File Server

Details

The File Server will handle users, accessing files from outside home, web server, and most importantly store all of the files. I want to keep all of the photos, home videos, documents, and recorded TV shows in one place. So, if I’m at school and I forgot to retrieve my files, I can just access my server and retrieve them that way or if I’m at my sister’s and I want to show her the latest TV show series that I’ve been talking about, I can show it to her.

The plan has switched from having my whole family have access to it, to it just being used by me. Therefore, I don’t need to manage users and others files. All of the storage will be for myself, however, it will be nice to keep it as a backup. I don’t plan on leaving the File Server behind, but instead just building more as I need them. If it turns out that I need another 5TB for all of the HD videos that I’m recording, then I’ll just build a new one.

I haven’t really decided on the software. I’m thinking I could get away with just using SAMBA on Linux and just not pay for the server software. My requirements aren’t that much and I really think Linux will handle the architecture a lot better. It probably won’t allow me to easily access my files from anywhere, but that isn’t really important, flash technology has advanced so much, that I can just copy the files on flash memory. The only reason to go with Windows Server software is the ease of features and connectivity.

I also haven’t decided on whether to go with Windows Home Server or Windows Server 2008 Standard. I’ll be paying an extra $100 for the Windows Server 2008 Standard version. By the time I build the server, Windows Home Server 2 will hopefully be out and I can buy that instead. Depending on the features. I’m hoping the next version includes interfacing with Windows Media Server and syncing the TV to the server for storage. However, that won’t be needed, because all of my newer PCs will have at least 1.5TB and more, so basically, it will just be to keep everything in the same location.

The next Windows Server version, 2010 or 2011 should function a lot like Windows Home Server does now, without drive letters. If that is the case, then hopefully it allows for similar virtual RAID functionality as well. The next Windows Home Server appears that it will be based off of Windows Server 2008, so it might be interesting to look into that instead. The server will be decided after the server components have been completely put together.

The great news for the cost, is that I no longer have to look for a motherboard that supports 10 SATA slots, because hard drives capacity of over 1TB are so cheap. I can use less hard drives to get the same amount of space. In the future, 2TB hard drives will be possible, so I’ll be looking at them to get a total of 12TB instead of just 9TB. It is going to be crazy, but with HD and recording video and using higher Megapixel cameras, it shouldn’t be assumed that it won’t be needed in the future.

Components

These parts have not been purchased yet. Once they are purchased, they will be moved to a separate location and the price will be removed, as well as the link.

Windows Home Server
- Price: $137.94
- 10 Client License
Antec 900 Midtower
- Price: $108.60
- 11 Drive Bays
- Second Choice: ThermalTake VG7000BWS SopranoRS: $69.30
Antec 850W TruePower
- Price: $186.84
- Modular
- 8x SATA power plugs
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe
- Price: $204.05
- Supports 6 SATA slots (1x eSATA)
- 6 Usable for Hard Drives (1x for DVD drive)
AMD Phenom II X4 940
- Price: $233.00 (By the time I buy it, it will be cheaper)
- 6 MB L3 Cache
- 2 MB(512kBx4) L2 Cache
- 512kB L1 Cache
- 3 GHz
Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance 4GB PC2-6400
- Price: $107.60 (x2 $53.80)
- 8GB total
- 800Mhz DDR2
ATI Radeon X600 SE
- Price: $17.99 (+Shipping Est. $5.00)
- PCI-Express x16
HP DVD Burner with LightScribe
- Price: $23.99 (+$39.99 for external adapter)
- SATA connector
- 20x DVD Writer
- Will require Galaxy METAL GEAR 5202AUAS-Black for external drive support (eSATA)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB
- Price: $779.94 (x6 $129.99)
- SATA-II
- 7200 RPM
- 32MB Cache
- 8.5 sec Access Time
- 1.5 TB (9TB total)

Total: $1696.03 (Does not include OS software)

Partitions

What ever system, it appears that the next version of Windows Home Server and Windows Server will function mostly the same, without hard drive letters. There will also be more virtual OS uses, not that it will matter for the system. It is just something to think about. The partitions I believe will only require a hard drive to have one partition for the OS and the rest of the drives will be used for storage, which means that if I setup RAID, it will most likely be RAID 1, which will leave me 4.5TB total, which should be enough to store every file I need for the next 5 to 10 years. Depends, I plan on keeping every picture, video, and storing TV for a limited time (don’t need to keep it after I watch it, but I want to record many series).

Keeping the OS on its own partition is important for repairs. It is a lot easier to blow the OS partition away, then trying to recover the files on the system or moving them. Attempting to install an OS on an existing hard drive that is being used is not guaranteed to keep the files on the partition (I believe Windows requires a reformat before it will install on the partition).

The partitioning is somewhat in question, if I use Windows Home Server, then I just need a partition for the OS and let Windows manage the 9TB like it would RAID. If I use Windows Server 2008 Standard, then I’ll need to mirror the configuration and then I’ll only have 4.5TB.

/family/ – 500 GB
The purpose is to store all of the family personal files and will be private from everyone else. There will however be a shared public folder for storing photos, music, and miscellaneous files. In their folder, they will be allowed to create new folders, but I will create folders that I think would be commonly used to provide more structure and organization to the family member folders.
1. /family/{Family Member Name}/documents/
2. /family/{Family Member Name}/documents/downloads/
3. /family/{Family Member Name}/documents/pictures/
4. /family/{Family Member Name}/documents/music/
5. /family/{Family Member Name}/documents/videos/
6. /family/{Family Member Name}/apps/
7. /family/{Family Member Name}/other/
8. /family/share/documents/
9. /family/share/pictures/
10. /family/share/music/
11. /family/share/videos/
12. /family/share/downloads/
13. /family/share/apps/
14. /family/share/other/
/projects/ – 500 GB
I usually store all of my web sites and project files on my own computer, but I really want to keep it off of my computer and in a location that is fairly well protected from failure. I don’t want to lose work that I have dating back to year 2002. That would suck. It would also be nice to be able to access that folder from outside the network, so that I can always get that information and reuse bits of it and show it off.

The folder will be private except to my user, since I don’t need or want anyone else to access it. It might make sense to put it in my family folder, but I’ll rather not have to go too far down directory paths to get to my projects and the sources.
1. /projects/web/ – I’m a web site developer, therefore most of what I’ll be working on will be in this folder. I have a folder like this on my machine already, but it is far more cluttered and I plan on organizing it when I build this machine.
2. /projects/web/history/ – Will store the sites that I created years ago and still keep as proof as how far I’ve come.
3. /projects/web/templates/ – I’ve both bought and found web templates that might still of use for projects in the future.
4. /projects/web/external/ – Several projects are outside current scope of projects that I personally work on, but still store. They are mostly packages like phpBB, WordPress, etc.
5. /projects/web/external/svn/ – Several of the projects that I’ve worked on are Subversion repositories and I’ve found it is better to keep them separate.
6. /projects/web/external/packages/ – Where I’ll store third party packages like phpBB, WordPress, etc. To keep record of useful programs that I’ve come across and get recent versions of when I want to use them again.
7. /projects/web/projects/ – Personal web site projects that I’m working on and building. Will be using Subversion repositories (for good measure) and I hope to reference from another PC as the web site directory, so that I can see what others will see before I have the code go live. I will further organize each project in folders, but that information won’t be available until the future.
8. /projects/applications/ – I’ve developed console (mostly) applications for past projects and school assignments. I still have them, as well as other failed attempts to creating games and various learning projects. I usually sort the applications by language, but I think I’ll rather organize by purpose.
9. /projects/applications/games/ – Various game projects, organized in various language folders, excluding PHP.
10. /projects/applications/external/ – From my research, I’ve found many good libraries and sources to applications that are still useful as examples and learning.
11. /projects/applications/external/libraries – Libraries organized into various languages the library was written in.
12. /projects/applications/external/application – Source code to full or almost complete applications.
13. /projects/applications/compiler – Failed attempts to creating a functional compiler.
/videos/ – No Limit
The rest of the storage will be needed for archiving and backing up high definition videos from the PVR and personal videos. With advancements with high definition, videos will need more space. It should be planned for it now. I also plan to store the files from the PVR on this machine so that others can see them before they are removed. I would like to store entire seasons, so that I can watch them one after the other in sequence.

There will be a file structure, but it will be basic.