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elliots11

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2011
51
12
I have a 2012 Mac Mini that I'm using basically as a NAS, it has a Drobo connected to it and I keep large files on it (until I get an LTO, but that's later), I work in the creative field, lots of video. It has a monitor so sometimes I use it as a computer for browsing or whatever else, so it's not completely just a NAS, and although the Mini could use a new internal hard drive (it's slow) it's nice to have as a flexible general purpose machine as needed.

The Drobo S has 4x 5TB Hard Drives and 1x 2TB hard drive, which gives me about 15.41 TB of storage space. I could add more but then it'll make another volume, I don't feel like messing with that.

My problem is that I don't really like the Drobo.
Why (this is jut me describing Drobos shortcomings, feel free to skip): Every time I update the OS (and sometimes for no apparent reason) I have to update the Drobo software or the Drobo volume disappears, and then I have this concern about terabytes of data until I get it back online. This also often means disconnecting and power cycling the Drobo and the Mac Mini until the Drobo software decides it wants to see the Drobo device. This never happens at a convenient time and it just breaks up my flow. I'm sure newer Drobos are better, but they've had their shot as far as I'm concerned. Also I know if I had a more traditional RAID 0 I'd be fine if the CPU died, but with the Drobo if the drobo unit goes down then I have to buy another Drobo to get at my data, I don't want to do that.

Possible solutions -
Build a new computer - I can build computers. I have a case that's not doing anything, a power supply, I can just buy a mobo. But all the solutions like FreeNAS are their own OS, really what I want is just a dumb, simple RAID that I can attach to the Mac Mini which is my portal to what's on the RAID, plus I can put Plex or whatever on the mini if I want to. I want it to be expandable with multiple mixed sized drives like the Drobo, but be more confidence inspiring than the Drobo is. I've heard UnRAID is kind of like this but I'm not sure about the implementation. Maybe I should just get a RAID-5 but I don't think I can expand a RAID 5.

Build a DAS - is there any product out there that's like a motherboard that you could use to build a RAID 5 out of a computer case and some hard drives and then connect it over USB to another computer that acts as the server? I don't think there is but thought I'd ask. I also don't envision this as being real reliable.

Buy something else - I've also heard good things about Synology, but that was years ago when I started and I got the Drobo instead. This also doesn't seem like it'd be cheap.


What are some of you doing? That'd be real enlightening. Are you using a Synology and it's cool? Did you use an UnRAID implementation? Maybe there's something I haven't thought of.
 
If you're happy with keeping the Mac mini but don't like the Drobo, maybe just get a different enclosure? I'm using a OWC Thunderbay (with Softraid software) hooked up to a Mac mini as a Plex server and backup, and it's pretty seamless.
 
My two cents on NAS:

I ran FreeNAS on an old PC tower for a while, and it worked well and was accessible from tablets, PC or Mac on the home network. The FreeNas box was a bit noisy and power-consuming, and the disks (HGST DeskStar NAS) seem to be spinning all the time without spinning down. Perhaps there're ways to configure it, but I didn't find it.

I switched to a QNAP TVS-873 and have been very happy. The disks seem to spin down when not accessed in a while, and I configured the QNAP box to power off and on according to my activity patterns. I also like the flexibility of running servers and VMs on it. Synology, not so much, since it uses considerably less powerful hardware (hence cheaper) than QNAP in general.
 
In years past I too messed around with setting up an old computer as a fileserver. Then went with FreeNAS for a while. They were fine if you liked fiddling with stuff but I got to where I simply had other ways I preferred to spend my time.

I switched to a dedicated NAS device and never looked back. First a Netgear ReadyNAS, then after 5 years I switched to Synology when I wanted to do something the old ReadyNAS couldn't do.

Over the past couple of years I've been extremely happy with my Synology two-bay device. QNAP is also good. I'd suggest doing your research and determining which is the best fit to your specific needs. Check out the software interfaces, capabilities, whether you will be running any apps on it and if so what apps, ports, etc.

FYI - check if your UPS can talk to the NAS to let it know the power's been cut.
 
I too am using a 2011 Mac Mini as both a media server and whole house TimeMachine backup NAS for all computers. It has a 500GB SSD for boot an music and a 1.5TB hard disk for movies. It is also connected to a Pegasus4 with RAID5 1TB disks for archive data sharing. For backups, I have 2 ThunderBay 4-drive enclosures running SoftRAID-5 attached via thunderbolt. It has been running 24/7 for a couple of years with no issues.
 
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I have a 2012 Mac Mini that I'm using basically as a NAS, it has a Drobo connected to it and I keep large files on it (until I get an LTO, but that's later), I work in the creative field, lots of video. It has a monitor so sometimes I use it as a computer for browsing or whatever else, so it's not completely just a NAS, and although the Mini could use a new internal hard drive (it's slow) it's nice to have as a flexible general purpose machine as needed.

The Drobo S has 4x 5TB Hard Drives and 1x 2TB hard drive, which gives me about 15.41 TB of storage space. I could add more but then it'll make another volume, I don't feel like messing with that.

My problem is that I don't really like the Drobo.
Why (this is jut me describing Drobos shortcomings, feel free to skip): Every time I update the OS (and sometimes for no apparent reason) I have to update the Drobo software or the Drobo volume disappears, and then I have this concern about terabytes of data until I get it back online. This also often means disconnecting and power cycling the Drobo and the Mac Mini until the Drobo software decides it wants to see the Drobo device. This never happens at a convenient time and it just breaks up my flow. I'm sure newer Drobos are better, but they've had their shot as far as I'm concerned. Also I know if I had a more traditional RAID 0 I'd be fine if the CPU died, but with the Drobo if the drobo unit goes down then I have to buy another Drobo to get at my data, I don't want to do that.

Possible solutions -
Build a new computer - I can build computers. I have a case that's not doing anything, a power supply, I can just buy a mobo. But all the solutions like FreeNAS are their own OS, really what I want is just a dumb, simple RAID that I can attach to the Mac Mini which is my portal to what's on the RAID, plus I can put Plex or whatever on the mini if I want to. I want it to be expandable with multiple mixed sized drives like the Drobo, but be more confidence inspiring than the Drobo is. I've heard UnRAID is kind of like this but I'm not sure about the implementation. Maybe I should just get a RAID-5 but I don't think I can expand a RAID 5.

Build a DAS - is there any product out there that's like a motherboard that you could use to build a RAID 5 out of a computer case and some hard drives and then connect it over USB to another computer that acts as the server? I don't think there is but thought I'd ask. I also don't envision this as being real reliable.

Buy something else - I've also heard good things about Synology, but that was years ago when I started and I got the Drobo instead. This also doesn't seem like it'd be cheap.


What are some of you doing? That'd be real enlightening. Are you using a Synology and it's cool? Did you use an UnRAID implementation? Maybe there's something I haven't thought of.

I have a drobo and love it. None of the issues you describe. I have had one die out of warranty and contacted drobo and they offered me a newer model with extended warranty at 50% off. Got it, plugged the drives in and was back in business.
My wife uses it for her photography work and I host a plex server with 1000 movies and numerous shows providing several streams inside and outside the home.

My number 1 requirement with whatever I use is it must be able to provide redundancy and use mismatched drives. I don't want to have to replace every drive when I need to add more storage.

I have built other servers over the years including a 22 bay rackmount but I prefer using the drobo. Just much simpler.
My drobo is the 5Dt and the previous one was a 5D.
 
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