Build a NAS replacement

Parsec

Parsec

Parsec

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16 Aug 2005
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73
I really don't like my D-Link DNS-323 and was thinking of replacing it with a proper computer.

The new Intel Atom boards look like great value for building a little server, but I'm struggling to find a nifty little case that will hold a mini-ITX board and ideally three or four drives (one boot, 2/3 storage).

Anyone got any case recommendations?
 
Either a Tranquil T7 and the external HDD enclosure that will take 2 more 3.2" drives, or the SQA Home Server solution they have that uses an Atom board with 5 front loading HDD bays in a nifty little case.



Im seriously considering a T7 to provide my home server needs, and then upping the storage with external drives as and when needed.
 
I am using a -> Morex Venus 669 <- case as a NAS with an atom mini itx inside. It does the job with 3 hardrives, is quite and only 60 quid (including PSU). Remember the mini itx atom boards dont have gigabit ethernet, which you might need? But I put in a gigabit PCI card for 10 quid and it works a treat.
 
Skeeter, that looks very nice indeed but the price is high!

I've looked around a bit more and found a smart Chenbro ITX case, with four hot swap drive bays. It's £150 though.

entireweb, your set up sounds a lot like I'm thinking of building. That case looks good, and the price is great. Is it quiet? What OS are you using and what services are you running :)

I was going to use Ubuntu, and run file sharing, DNS, Firefly (DAAP music server). I was thinking of running squid proxy too but have no idea whether it would speed up browsing.
 
I had a Morex Venus. Nice little cases. If you take out the optical drive, you should be able to squeeze in one of those disk caddies that allows you to stick two (maybe three) 3.5" drives in the two 5.25" slots. I think I had three drives in mine, after removing the DVD following installation.
 
Did a bit more looking around and I'm starting to like the look of the SilverStone SUGO SG01B

It's not mini-ITX, but that might be an advantage in the long term. Plus I might have an old microATX board kicking around that would get the machine up and running, without having to buy everything up front :)
 
Parsec said:
entireweb, your set up sounds a lot like I'm thinking of building. That case looks good, and the price is great. Is it quiet? What OS are you using and what services are you running :)
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Its very quiet. I removed the two rear 40mm fans and replaced the atom mobo's fan with an 80mm. It in my living room and I cant hear it, even if I put my ear next to it. The case is not the nicest looking I have seen but it gets the job done. The case internals are very good quality IMO, but the aluminium case cover is very thin.

I am running xp pro at the moment. Its just a little play box for networking. I run bit torrent (azureus), wireshark, peerguardian etc. Also its a file share to my HTPC, running normal windows SMB. But I am thinking of going over to linux now. Basically I want to run the box as a dns server for my network with a software virtual ethernet bridge between the adaptors, so I can filter and monitor and log etc etc. My mate was taking about using debian or maybe a distro based on snort, ethereal etc.
 
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I've recently built a server based on the atom 330 motherboard running Windows home server. My case is a little larger than I wanted but it was cheap and has lots of expansion scope. (EDIT: the case is the Cheiftec BS-02 in black, it's also pretty dull but it's a server and will be hidden away in a corner so I don't care)

The atom is plenty powerful enough for basic home server requirements. As you want 3+ HDDs just make sure that you have enough space in the case for a PCI card for more SATA ports as the motherboard only has 2.
 
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jas07 said:
Does it have to be a PC, wouldnt concider another NAS?
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I was thinking it has to be a PC this time. What NAS were you thinking of? I like the drobo, that's a nice piece of kit but expensive and still less flexible than a PC.

I like the idea of a PC server because you can even change the OS if it makes sense to. Also it's is upgradeable from a hardware point of view.


After some more digging around, it's looking like the new Athlon 64 2000+ could be the way to go, the CPU uses more power than the Atom but the 780 chipset uses a lot less than the current Intel atom chipsets, so overall it's much lower power usage, and faster too. I'm thinking of a setup like this in a Lian Li V350 case :)
 
Parsec said:
I was thinking it has to be a PC this time. What NAS were you thinking of? I like the drobo, that's a nice piece of kit but expensive and still less flexible than a PC.

I like the idea of a PC server because you can even change the OS if it makes sense to. Also it's is upgradeable from a hardware point of view.


After some more digging around, it's looking like the new Athlon 64 2000+ could be the way to go, the CPU uses more power than the Atom but the 780 chipset uses a lot less than the current Intel atom chipsets, so overall it's much lower power usage, and faster too. I'm thinking of a setup like this in a Lian Li V350 case :)
Click to expand...

Why bother with the Athlon for the server. I guess its a home server? In which case the atom will do fine. I have it streaming 1080p across my network to my HTPC without a hiccup for instance. Also file copy, too and from the atom, across gigabit, is about as fast as hardrive to hardrive copy. So IMO the atom is fast enough.
 
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