leyland1989: Data Hoarding! My first home NAS Build log (Hardware)

If you have been following my blog (check it out, if you haven't already),
I have resumed my old-time hobby; Writing trip reports.
Every reports involve a lot of photos and videos, that was taken over the span of many years.

My old method of storing data will scare all other data hoarders... Quite unstable and rather dangerous.
(15k.6 146GB*2 Raid0 for OS + 3*HGST 1TB Raid 5 for storage)
Sometime I even use my C:/ as my "temporary" storage for data off my SD cards, and then I never actually bother moving them after it were imported to my PC. I still hadn't learnt my lesson after several catastrophic data lost due to Windows crashes and hardware failures (the most recent one was caused by windows 10 update).

The idea of building a dedicated file server came to me in a boring afternoon as I was browsing Canada's Computer and New Eggs.

I have attempted to build a home server back when I was in High School running ClearOS, it wasn't really a dedicated data storage nor server in any sense. It ended up serving mostly as a router (my D-Link 655 at the time was rather unstable), torrent machine and occasionally a minecraft server between my close circle of friends. With work, university and moving around different cities. I didn't have the time to maintain it, and for some reason my Linux kernel was corrupted about 4 years ago, then I gave up on the project, shut it down and put it into storage. Until a month ago, I dug it out and tried to restore it, but I ended up building an entire new machine, which is the NAS I'm going to write about today.

(The old hardset is now a media client (Kodi), play Netflix and streaming stuff from my NAS on my "not-so" smart TV. I will make another blog post about it if anyone is interested.

Here is my plan:
my general objectives are:
1. Compact and quiet. It's going to be running 24/7 next to my TV in the living room, I don't want a noisy server rack in my living room.
2. Low power consumption. Electricity is expensive, eh.
3. (Relatively) Safe storage with some redundancy

After some research,
I summarised the following requirements to narrow my search

1. Low power consumption CPU, embedded ones are fine (to meet my goal 2), so no used Xeon on ebay
2. MATX or smaller, ideally ITX
3. 3+*SATA slots... the more the merrier for future proof
4. Preferably SO-DIMM ram as I have a spare at home, and I will have 2*8GB free once I get a new laptop
5. A case that support at least 3* 3.5" slots, but the more the merrier for future proof

then compiled a list of hardware:

CPU:   Intel® Quad-Core Pentium® Processor N3700 (embedded)
MB: ASRock N3700-ITX
RAM: 1*4GB Kingston SO-DIMM DDR3-1600L (in stock, swapped out from my Thinkpad X230T)
HDD: 4*WD Red 2TB NAS Hard Disk Drive  in Raid 5
BOOT: 1*Adata 16GB USB3.0 flash drive
PSU:   SeaSonic SSR-550RM 80Plus Gold
Case: Lian-Li PC-Q25B
OS: NAS4Free

Nothing fancy here, really.
Hard drives first, after reading too many horrific stories on Reddit about how terrible those online retailers ship out their hard drives, I decided to actually visit a physical store (Canada Computer)to get them.

In the following week, my orders are starting to arrive from different places.

The case, PC-Q25, a fairly popular choice on r/DataHoarder or r/homelab,

and you will see why.

Let's open it!
Side panels have tool-less design, no screw-drivers are needed to take them off

the mounting tools and accessories came in the white box inside the case.

It supports 5 hot-swap 3.5" HDDs and 2*3.5" more at the bottom (or 3*2.5")

an itx motherboard and standard ATX PSU

A lot smaller than my old "server"

Inside my old "server",
Of course it is not an ordinary Sony factory built PC.
I savaged everything that can be reused in my next HTPC project.

Asus E35M1-I deluxe from my old server.
I barbarically mounted a 9cm fan for some extra cooling but it can certainly run fine without it.

Actually, this Asus E35M1-I is somewhat better than the new AsRock N3700-ITX I got for the NAS in someway, despite being almost 5 years old.
Fancier heat sink
1 more SATA port,
Full PCI-E x16 slot
and built in WiFi (although I have never used it)
It will certainly be reused

Start assembling the NAS,
swap out the crappy factory fans first.
Considering it will be running 24/7, a reliable cooling system is rather important
I follow noctua products pretty much religiously,
I chose the redux product line (refreshed older generation Noctua products)for the best C/P value. Although they are not the best Noctua has to offer, they are air flow focus, meeting my quiet and low power consumption requirement with much lower price tag, not to mention the better colour scheme...

14cm for intake and HDD rack cooling
12cm for exhaust
I thought it will create a positive pressure but it was the other way around
I forgot to take the PSU's 12cm fan into account and the front intake is certainly weaken too much by the dust filter and HDD rack.

Taking out the fans was rather easy, they are not screwed on the case,
the screws are to keep the rubber washers in place which get snapped on the slots
the dust filter can be removed without taking the screw off, just rotate it anticlockwise.

Special screw for mounting,
has space reserved for dust filter to snap on.

Comparison between the stock fan and the noctua,
due to superior bearing and motor technology,
the noctua fan uses slightly less power,
1.2W vs 1.68W

Just noticed that QC was done by the same person as on my A71F which I purchased 6 years ago.

Assembling time!
Motherboard.

Normal stuff,
instruction menu that no one reads,
back plate, 2 SATA cables

A closer look at our beloved mother, N3700-ITX
notice that no ATX12V is required for the CPU
Fanless heatsink
2*DDR3-1600 so-dimm ram slot, they claim it supports up to 16GB ram while intel claim the CPU can only support up to 8GB, I'll let you know when I have 16GB ram free from my laptop.
4*SATA 3.0Gbps, 2 controlled by CPU, 2 by separated controller
1*PCI-E x 1
a now becoming standard half mini PCI-E slot

Equipping 4*WD Red 2TB NAS Hard Disk Drive running RAIDz, giving about 5.2TB usable space

Lian-Li HDD mounting tools have been changing from time to time,
From all Lian-Li cases I've owned, they all have different HDD mounting methods...
This plastic rail thing is by far the best, much smoother and easy to use compare to the screw+rubber washer type on my A71F

it uses slightly less power than my 7 years old WD black
Of course the WD red has a slower rmp hence slower,
they are designed for different purposes.

with HDD installed

Grabbing some of my spare/broken/retired HDDs to demonstrate the maximum number of HDDs you can install in this case without using any barbaric mounting methods.

8 HDD max,

7*3.5" + 1*2.5"

6*3.5"+2*2.5"

5*3.5" + 3*2.5"

4*3.5"+4*2.5"

whichever you prefer.

Purolator had trouble finding my house, my power supply was delayed for almost a week for various reasons (excues)...
I lost my patience so I had to use my old Delta Server Power 550W as a temporary measure

First boot up, everything seems to be working fine

All 4 HDDs appear on BIOS, a very good sign

Next to my desktop with Lian-Li A71F,
Almost just 1/4 of my desktop's size

Power supply finally arrive,
I couldn't wait to swap out my temporary PSU

is 80 Plus gold worth the extra cost?
well, it is more efficient than my 10 years old PSU, consume ~1W less power at idle
Reliability was the reason why I chose the G series