My new home server!

[BoredMatt]

Don't like the look of the IDE cable - so messy! no Sata DVD drive?
Yeah, flip the HDDs so it looks tidy, if you can be bothered. Pull the Sata and front pannel cables tight as well.

Looks good mate, worth the wait!! I Really like the case actually. Might look into it

Yeah, I probably will flip them.

The IDE was just for OS installation really. It won't be there permanently, but I've been trying a few OS variations. But I agree, very ugly. Although, I did replace the old IDE cable with that one (which was brand new, and believe it or not, looks better than the one that came out).

(Edit: Besides, I've used all 5 SATA ports anyway)

Thanks! It's a really nice case. Now that I have one that isn't broken, I'm very glad I went for it. It's the little things as much as anything; it came with a fan controller and loads of screws and cable ties.

Looks nice. Can't wait to see your case when you've done some proper cable management.

Cheers! Aside from the IDE cable (which won't be there), I don't like the fan cables. You'd think a company who makes a huge case like this, and who also makes the fans, would do some fans with longer cables??

Probably just get extensions for them. I got a power extension so I could route it round the back, but it was slightly too short

 

[BoredMatt]

I got a job offer today, so to celebrate, I've ordered a load of cables to neaten this up, and a couple of other bits, the most interesting of which are:

- eSATA x2 + SATA x2 PCI Express CARD SiL3132 Chipset
- Startech 2.5 inch SATA Removable Hard Drive Bay for PC Expansion Slot

What would people recommend for making this lot neater?

Cables ordered (snore..):

2 x NZXT 20cm Molex to 3 x SATA Premium Sleeved Cable (because they're neater, and are white)
1 x Black ATX12V extender
1 x Black 24 pin ATX Extender
1 x 90cm Black molex extender (for the fans & controller - I want to close the door in the case and route the power round the back)
1 x 15cm right angled black SATA data cable (to connect the raid card to the 2.5" enclosure)

Does anyone know where you can get long-ish white SATA data cables? I can only find 30cm ones that are over £5 each :S

 

[Brian8bit]

Really good looking home server build. How much storage are you intending to have? Will you be mirroring the storage? So like 5+2TB disks for storage and 5+2TB disks for mirroring? Also, what controllers are you planning on using? I've seen a lot of cheap PCI ones, but only for two ports. Once you get up to 4 ports + the price skyrockets.

And if you plan on doing a lot of disk swapping leave them orientated as they are now Otherwise you'll need to pull both sides of the case off every time you want to replace a disk.

 

[BoredMatt]

Really good looking home server build. How much storage are you intending to have? Will you be mirroring the storage? So like 5+2TB disks for storage and 5+2TB disks for mirroring? Also, what controllers are you planning on using? I've seen a lot of cheap PCI ones, but only for two ports. Once you get up to 4 ports + the price skyrockets.

And if you plan on doing a lot of disk swapping leave them orientated as they are now Otherwise you'll need to pull both sides of the case off every time you want to replace a disk.

Thanks!

I'm considering starting to mirror it all. It's currently only one big concatenated drive (software RAID). I'm not sure if it will be possible to do this easily, but as I'm about to start a new job, I should enough to splash out on enough big drives.

The controller I just ordered (see the list above) uses a silicon image 3132 chip. The only other choice I had was something with the sil3124 (drivers specific to the OS I'm using).

The card I ordered (sil3132) only has 2 internal SATA ports (plus 2 esatas, but that doesn't matter) and was about £15. PCIe.

The other one I was looking at (sil3124) has 4 ports, but is about £38, and only PCI. I wasn't too keen on the lower speed of PCI, and decided on the cheaper card.

The plus side to the cheaper card, is that is supports the sil3726 port multiplier.

And yes, drives are likely to be shuffled around fairly regularly. I might try them the other way, but I've ordered white sata power cables and some white sleeving, so it should look pretty good, even with the cables facing forwards.

 

[DIABLO]

I'd be thinking of RAID 5, RAID 1 will be horribly inefficient.

 

[BoredMatt]

I'd be thinking of RAID 5, RAID 1 will be horribly inefficient.

I'm going to see if I could get RAID5 working on this system, but unless I wanted to format my existing drives, I have to continue using software RAID, or buy enough new drives to RAID, and then copy everything over.