Quote:
Why not just go RAID1 or use a large usb drive to backup your data?


All good points! The basic idea was to create something cheap (ie using as many parts as I already have) and something that offers as near to 100% up time of data 24/7 as possible with DIY kit.

I am very very lazy when it comes to backups, I want a NAS to sit on my network to take regular automated backups from my 4 main systems in the house. A USB drive is out of the question. The HD's in this system have been taken from various other ideas for back up involving USB solutions.

As for RAID 5, I guess it looked really good on the box in effect giving me 50% extra space from 4 drives. I thought it would be easy, as I have found other RAID solutions in the past. I am starting to wonder if I should start looking at the other solutions again, but it has to sit on the network.

FreeNAS has been a bit of a disapointment, it looks really good, says it does everything I want it to, but it's not very stable yet. I think I will go with Mark's suggestion as this was also used in an article I linked to further up in the thread. I also may try clarkconnect as I am confident with that.

One thing I really wanted was a system that would boot from a USB stick. FreeNAS does this really well. Power consumption is quite important for me, and the idea of not having HD's spun up until really needed sounds like a good idea to me. Heat is an ongoing issue with my under stairs server room, which seems to be stable at the moment, but I think 5 HD's spun up will tip that balance

Cheers

Cris.