Newbie: storage, sync, and streaming NAS

Louson · 11. Mai 2019

Hello,

I'm trying to get a NAS on LInux and OVM seems to be nice. I'm looking for a compatible platform (with official Debian support).

I would like to use it mainly for multimedia storage, synchronization and local streaming
I don't need any HDMI as long as I can stream to a local machine
I need two SSD, one for storage and one for the backup I will do once a month (I don't need RAID).

Anyone has tried the Synology Ds218J ?

I think cards such as Helios4 are also acceptable but I live in France and the shipping can make it too expensive.

Or maybe is it much better to go on a custom build ?

Adoby · 11. Mai 2019

I like my HC2 setup. Works fine with OMV, but I suppose not officially certified for Debian, but then I don't know if anything is...

You could have one HC2 with a big HDD and an extra HDD in your PC for backups. Or two HC2, one for NAS services and one for backups. Or even one HC2 and do backups over USB. I have pairs of HC2s, some with big 12TB Ironwolf HDDs. One HC2 for data and one for versioned backups using rsync daily.

https://www.francerobotique.co…2gb-lpddr3-ram-pop-s.html

Works great in a GbE network. Very nice for streaming as long as you don't need transcoding. Or can transcode before streaming. Emby supports that, works fine.

Check out my old thread: My new NAS: Odroid HC2 and Seagate Ironwolf 12TB.

Louson · 13. Mai 2019

Thanks, it seems good. At least perfect to try ovm. How reliable is it ? Can you keep it up several years ? How much energy is it consuming ?

I like your chimney effect too. Do you get good results ?

Adoby · 13. Mai 2019

My HC2s are working fine. A little boring really...

Just make sure to use good A1-class SD cards and good NAS type HDDs. And to not abuse the rootfs with databases, docker images and metadata and so on.

There are NO moving parts on the HC2, only in the HDD. So as long as the temperature is kept reasonable, and there is no big thunderstorm, extreme solar flare or EMP, they should work fine for many, many years. I aim for max 40 degrees C HDD temps. 25 C on average. The HC2s CPUs can get warmer, 60-70 C, when very heavily utilized, but that is usually only for short periods of time.

I may have to get few new SD cards now and then and possibly new HDDs when the 3-year warranty is over.

I currently run 6 HC2s, one 16 port GbE switch, a fan and a WiFi mesh unit on the same 12 volt PSU. I haven't measured the power usage. i may when I get home later today or tomorrow.

Even if I get a more traditional multi drive x86 NAS in the future, the HC2s will still be very usable as backup storage servers. And currently they do whatever I have them do. No problems. Actually I suspect that i am getting a little spoiled. The combined performance, disk and network bandwidth of 6 HC2s working in parallel is pretty nice. I have not really started to utilize the full potential. Perhaps using them as a Docker swarm? Encoding HEVC with HW-enabled ffmpeg in a cluster? Or something else...

If I get a traditional x86 NAS I may be disappointed by the performance compared with the HC2s. I suspect that the excellent OMV image helps the performance of the HC2s quite a bit as well!

However the HC2 ARM32 SBC is getting a bit old. In the next few years I would like a newer alternative with similar form factor, >=16 cores, 16-32GB RAM, 10 GbE, ARM64 and a slot for a NVME SSD as well as a 3,5" SATA3 port. And with a nice optimized OMV image...

That said, as long as I'm using a 1 GbE network, the network is the bottleneck, not my HC2s.

Jetzt mitmachen!