So I have some space on my server rack, but not a lot of money lying around.
What I’m trying to achieve is a nas setup for my security camera system. It has 30 cameras, and 4 drives fill up in 3 months. 3X3TB drives.
Looking on eBay for a second hand rack mounted NaS is pretty expensive. Could I build one? From a jbod or something? I’ve got a nice big space in my rack doing nothing.
(I know I could buy bigger drives, but I kinda like the idea of experimenting with something g different) ✌️💛
Sure you can.
I use Rosewill rackmounted cases because they’re cheap and get the job done. They’re a far cry from any enterprise gear, but that’s not really needed in a homelab. Think of the typical material used on a desktop PC.
This is the case I use, but see if anything else jumps out at you:
Rosewill RSV-R4200U 4U Server Chassis Rackmount Case | 11 3.5" Bays, 3 2.5" Devices| ATX, CEB Compatible | 2 120mm Fan, 2 80mm Fans | USB 3.0, USB 2.0 | Black https://a.co/d/icPXCTH
The official Rosewill rails are pretty crap, so I used these. They work great:
iStar TC-RAIL-20 20-Inch Sliding Rail Kit for Most Rackmount Chassis https://a.co/d/iaJBFNl
Beyond that, where you want to go is sort of up to you. Really any motherboard / CPU / RAM will do if you’re only using it for storage. I used a few different parts I had laying around already, and then got some open box ones off eBay for things I needed to finish out the build.
OS is up to you as well. I like unRAID because it’s the “grow as you go” OS, but I’ve used TrueNAS in the past as well. Both are solid options but have a lot of different pros and cons.
Great tip on the rails!
I second the call out on these Rosewill cases. For the price they’re pretty solid.
Also, you’re right about the Rosewill rails, they’re terrible (source: I bought them and regret it).
+1 on the Rosewill cases. I bought the IstarUSA rails and managed to mangle the bearings on one side. It’s still generally functional though.
Void Linux + mdadm in RAID5 + BTRFS with snapshots enabled. Trust me, you won’t regret it 😉. I have a working storage like this, but with 6 drives (scrap 2TB ones in RAID5) and BTRFS with zstd set at 10. Compression on MPEG2 content is… more than I ever hoped for to be honest, like 30, 40% compression. MPEG4, not as much, but you can shim about 5 to 10%.
Do not do this setup if your data is critical. btrfs raid 5 isn’t stable
As to filling up the drives so fast, have you considered transcoding it to a smaller format (such as HEVC/H.265) in real time? I know that would require quite some CPU power. Even H.264 is likely to improve on camera native formats, as those often need to encode the videos with embedded/low-power CPUs. Do you need to retain the footage beyond 3 months?
I’ll check it out.
There’s no set period I need to retain. It’s just been handy, got myself out of trouble a few times in compliance complaints. a couple times I have wished I was able to go back further. That’s all.
