unRAID is not free. While it support parity drive(s) (2 max.), it does not strip data across multiple hard drive unlike typical RAID 0,1,3,5 or 6.

I decided to try OpenMediaVault a shot now and see how it works.

Thanks.

You should try OMV, i just installed it 2 days ago and now it is running smoothly in my office ~

Managed to get it up and running and to me it seems successful. Can transfer files on PC as well as on Android TV box. See how it goes in the long run.

If you want 4k then the ideal situation is your NAS box has a wired connection to your android box.
I've personally used FreeNAS and it works reliably. Unraid is not free as someone already pointed out. I've used it but didn't bother to try it beyond the 30-day trial. I've recommended and am using enterprise level TrueNAS at work so I know it's reliable.

Alternatively do what I do ie. download movies to a USB and plug it into your TV/android box. I have no desire to save many downloadable movies so that actually works quite well and has way less setup

I'm not into 4K content as I think its waste of my hard disk space and I don't even have 4K TV yet so 1080p content will do at the moment. I just watch content stream directly from my NAS PC and so far it worked quite well.

As for buying NAS, I feel its not suitable for me as the content is not mission critical, only for home use and entertainment. I also think NAS in the market right now is overpriced and underpowered, and worse no ability to add extra HDD is say I buy a 2 bay unit.

For software, having look into FreeNAS I feel the demand is high especially when it requires that I have 8GB of RAM whereas OpenVailtMedia5 only requires 2GB RAM. Since I am on a budget and don't have spare 8GB, the choice was obvious.

So far OMV5 is working perfectly on my 10 year old desktop with 2GB RAM.

2 week ago, suddenly 3 drive start to develop bad sector on my NAS. Beeping whole day.

2 drive was able to repair even report of I/O error and showing bad sector. probably minimum damage. So it still showing "Normal".

Taken out the drive to check with PC. Showing plenty bad sector. No choice but to change.



Even it can be hot swap, but I don't take the chance. Off the NAS before swap out.

For RAID, it cannot replace all the bad drive together. It has to be swap 1 pcs at a time. After rebuilding the parity check, and show normal, then only able to swap another drive.

Otherwise, all your data are gone. It's a risky repair since no way to back up the large size file.



This time I try the seagate ironwolf. No more WD.

WD drive last me about 5yrs. Pretty short life compare another Samsung drive in the NAS.



Run back the NAS and repair the Volume. For such a big size drive, it took 24hr to repair. So about 3days to finish up the process.



I guess more drive will die in a short time. Since I buy it in batch. Got to standby extra drive.

Having a NAS and taken care is expensive.

ozak better swap out other WD Red units soon. In my experience, they are usually prone to failure at the end or after the warranty period. I bought several synology NAS (deployed in SMEs) with these WD REDs installed and all failed similarly. Never again, will only purchase Iron Wolfs in the future.

Will do.

But it cost me alot to swap all out.

Will buy 1 by 1 slowly swap it out.

The price of ironwolf going up this 2 weeks.

I build a budget NAS with WD Green 8 years ago thinking cheaper HDD with RAID-1 is okay for data... biggest mistake in my life... I've lost 4TB of valuable data due to 2 HDD fallen apart within a week... I didn't have time to go to lowyat to get another hdd due to week days...

the other WD Green failed during weekend... Since after that... all my important data goes to cloud... rather trust cloud...

There is a trick to prolong the green drives, you just need to disable the head parking timer using the wdidle3.exe file. The green firmware is so aggressively parking the head of the drives that it decreases the lifespan significantly faster. I have 4 units of 3TB green with disabled the head parking setting and they still runs in my NAS until today since 2012.

In a long run for large data like me, it cost more for using cloud.

Remember, RAID is not backups. You need both! Ransomware, fire, flood, theft, brick falling on your NAS will easily convince you that backups are important.

If your data is really valuable to you, then you would pay the money for backups. You can easily categorize your data into tiers, some that don't have to go to the cloud, some that do. Compression/deduplication will also reduce the space required by a huge amount!

One strategy I use to get "cheaper" cloud backup is using Office 365 Home. For ~RM359 per year, you get 6 accounts, 1TB each = 6TB total. You also get some legal copies of Microsoft Office as a bonus Compare this to AWS Glacier at ~RM240 per year for 1TB

Also when replacing drives, don't forget to check Backblaze Stats. Basically the most reliable tend to be Hitachi/Toshiba drives, followed by Seagate. WD has some very high failure rates


This post has been edited by tishaban: Apr 7 2020, 11:39 AM

"Ransomware, fire, flood, theft, brick falling on your NAS" -- This all been taking care.

I have been using NAS for over 13yrs. Spoiled 2 NAS. So pretty understand the disaster might coming.

I can't stream media with cloud.

Data is not just me using. It's for whole family, relative around the world. They easily access with a smartphone.

Don't ask me to train those relative aunty/uncle using the cloud.

The most reliable is those drive that run at 5200rpm. As long as the NAS can stream media at home is fine.

may i know where to check prices nowadays? shopee/lazada?
tq

Shopee/lazada expensive

Buy from Amazon.

Noted, I assume you mean inclusive of shipping to here.
Intl warranty applies to HDD?

Yup, included shipping still cheaper than here.

2pcs save me RM500+.

Not sure got intl warranty. If spoil will try RMA to seagate.

Yes I've bought SSDs, USB drives, projectors from Amazon that's cheaper than buying locally. This is usually true for some brands eg. Samsung and for high end stuff eg. Asrock Rack motherboards that Malaysian vendors charge too much or don't even carry. For others eg Adata the price difference is very small eg. 2 x 1TB Adata SSD = ~US$265 on Amazon vs ~RM1,200 locally

For dead on arrival items, Amazon will refund your money and shipping costs up to a certain amount, based on my experience you have to top up RM50-100 to ship it back
I've not had to claim any warranty for my SSDs yet. I've been full SSDs in my house and homelab NAS since 2011

For me this is how I backup my data

1) I will avoid RAID by any means, rebuild it will be pain in the @$$

2) I schedule my backup to cloud daily

3) I subscribe to GSuite where the Google Drive storage is unlimited

4) Avoid WD Red Drives by any means, I spoiled one before in my home and two in my office. From now on i only use Seagate IronWolf Pro with 5 years warranty

5) Make sure the air ventilation in your NAS is good, HDD don't like high temps