I am looking to replace my HP MediaSmart ex490 with something new. Currently the HP serves Blu-Ray rips to my Boxee Box. I was looking at getting a Synology DS1511+, but then I started thinking that I could put together something a little more powerful for less money. Here is what I'd like to be able to do with the storage:
I would ideally like to use no more than 6 HDs so that I can keep the box on the smallish size. Minimizing space and noise is a requirement.
I see my options as:
I started looking into what software to use for the storage and I kinda became overwhelmed with the different options available. (FreeNAS, unRAID, any of the OpenSolaris forks). I am looking for advice on what will give the best performance for the money for my needs.
- Stream Blu-Ray rips to (up to) two TVs at the same time.
- Host virtual hard disks for 6-8 VMs for a future ESXi home lab
I would ideally like to use no more than 6 HDs so that I can keep the box on the smallish size. Minimizing space and noise is a requirement.
I see my options as:
- Buy the Synology DS1511+
- Build a dedicated box for storage
- Virtualize the storage and combine one of my 2 future ESXi servers into a NAS so that I only have 2 physical boxes instead of 3 (I'd like to experiment with VMotion)
I started looking into what software to use for the storage and I kinda became overwhelmed with the different options available. (FreeNAS, unRAID, any of the OpenSolaris forks). I am looking for advice on what will give the best performance for the money for my needs.