Quick storage question on my HTPC

Are you looking to pool the drives, or just have parity for the first level of protection?

For just parity then SnapRAID is good. If you also want to pool then FlexRAID does both in one package. Otherwise you will have to use separate pooling software in conjunction with SnapRAID.

The UI that FlexRAID provides along with SMART monitoring, scheduling, notification alone are worth the entry price (if you value your time in managing your array).
The Snapshot RAID aspect of FlexRAID is best in class and superior to SnapRAID in many ways.
SnapRAID (a copycat) has some serious flaws, which I will not discuss (so that those flaws don't get patched ).

You just won't believe how many sales I get from ex-SnapRAID users after they have tried to do anything serious with it.
I never commented on SnapRAID before and this will be my first and last time doing so.
The reality is that those with the means to buy FlexRAID and not just after freeware, will just go with FlexRAID in the end.
There are those that just want something for free and you will never win those. So, why bother?

There is about 5 flexraid threads running on these forums each day these days so there is tons of info on it OP.

I've alone made a few recently. Check them out.

<---- Happy flexraid user.

With flexraid you get parity back up and the ability to rebuild a failed drive coupled with drive pooling. All your HDD's can show as one massive HDD if you want. You can keep adding drives to increase your pool size. Very excellent for growing media libraries.

Best part about flexraid is you can take any drive out- and read it from another system. All your data is there. Many other solutions this is not the case.

I'd run 4 drives.

3 data and 1 parity to start