Building a NAS from old computers
 

Hey guys, so I found my old desktop in the closet and its an old Q6600 LGA 775 setup with 4gb of ram. Thinking of using this as my NAS instead of buying something from QNAP etc.

I know newer nas boxes would use less power etc but I also have an E5200 I can shove in which should reduce power consumption but I'm thinking if this would be enough power for a media server. Maybe a bit of transcoding but shouldn't be much.

My question is would this be a good idea or should I just get something from Synology, QNAP and make my life easier.

Go with the newer CPU. You want Intel Quick Sync if you're wanting to transcode. You should be able to do a couple of 1080p transcodes. The latest Quick Sync in the current i3 chips will do 10bit 4k transcodes with ease.

If you're not planning to do RAID, just shove the drives into your current computer and create some shares instead of having a dedicated machine.

Was thinking of shoving drives in the current machine but this is going to be up 24/7 and will open to remote as well, because of this I wanted to go with dedicated.

The plan is to utilize a few WD reds that I got. Go with a raid setup run plex off it, and also have the ability to store and share large video files. Was hoping to even run it as a NAS to my FinalCutPro to edit off it.

It shouldn't take long to set up, so may as well try it since it'll cost you nothing. I've been using random old hardware shoved into a case with a pile of drives for years and it works pretty well.

Yeah, if that's all you're doing then it's fine. Don't expect it to do much Plex transcoding though.

Oh and if you do get any dedicated hardware keep sound in mind. I bought some heavy duty rack-mounted NAS's for cheap and the fans are so obnoxiously loud that I don't dare use them in my house.

i just bought a 4 bay qnap with some wd red drives. Its pretty quiet and small. beats running my own as the qnap was about $400

I have 2 synology and a home-made NAS

1. I would never store my personal stuff in the home-made NAS
2. Old CPU eats so much power, hot, doesn't support newer decoding, converting video or photo is slow.
3. If you happen to use xpenology, then you will find not worth the time dealing with new version and compatibility.
4. Make sure you don't use cheapo PSU and low-end board. I've burned several PSU and some capacitior on mobo.
5. Security issue.

If you want one for dirty sharing like BT, testing, crap storage, then sure.
If you are storing your memoriable stuff like photo, video, homework, I would not recommend unless you have tons of knowledge on NAS.

hmmm sounds like I should just fork out for a QNAP or similar instead of building this out.

i think if you're looking to make a little project then do a diy with what you got.
if you're looking for something that just works, and don't want to mess around with it constantly, then get a qnap. also uses a way smaller footprint.