I had a talk with
@vivek.krishnan regarding this. I was advised a NAS (if i could afford it) as it would suit my needs better v.i.z. i wanted really high copy paste speeds from the storage device so i don't waste time having to copy/paste stuff off or to it to. A NAS gives around 110+ MBps with normal hdd's on a gigabit ethernet network, so yes it does suit my needs quite well.
My primary goal is to save money in all fronts. Price should be low, power should be low & specs should be good. Unfortunately with pogoplug out of the loop (due to out of stock everywhere), budget has gone for a toss. Now my primary goal is to get something that is small form factor, consumes as less energy as possible and is affordable. I don't have any specific budget right now though but i don't want to spend too much. I want something that will last a long time without any interference.
I did a lot of research like watching videos on YouTube on people telling how to use Rpi as a NAS device or how to setup own NAS box for cheap (which was a misnomer since most of them used hifi stuff they got for reviews laying around for their nas build). Another misnomer was their cheap =/= our cheap. And they don't care for power consumption since they don't get charged heavy rates for usage like here.
So it came down to just these limited options -
(1) get an off the shelf nas system for as low as possible.
After searching a lot, i came across this
WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra diskless 2 bay NAS for around 14k on Amazon.
Good Ponts - Seems it can hold max of 4 x 2 = 8TB of stuff in jbod or 4TB in raid. Has two usb 3 ports on back that can be used for sharing and also as backup for the main disks. Has additional apps like Plex (saw review which said it does no transcoding whatsoever so its just basically used as a media explorer) and also transmission for downloading torrents plus others like dropbox etc. Power usage is just around 10W-12W with hdd in use. Size is a big fatter than the WD external drives we have on sale.
Drawbacks - just 1GB of ram, no hdd's and basically a locked down system. I have one new bad sectorToshiba hdd lying around so I can use it probably till it dies. This device supports only specific 2/3/4 TB models so that is a drawback. Luckily, my bad Toshiba hdd is one of those models. Cost of adding NAS hdd will be additional in future when i require more space.
(2) build my own nas with parts i could choose -
Mobo -
Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2 LGA 1151 7th Gen F20 Updated BIOS Motherboard @Rs 4434
Case - will use old case lying around @ Rs 0
PSU -
Cooler Master Lite 500W @ Rs 3745
Hdd - already have a bad Toshiba 3TB @ Rs 0
Processor -
Intel Pentium G4560 7th Gen (supports ecc mem) @ Rs 7049
Ram -
HyperX FURY Black 4GB 2133MHz DDR4 Non-ECC CL14 DIMM Desktop Memory (HX421C14FB/4) @ Rs 2999
Total cost excluding hdd = around Rs 19 k.
Pros - more powerful than the WD NAS plus more room for expansion. Would I want the expansion in future? Maybe. Right now its not required and I can do with just 2 drives.
Cons - Not worth it as a NAS for this price. Power consumption is more than 50W at all times and matx case is huge and bulky.
Comparison to barebones devices.
What about an Intel barebones kit with usb 3 on it at 10k.
Intel NUC NUC5CPYH lowest price 4 th gen i think takes 6W of power. Add to this extra cost of 1TB 2.5" HDD (Rs 4k) and Rs 2k for DDR3 Sodimm ram the cost goes up to 16k. Max amount of hdd's this box can support is just 1. Total Rs 16K.
The Gigabyte Brix GB-BACE-3000 Mini PC Barebones has a weaker cpu taking 4 W power and is cheaper at 9k. It also has support for 2 x 2.5" Hdds. Ram+ 1TB Hdd as above = Rs 6k. Total 15k.
Both barebone devices cpu don't support hyper threading.
Pros - small case which requires just ac adapter and requires very little power. both have 3-4 USB 3 ports for additional drives.
Cons - weak cpu. I don't have idea how usefull the device would be as nas since they use mobile cpu's and whether the copy speeds would hit 100+ MBps.
(3) Get a barebones board.
Still looking at this very cheap option. Getting a board with usb 3 + gig e lan is difficult now since very few of them have it. Boards are cheap at Rs 3.5-4 k, but have additional extra costs that add up.
Example - Pine A64+ 2GB ram board with 2x usb 2 and gig e @ Rs 3550
box for this - not available. probably put it in some plastic box.
power supply for board + external hdd -
5v 2 Amp 30w Quick Charge 2.0 RAVPower @900 for hdd (via powered usb hub which i have).
Total = Rs 4550.
Cons - not much software support. Have to do it all on your own. Even the linux images on the site are made and supported by the community and not the manufacturer. Company has just left everything to customers to do. Lots of wires everywhere. Attaching power cord for hdd + board plus usb hub will eat up space and makes desk look bad. Only 2 usb ports, so only 2 hdd's can be added. Speed over gigabit network will hit max 20MBps just like my pogo plug. Performance is far off from what i want.
Pros - low cost. Everything is diy and i can use any choice of os.
I still haven't made up my mind on whether to get the WD or get the Pine board. NUC or own built nas is out of the question due to power requirements, cost and space.
I guess this was a very long post but hope it help some one in the same boat as me.
