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Best Solutions For Massive Home Hard Drive Storage?

Posted by timothy on from the watch-and-release dept.

i_ate_god writes "I download a lot of 720/1080p videos, and I also produce a lot of raw uncompressed video. I have run out of slots to put in hard drives across two computers. I need (read: want) access to my files at all times (over a network is fine), especially since I maintain a library of what I've got on the TV computer. I don't want to have swappable USB drives, I want all hard drives available all the time on my network. I'm assuming that, since it's on a network, I won't need 16,000 RPM drives and thus I'm hoping a solution exists that can be moderately quiet and/or hidden away somewhere and still keep somewhat cool. So Slashdot, what have you done?"

7 of 609 comments (clear)

  1. Define "massive" by jschen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How much data constitutes "massive"?

    1. Re:Define "massive" by digitalchinky · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For most people 1TB is pretty big.

      To answer the question, NAS boxes. They are moderately cheap, come with numerous drive bays, they are usually small, quiet, and unobtrusive when you stick tape over the blue LED's.

    2. Re:Define "massive" by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Does using RAID controllers actually provide superior price:performance to using software RAID? Last I checked, the processors on most cheap RAID controllers were slower than dogshit and using md under Linux would give you better performance than basically any of them, at the cost of some CPU. But since CPU is cheaper than RAID, it probably makes sense. For example, going from a Phenom II X3 720 to a Phenom II X6 chip of the same clock rate takes the CPU from $100 to $200. How much would it cost to go from four crappy RAID controllers to four good ones? It would probably cost you at least $400.

      The answer is probably to just go ahead and install Debian on a machine with as many CPU cores as you want to blow money on, and to use software raid. Put lots of system RAM in it, which the OS will automatically use for disk buffers. Current versions of grub work fine with USB keys, because they can use UUID for the groot, and the UUID never changes. If you want it to boot quickly, find a motherboard with coreboot support. If you want external disks you can use firewire cheaper than eSATA, if you get the external disks or just some enclosures at a good price. It makes maintenance a lot easier, but involves substantial power waste due to all those inefficient wall warts.

      P.S. OpenSolaris is circling the drain, please don't suggest it to anyone for anything.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. How much is a lot? by jimmyfrank · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ..., are the movies you download compressed at all? You say you run out of slots, how big are the drives you're putting in the slots? Personally, I let Netflix do the storing for me. I have a few TB's but never come close to filling it up.

  3. Re:Something like this by EdIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only caveat about that particular solution is the lack of redundant power, poor serviceability in the rack (may not apply like you said), and slow speed.

    Their solution achieves the density it does because they are using SATA multiplexers, but that effectively creates bottlenecks and lowers overall speed. It works for BlackBlaze's application requirements, but YMMV.

    Protocase.com makes the enclosure and will sell it to you for a pretty reasonable price. Getting all the parts is not such a big issue. I think we estimated we could build one without drives for less than $3k.

    If you don't have it in a rack, then serviceability will be a lot better for sure. Rackmount solutions require cable management and heavy duty slide rails, and wide aisles, in order to gain access to the drives. The backplanes are parallel to the ground, facing up, and require taking the top off to access. Not exactly IT friendly.

    Since the person in the article is not using this in a datacenter, cooling is going to be an issue. I suspect BackBlaze survives due to hot-cold aisles and plenty of airflow. Sticking one of those enclosures in a closet without ventilation/cooling is a recipe for disaster.

  4. Re:This should be modded up by Sabriel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I looked at a Drobo - but being on a budget, I kept on looking elsewhere. I don't doubt they deserve those reviews, but they are not cheap. And if the Drobo itself dies... good luck getting the data off those drives without another Drobo handy.

  5. Re:Bzzzt. Still Wrong. by twistedcubic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You gave a bunch of links which require wading through hundreds of lame arguments, including 100 different people proudly proclaiming "RAID is not a backup solution". Nobody wants to read that shit.