Home built NAS with new Fractal case

ringo747

ringo747

ringo747

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Not sure if this is the correct forum but here goes anyways.

I really fancy the look of Fractals new MITX case.
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=39

I would be keen to use this for building my own NAS box.

Could someone give me an idea of what components would be good for this? It will really just be a fileserver and will stream some media off it. Will have to allow for up to 6 SATA drives.

Any suggestions where to start?

Thanks
 
Are you interested in low power or are running costs a non issue?
Is it JUST for file server or do you wish it to do more i.e. become a fileserver + HTPC + etc. ?

If low power fileserver then look into Intel Atom dual core set-ups. Then add a sata card to increase the number of drives available.

If power is not an issue then look at low power intel 5XXX or possibly the I3 systems.

More info required for a detailed response really.
 
why did I have to see this thread, that case is almost exactly what I've been looking for but couldn't find anything similar above 4 drives.

I was originally going to do an ion board with a pci express sata raid card but I've also read about intel doing some new server orientated boards using the new atom cpu's. Think they're due out latter half of the year iirc.

In the meantime after a quick google I found this supermicro board with 6 sata sockets and a 4x pci express socket too. Bit lacking on the usb ports and also only vga output but if it's going to be run headless it's worth a look :)
 
I've been looking for something similar and that's the best case I've found for a nice compact home-built NAS box.

Fractal said:
You can fit a Mini ITX motherboard into the case and there's also room for one expansion card, for example a RAID card which you'd typically want to get the most out of your six hard drives. All necessary components and software naturally needs to be purchased separately, but we can recommend to use specialised NAS/Home Server software such as FreeNAS or Windows Home Server. Please note that there is no room for a 5,25-inch drive, we deliberately left this out since you don't generally use that in a NAS/Home Server environment, and it saved us a lot of space which we could use for fitting hard drives instead.
Click to expand...

I think an ATOM cpu/mobo and low-power WD Green drives are probably the way to go.
 
Yep it definitely is a great looking case. All it will be doing is acting as a fileserver and streaming some media to other machines connected to the LAN. I was going to run a NAS box instead but there are some small streaming apps I want to run for broadcasting audio streams.
 
You should be fine using a dual core atom as file server + media streamer. Most have gigabit network and then just include an pci/pci-e card to increase the number of sata connections.

You would need some serious throughput to saturate it from these activities.

How many devices do you plan to stream to simultaneously? Lots of HD content moving around may be an issue on anything but Cat5e. Just a thought.

I currently run a intel flycreek Atom 330 set-up. Works great and good connectivity. Well supported by Unbuntu for everything.

Make sure whatever you buy will be supported by the distro you wish to run.
 
I want a price also as that looks a real nice case to make a little gaming rig (atom+ion)....i would suggest a Atom also such as the 330 without ION which can be got for around £60.....then simply run FreeNas or similar program.
 
Aw son of a bitch... lol...

I just built my home server around an antec mini P180 due to lack of a decent mITX case. If i had known this was coming i would have waited and gotten this + zotac mITX board with core i3 and it would have been a third of the size, ah well live n learn.
 
MaxP779 said:
Aw son of a bitch... lol...

I just built my home server around an antec mini P180 due to lack of a decent mITX case. If i had known this was coming i would have waited and gotten this + zotac mITX board with core i3 and it would have been a third of the size, ah well live n learn.
Click to expand...

Very nearly in the same boat. Had the Mini P180 in the basket for a long time as no ITX cases have room for a decent amount of hard disks. This on the other hand looks a treat.

Is it just me or are Fractal right on the money with cases that the public demand but aren't available. R2 offers all the commonly desired features, is quiet, under £100 and looks clean and easy on the eye. It does nothing to special but somehow doesn't seem to have much direct competition in the price bracket.
 
Badger_grr said:
Really nice case.
Would be great to mod in a small slot loading blu ray drive. Should have the room especially if the 140mm fan was changed to 120mm.

Anyone know when these will be available?
Click to expand...

The Lian Li PC-Q08 is very similar in size and number of drive bays, but also has a 5.25" DVD/Blu Ray slot. Not sure of when that is to be released though. I'd guess a similar time to this.

I've emailed Fractal Sales, but not had anything back on an ETA for availability in the UK.
 
Absolutely does and given I am about to upgrade my system (out of space!) this looks great...

However, the potential for 6 drives is great but finding a good mobo to power it with on board RAID is proving an issue. The Supermicro looks okay but is the ATOM limiting? If so, are there any other mini-itx out there with 6 SATA and on board RAID?
 
Kalsius said:
Absolutely does and given I am about to upgrade my system (out of space!) this looks great...

However, the potential for 6 drives is great but finding a good mobo to power it with on board RAID is proving an issue. The Supermicro looks okay but is the ATOM limiting? If so, are there any other mini-itx out there with 6 SATA and on board RAID?
Click to expand...

Isnt on board RAID rubbish though? I read these onboard solutions arent even really hardware stuff and you are better off using WHS or server 2008's software solutions.

I doubt the atom would be limiting unless you want your NAS to do other stuff, like transcode HD movies to the xbox etc.
 
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