Building a low power NAS server.

[Prophet]

I've been thinking about building a NAS server to take some of the load off my main PC. I want something cheap to run and low noise etc.

Can someone spec me a cheap setup to do the job. I'm a bit out of date on my component knowledge

Another idea was to use a laptop with some external usb drives attached. The laptop would use less power than a standard PC even with a couple of external drives?

 

[lixxus]

via epia eden

u could use embedded pc

such as soekris or wrap

via also make lowpowered motherboard/cpu
they run on about 3.5v - 15v

i think the cpu is called eden.

 

[squiffy]

I wouldn't use USB drives, too flaky and CPU intensive. I would use a old P2/P3 system, IDE drives or SATA PCI controller and SATA drives.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

I would use a old P2/P3 system...

Nah, Via's mATX boards and processors are the best on power.

 

[MikeHunt79]

Yep, the Via boards use so little power it's untrue. My whole Epia 6000 NAS box pulls less than 50w.

 

[A[L]C]

Got an old IBM P4 2ghz 512mb - would this be overkill?

 

[Hades]

Via Epia is the way to go for low power and silence. Or even better an embedded PC as mentioned.

 

[michael baxter]

Why not go for an off-the-shelf NAS box?

I had been thinking of doing the same, but went for a NAS box in the end:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-014-BT&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=707

Cheap, low-power, low-noise and small!

Just a thought!

 

[MikeHunt79]

Using a computer as a NAS box does have it's advantages... You can set it up as a http client, or leave it doing bittorrent 24/7

If all you need is NAS tho, a proper NAS will probably use the least power.

 

[bandit]

Using a computer as a NAS box does have it's advantages... You can set it up as a http client, or leave it doing bittorrent 24/7

If all you need is NAS tho, a proper NAS will probably use the least power.

the synology does all that...