definitely increase at a decent pace.
I'm looking at building a new server with a big case for 10 3.5's which would really help in the present because I'd also like to unload the burden on my current server. It's doing too much...and I'm looking to expand the workload with a PLEX Server for friends and family to access. I suppose I could build my own NAS using FreeNAS and a big case...but I have zero experience with FreeNAS and ZFS makes me nervous especially with all of my current drives running NTFS.
I've come across 15 & 16 bay hard drive enclosures that aren't really that expensive ($400-$500), but that would mean plugging that into my current server which doesn't lighten the load on this aging Intel i5, 6GB RAM server. It's weird. I didn't think this situation I'm in would be all that uncommon nowadays. Heck, with 100Mbit internet connections and sub-$200 External 8TB HDDs available, I'm shocked there aren't my questions haven't already become commonplace.
Oh, I almost forgot. I have a Cisco (Linksys) AE3500 Wifi Router (4 port 1 Gigabit). Both desktop & server are on Gigabyte NICs, but I also want to look toward the future as far as the network components go. I've been looking at some of the Cisco Small Biz Routers. Was surprised the prices weren't that bad. I know some people who have traditional Cisco routers and they added an external device as the Wireless Access Point for WiFi connections...but I don't know if I will need to purchase an additional switch too.
As you can see, I'm pulling my hair out and I'm running in circles, not even knowing where to begin. I'd love to hear from people with very large data storage systems - hearing about how easy your 2-port NAS is really won't help. I'm open to any and all suggestions that discuss at least some of the points I've raised here in this post. Thanks for taking the time to read...There are probably a whole lot of incoherent rambling - I haven't slept in 2 days now and I'm just about to crash here at the keyboard.
Thanks again!