Home server

DaxInside

DaxInside

DaxInside

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27 Jun 2011
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Im thinking for building a home server in the new year so Ive started to so a little research.

At the moment I have a Drobo FS NAS. Its fine at what it does but its not very fast and im out of space.

I was inspired by this thread: http://www.avforums.com/forums/networking-nas/1347547-smurfs-monster-40tb-unraid-nas-build.html

Its a little more than I need, Id like 15 bay's.

In that thread the guy says that unraid isn't very fast either. Is WHS 2011 faster?

I think a good place to start is deciding on a case that can hold 3 of those HDD cages in. What am I looking for when I check the specs of a case? None of them seem to be made to hold that many so im a bit lost there.

Which parts determine the read/write speed of a server? Mine will be mostly used to stream full Bluray rips across a home network, hopefully a couple at a time.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.;)
 
So the main thing im looking for is 5.25" drives. Will all cases with those sized drives be able to have them removed and cages put in, or is that a special feature?

Thanks for checking those cases out, ill have a look.

I know most people use fairly slow low poweer cpu's in their servers. Would the transfer speeds be affected by a faster or slower cpu?
 
I dont have a set budget yet. The price of hdd's is more of what concerns me atm.

I dont like crazy looking cases, my gaming rig is a fractal r3 which is my kind of taste. I see they do a larger one which has the same sound proofing in it so that may be a contender.

My network is gigabit. Ill do some reading on controllers and im sure ill have some questions after...
 
These 2 cases look like they would fit the bill nicely

That would allow me to have 3 5 in 3 cages but no space for an optical drive. Im not sure I need one or not. I rip a lot of Blurays but I do that on my gaming PC at the moment.
 
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sypher365 said:
Do you need the other bits or just a case esle I would take a look at the HP Microserver - check this thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18216324

As they have updated the microserver cashback offer to the HP ProLiant Turion II N40L MicroServer which is a slightly quicker processor and 2gb of ram over the original - more info here

Can fit 5 drives into it and many people have it running as filestore/media centre/etc not bad for the money after cashback
Click to expand...


They are a bargain but I need far more space. Ive already filled my Drobo FS which has 5 x 2Tb drives in it.
 
How do the hdd cages connect to the mobo? One cable for each drive or one larger cable for the entire cage?

I was hoping to use a small form mobo so theres more space for the cages but i might need more pci slots for controllers if each drive has its own cable.
 
sypher365 said:
If you have a PC with a motherboard or PCI/PCI-E expansion card that can support an external multiplexed eSATA connection you could add a Wesena eHDD Storage Case not the cheapest but will add another 10 drives (google Wesena eHDD for more info).
Click to expand...

Ill keep an eye out for that feature when i choose the mobo/controller. Thanks for the tip.
 
Will I be able to fit a full sized mobo in behind those cages? The case I want to use is a mid tower. Im not sure how ill be able to get all those drives plugged in without 2 PCIe slots.
 
Would this mobo fit in a mid tower with HDD cages in?
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 Express Socket 1155 Motherboard

Its got 8 SATA ports which is great. Would I need any on board graphics for a server?
 
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R088ieS86 said:
for setup it is handy to have onboard graphics, even though eventually I'm guessing it will just sit on the network and you will use remote accesss to view it.

The motherboard will not encroach on the HDD cages unless they are flat against the bottom of the case, which case did you decide on?
Click to expand...

The Cooler Master Centurion 590 I think. It ticks all the right boxes. I might try to add some sound proofing stuff in there after its all done.

Am I right in thinking the z68 chipset mobo's have onboard graphics?
 
I was thinking of using an i3 2120T and Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 mobo because it has 8 SATA ports. I was looking at a review of it and it mentions the ssd cache drive which can be used to greatly increase HDD performance. Would this be the case for a server as well?
 
You're right, ive got the itch to build a nice server :)

I was thinking of going for unraid or WHS but to be honest ive not read into either very much yet. Ill probably go with whichever gives me the better performance.

The only other activities id use the server for are printer sharing and downloading torrents. I would have thought all OS can provide those?

Ive had a look at several cards so far but I don't really know what im looking at. Can I use raid 5 with WHS if the card has it?
 
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