New file server build

[hyg71886]

I have been recently ripping all my blu-rays (over 320) and dvds (over 200) on to my pc for use in xbmc. I am finding out very quickly that blu ray rips are taxing in the hd space department and as such want to build a server to house all of them and have them readily availble over a network to play on my big screen. This is the parts list I'm looking at so far,

NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case

WD Green 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

Unraid Server Pro Licenses vs Windows server?

Supermicro SAT2 MV8 - (2) Will purchase when needed

I would like to go amd for this build as I think the parts are cheaper. I will not do this in Raid but unraid config, but need help on the best cpu, psu, ram, etc that would be good for this build. Eventually I will have 20hdds in this as time goes on hence the green power drives. Also, this will I am trying to figure out how to only make it boot when I want access to stream to my pc which plays on my big screen. This build will be getting done soon since I only have 2 hd slots left in my desktop and already ordered another 1.5tb drive. All help is much appreciated thanks

[Khalil]

You don't need server hardware for this build.

[glc]

All you need is a standard desktop computer, with addon hardware to handle all those hard drives. I'd suggest you look at Addonics for the addon hardware - housings, arrays, and interface cards.

[hyg71886]

Originally Posted by Khalil You don't need server hardware for this build.

no I'm using reg parts just a server case so i dont run out of hd space

[glc]

Why not use external array housings?

[hyg71886]

such as? would it be more cost efficient?

[glc]

Did you look at the Addonics site yet?

[hyg71886]

I saw the NAS Mini Storage Tower but isnt that eventually gonna pile up with only 5 bays?

[hyg71886]

i found the storage racks but i have no idea what im doing on the configure it anyone know how?

[systempat]

How much space does a blu-ray movie take to store?

[vtfanmv5]

Around 10GB each. At least, in .mkv form that's what they are.

[systempat]

Originally Posted by vtfanmv5 Around 10GB each. At least, in .mkv form that's what they are.

That'll eat up some drive space fast! As to hardware and how to house it, these are my thoughts. Build in a full-tower ATX case. They usually have room for at least 6 drives. Get a power supply with power and connectors to drive all of that. That gets to 6 or 9 TB of space depending on the drives selected. Then one of the storage cases and another 5 drives and you're up to 11 or so. Every 10 TB = 10,000 gb (approx.) and would hold roughly 1000 blu-rays.

[glc]

You aren't going to stuff 20 hard drives into a server case - and even if you could, you are going to have issues with controllers for all the drives. I'd recommend you contact Addonics and tell them what you need to do, and ask them which of their products would be suitable and how to do it. They should have a way to daisy chain or stack modules to interface with the computer through a single interface card. This is what "pre-sales" tech support is for.