I Built... a really fast NAS?

NOTE: Youtube is currently BADLY delayed on 4K processing. If you particularly want to watch this at full res, patrons have access to a raw, high-bitrate 4K download (16GB)

This video is long because explaining why I did this, and the specific choices I made, requires explaining all the problems I encountered in two years of video creation. These are problems you might also encounter if your aspirations go the same way mine did.

Non-affiliate links:

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:06 My early cameras
00:11:15 My current camera
00:14:54 The storage problem
00:28:00 Current workflow & problems
00:34:00 Introducing the server
00:40:35 Disks & layout
00:43:27 Microserver aside
00:45:13 The plan (Part 1)
00:47:44 Why these choices?
00:51:14 The plan (Part 2)
01:01:30 Connectivity
01:13:47 HD speed issues
01:15:44 RAID controller issues
01:27:29 HD speed issues solved
01:29:55 It works / trip report
01:32:30 Outro

[kennethearlwebb]

Watching for a second time 1 year later and still enjoy the "oh my God, the battery's removable " part. So glad you kept that in.

[arnechino]

Linus Tech Tips can make a vid 20 minutes long about a bigger, way more expensive unit and I'll probably watch half. Your video is more than an hour and I'll watch it all like a fine movie. You're a special kind of YouTuber, keep the good work!

[nyNoob]

i can't believe that I've watched 1 1/2 hours of a guy talking about a video server in so many unnecessary details, going about half an hour of history before getting to the original point


i love it, if i had the will of making videos, it would be like this, 100℅, i never, and i really mean it NEVER felt like i was watching a video of someone that was like me, all of the thought process, the battery discovery, the complains about servers in general, pointing out the path that you needed to follow in order to get to the bottom of it

i truly love it, this is only the 2nd video of yours that I'm watching, and i already love it, i wish i had some more money to afford a patreon membership, i just LOVED every second of the video

[Marcello]

Hi, is it normal that I don't understand 95% of the tech that you talk about but still love watching your videos ? I am a dumb airline pilot in Lima, Peru. Love your work, keep it up !!!

[Ranger_Kevin]

I am three minutes in and already hooked. Let's see where this rabbithole goes.
EDIT: 1 1/2 hours later, and now I have the strong urge to upgrade our home NAS. great Video, as always!

[LordGrayHam]

I was so nervous that you wouldn't include a "two of them" in this video. finally, over 80 minutes in, I am satisfied. I loved this video, I thought it'd just be good for background noise, but you actually covered some things I didn't know existed, and I got totally sucked in

[ejbevenour]

As a professional in IT I love that you chose SFP modules and not 10G-base-T

[robertoXCX]

Dude, I could seriously listen to you just talk all day. Not just because I'm a tech nerd myself, but your presentation and enthusiasm for the subject matter is so genuine. I also love how you cover all the bases and thought processes someone would would realistically go through to reach the final... Uh, result of whatever we're doing in the video.

[ericbsmith]

28:23 For the dock I'd suggest you 3D Print a removeable spacer for the drives to support the connector. Or get somebody to print one for you. It would be an easy design & print for anyone who does their own designs.

[Demache]

When you started talking about flashing the PERC RAID controller to IT mode, I was like, "god I hope he shows the bootloader for the flashing utility" and at 1:17:00 I started busting out in a fit of laughter and clapping. Its so unbelievably cursed and I'm glad you shared it with the rest of the world.

[TommyCrosby]

I loved how you reacted when you discovered the battery door. Such genuine laughs.
I'm glad that you didn't hide your mistakes and show your true self after discovering that you did something wrong for years for basically not even doing the basic RTFM. The contrast of a noobish mistake and the general well researched information dense documentary type you usually do was just perfect.
This makes you even more genuine and lovable as a YouTuber.

[GYTCommnts]

This was phenomenal. Every minute. I loved the back and forth with the "editing bay", the humor, the data, the geeky stuff... Thank you!

[kentonevans]

I like this guy. His intelligence and self-awareness seem rare in Americans, and make for excellent presentations.

[WolfgangsChannel]

Such an amazing video! Inspired me to change my approach to scratch disks, 'negatives' and backups. I especially liked all the preemptive "yes, you might be able to do it better, but this is how I do it and this is how I like it" comments. Definitely shows years of reading YT comments that contain simplistic and sometimes condescending suggestions to complicated problems 😁

I have a fairly similar setup at the moment (Atomos Ninja V recording to a 1TB SATA SSD), but I use the "negatives" for editing (love that term). Sometimes I would actually move the files to my NAS (with two NVMe SSDs in a RAID0 configuration) and edit off of that, but both of these workflows are very fragile and prone to data loss. I'm thinking about adopting a similar setup that you have, and since I already have a NAS, this should be relatively easy.

Once again, I really appreciate and respect the effort that you put into making this huge (and very insightful) video.

[comment_section]

I subscribe to several channels where the creator really cares about video quality. At least enough to mention how much they care about it. I watch everything in 480p and lower. Now, if a creator has a terrible mic, it's painful to have an interesting video distracted by awful audio.

[prntab]

Just wanted to complement your going the SFP route in the network interconnect for 10GbE, it has lower latency than 10 gig twisted pair so nice little bonus there. Also direct attach cables really do feel like a cheat and we use them extensively inside and in-between racks; there's a whole world of those cables now, including thinner versions to improve airflow, colored and plenum-rated jackets... congratulations on your workflow upgrades, cheers!

[daniel-pablo]

I am extremely sad now that I've realize that we've gotten to the point where it needs to be specified when a link is NOT an affiliate link but I greatly appreciate the integrity in providing them. There is inherent bias in providing affiliate links and I never feel comfortable buying from anyone who gets paid when I make a purchase

[Zatore_]

Thanks for not leaving out your past mistakes! Personally, I love my server rack even though there isn't a server in it :P I use it for my 19'' audio gear and some battery backups for my PC. I also put a shelf on it to store random PC accessories.

[ThomasGabrielsen]

I can't see anyone noticed it in the comments, but the imperial vs metric joke at 16:15 is well delivered.

[CarletonTorpin]

One hour into this and I'm fully conversant in quality jargon regarding the world of NAS. I appreciate the articulated trailblazing of CRD.