Home/Office File server spec

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Hi Guys,

I'm ready to place an order for a 'future-proof' file server for my office and home media collection, just wanted to check that everything is compatable, and I havn't made any silly choices...

The box is going to act as a backup server for the office, and will take the 4 sata drives as well as x4 ide drives i already have for media storage. The office pc's then link via the gigabit ethernet. I'll install windows via a 'borrowed' cdrom.

the spec i'm thinking of:

4x Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
case -Akasa Mirage 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU (CA-017-AK)
PSU Zalman ZM460-APS 460W ATX2.03 PSU (CA-003-ZA)
x2 Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin (FG-002-ZA)
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
GeIL 512MB (2x256MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 £34.99
Netgear GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch (NW-100-NG)
Linksys KVM2KIT ProConnect 2-Port PS/2 KVM Switch (NW-035-LS)

let me know if I've missed anything!

thanks

.sub
 
Chill, give it a day :)

Also, do you have those drives already? Why not get 2*400Gb? Less noise, cheaper, less power consuption and only 200Gb less ;)

And can anybody confirm that that motherboard is not SATA-II? For "future proofing" (doesn't exist round here) maybe go for a SATA-II board.
 
200gb less, nahh size IS important dude!
good point though I'll have a look into 2x 500gb drives.

Open to suggestions on the Mobo choice, it needs to be able to fit x4 sata drives and x4 ide, and have gig-ethernet, other than that onboard gfx would be nice, but not essential.
 
If you want future proof then AMD's AM2 is what you need. Socket 939 is EOL so you would be signing your servers death warrant.

Alternatively you could go get an Intel Core 2 Duo but that may push the price up. AM2 or C2D is what you need to go for either way.

SiriusB
 
SiriusB said:
If you want future proof then AMD's AM2 is what you need. Socket 939 is EOL so you would be signing your servers death warrant.

Alternatively you could go get an Intel Core 2 Duo but that may push the price up. AM2 or C2D is what you need to go for either way.

SiriusB
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Future proof server, not gaming rig, copying files doesnt need a dual core, he just wants a reasonably fast server for a good price, doesnt have to be am2 for that does it?
Am2 would cost more, used 3000+ venices can be had for 30 quid used... (939), also mainboards for 939 are cheaper...
Tbh for fileserver u dont need anything more than around 700 mhz of power.


I'd go for 4x250 gigs tho, cheaper&faster&more reliable
 
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True, but the cheapest AM2 +3000 isn't that expensive. DDR2 RAM isn't expensive, and he can just get one of ASUS' AM2 boards that have onboard GFX for cheaper than the board he originally specified.

Is 250Gb * 4 faster than 500Gb * 2 when not RAIDed? If you just back up now and again in a small office environment why is it faster?

/need input :)
 
NutritioN said:
Is 250Gb * 4 faster than 500Gb * 2 when not RAIDed? If you just back up now and again in a small office environment why is it faster?
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A file server with a non raided hard disk seems a little silly to me! Surely the whole point in building a central server other than having data avalable to multiple PC's is to make it secure and reliable. Not raiding a file server is silly.

Also if your using this for work purposes (you refer to the Office) please buy a legit copy of a Microsoft OS or use Linux. the licensing costs are nothing to even a small organisation and your just forcing up the price for the rest of us.
 
NutritioN said:
True, but the cheapest AM2 +3000 isn't that expensive. DDR2 RAM isn't expensive, and he can just get one of ASUS' AM2 boards that have onboard GFX for cheaper than the board he originally specified.

Is 250Gb * 4 faster than 500Gb * 2 when not RAIDed? If you just back up now and again in a small office environment why is it faster?

/need input :)
Click to expand...



It isnt that expensive: true, but it IS more expensive. why would u buy somit u wont need later (especially ddr2 is a bit unneeded, if there only was a am2 board with ddr, 1st gen).
Also 4x250 is faster both when raided and when not raided ( when not raided u can do 4 things at once without slowdown, lets say copy form all 4 hdd's at once, with 2 just 2 (unless you wnat it to take 8 times as long, hdd's suck at copying two things at once ), and when in raid ull get a higher avrg read with 4 hdds than with 2.

Personally i can find tons of things to spend the little ammount of saved money on when going 939 over am2...

Dont get me wrong im not saying 939 is better than am2, just trying to save you some money, as gettign something u wont need is pointless (in this case am2).
 
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Hi guys,

Thanks for the input, can you suggest a mobo and cpu combo as an alternate of what I already spec'd? ideally an option that I can get through ocuk.

I'm avoiding raid, so i can mirror to offline caddies easily. i.e. Main office PC stores the main files, and has a similar sturcture to the server, every night it mirrors that data to the server, once the server is 'full' I connect another drive, make an external copy for storage, and add another drive to the server. Thereby having old files avaliable both on and offline. Also means I can migrate individual drives to a new system in case anything goes wrong. I'm not that confident about a linux install, much rather use xp pro, and be able to fix any issues myself.

the x2 500gb offer is very tempting, need to order this soon...
 
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