NAS no good for me, so it's NAS-PC time

Conan257

Conan257

Conan257

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I've been running a home server for a while, which acts as backup and streaming as well as the odd bit of downloading.

Tried to go NAS with it, but it seems most NAS devices require me to use Ext file systems which would require reformatting and I can't do that.

So, I'm looking to replace my Lian Li Q08 with a small box that holds plenty of drives!

Running an ITX board, but will to use a matx case as long as it's fairly small. I'd like some capacity so looking for (ideally) space for 1 x 3.5 as O/S drive as well as upto 4x 3.5 for storage (running 2 at the moment). Of these I'd love 2 of them to be hot-swap in 5.25 bays so I can pull a drive and take it when I go away (frequently). Drives will be mirrored (probably not raid, but through copying HDD contents).

Looking for black, cheap and silent! What's around?
 
I'm in a similar situation myself at the moment, out of interest what cpu/mb are you planning to run in there?
I presume with that case you will need a converter for the 5.25" bay to take 2 x 3.5" drives?
 
CFI A7879 case.

4 3.5" drive bays in removable trays, plus a bracket that allows you to mount another 2.5" drive internally too. Hot swappability depends more on your motherboard or SATA card, does it not?

I have one with an i3 processor and low-profile CPU cooler (can't remember the exact one) and it's damn near silent. It sits behind my TV as a combined HTPC/NAS, and unless the TV is on mute I can't even tell if it's switched on or not.
 
4x drives is an aspiration... However since I've only filled 1.5tb out of 3tb, It will be a while before I need 4. So my current 2 drive setup will fit find into the CM.

I'm running an Dual core intel atom board. I'll put a 5.25->3.5 converter in the bay which will allow me to remove the drive when required. Doesn't actually have to be hot-swap, it just needs to be easy-remove.
 
why not just stick with the case and motherboard you have and add a cheap raid card..... you don't need a high end fast raid if it's just for network as it will be limited to gigabit lan speeds. Admittedly it's not hot swap bays but some raid cards support it....

This is what I'm intending to do at some point for a media server, the lian li case you have, a mitx mb, ram, ssd for the os plus a rocketraid (seems to fit the bill) raid card + a load of drives for storage (you can fit 7 if you don't use an optical, maybe even 8 with a bit of imagination) ....
 
Then I put forward the q08 as an option :)

or maybe the fractal design node 304 (no optical, 6x 3.5inch) which is pretty much an updated Array R2 but it does give the option to update to a more powerful cpu with some decent cooling etc if you ever wanted to.
 
Best case for something like this is going to be a chenbro sr30169

Takes standard size ATX PSU, and a mini-ITX motherboard. Supports 4x 3.5" drives in the removable bays and has space for 2 additional spaces either side for 2.5" drives.

Cooling is pretty good, and its probably going to be the smallest 4 bay 'NAS' custom PC build case going. They do however retail around £130, but the build quality is great for a mini-home server.

chenbro_front.jpg
 
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