Once again I'm almost completely out of storage space on my PC, and with 3 internal HDDs and 2 external USB HDDs already (comprising just about 1TiB total), I've decided that it's finally time to bring my fileserver plan into action.
I'm looking to build a home fileserver, for storing the vast majority of my stuff (mainly music), which I can connect to my wired network (i.e. my router!) and put away in a cupboard, and then access via my current computer.
It will be used for storing, backing up and sharing my music collection, and pretty much nothing else. At first I would be looking to have about 1TiB of storage available (including backups), but I know that my collection will just keep growing, so I'm wanting a solution which will be able to grow with it, in a more efficient manner than simply adding more and more USB hard drives, as I currently do.
My budget is a maximum of £500 (plucked pretty much out of the air), though that doesn't necessarily have to include much of the actual storage space, as I would move some of the drives over from my current pc. If I can do it cheaper, without sacrificing too much then that would be grand.
So I'm looking for:
- Big case
I'm looking at the Coolermaster Stacker and the Lian-Li V2000, with a preference for the latter because of its greater number of 3.5'' bays. Any thoughts on these, or other suggestions?
- Good power supply
I have no idea on this. Help, advice?
- Reliable basic motherboard
The only feature that I'm really thinking I'm looking for is as many SATA ports as possible, so as to allow me to maximise the number of drives I can have without needing any PCI cards.
Otherwise I'm a bit lost and could do with help here as well.
- Basic processor
Currently thinking of the cheapest available AMD Semipron.
- Memory
How much would be sensible for such a machine? (512?)
- Graphics Card
Cheapest possible, there merely to make the thing work.
I have spare keyboard, mouse and monitor available.
Any thoughts and guidance would be greatly appreciated, especially on the choice of motherboard (+processor), case and power supply, or on the project in general.
I had a search and did see the recent 'Minimum spec of a fileserver' thread, but I hope I'm ok to start this new one, as the question wasn't wholly the same.
Cheers for any help.
I'm looking to build a home fileserver, for storing the vast majority of my stuff (mainly music), which I can connect to my wired network (i.e. my router!) and put away in a cupboard, and then access via my current computer.
It will be used for storing, backing up and sharing my music collection, and pretty much nothing else. At first I would be looking to have about 1TiB of storage available (including backups), but I know that my collection will just keep growing, so I'm wanting a solution which will be able to grow with it, in a more efficient manner than simply adding more and more USB hard drives, as I currently do.
My budget is a maximum of £500 (plucked pretty much out of the air), though that doesn't necessarily have to include much of the actual storage space, as I would move some of the drives over from my current pc. If I can do it cheaper, without sacrificing too much then that would be grand.
So I'm looking for:
- Big case
I'm looking at the Coolermaster Stacker and the Lian-Li V2000, with a preference for the latter because of its greater number of 3.5'' bays. Any thoughts on these, or other suggestions?
- Good power supply
I have no idea on this. Help, advice?
- Reliable basic motherboard
The only feature that I'm really thinking I'm looking for is as many SATA ports as possible, so as to allow me to maximise the number of drives I can have without needing any PCI cards.
Otherwise I'm a bit lost and could do with help here as well.
- Basic processor
Currently thinking of the cheapest available AMD Semipron.
- Memory
How much would be sensible for such a machine? (512?)
- Graphics Card
Cheapest possible, there merely to make the thing work.
I have spare keyboard, mouse and monitor available.
Any thoughts and guidance would be greatly appreciated, especially on the choice of motherboard (+processor), case and power supply, or on the project in general.
I had a search and did see the recent 'Minimum spec of a fileserver' thread, but I hope I'm ok to start this new one, as the question wasn't wholly the same.
Cheers for any help.