SFF PC instead of a NAS?

surreal

surreal

surreal

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Joined
14 May 2007
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77
Hi,

I'm planning to get a Squeezebox soon, and have been looking into Network Storage to store my music, but have found that the Squeezebox needs to be connected to a device running Slimserver and almost non of the NAS boxes can do it (and the ones that can aren't easy to get going). So I'm looking at a mini-PC as a possible solution, something I can leave running all the time which won't make much noise and not use too much power...

So, can anyone advise on this? I'd like to be able to stream music and xvid files (to a media device connected to the TV) from the system, have at least a 500gb HDD (preferably room for a second), and connect to my router so I have wireless access to the data. Not going to be used for anything else.

Any advice appreciated.
 
Budget, maybe a couple hundred?? The NAS boxes with a 500gb drive were about £200-£250.

Its not got to do much heavy lifting, it will only be there to stream files from the HDD - I suppose I might want to plug it directly into my TV to watch avi files though, would onboard video be ok for that (not HD content, just xvids really).

I'd like a 500gb drive and space for another. Any more space I can use an extra USB desktop drive I guess.

I was looking at the barebones kits on here, they seem like a good place to start.
 
I use my QNap TS201 for slimserver, you can install it on the TS201 no problem and the model up the Pro one actually comes with it I think or you get a download for it.
Only think thats annoying about it, took about 2 hours to index my music the first time, I also use it as a torrentflux download server lol, and its got raid on it so its all nicely backed up
 
My HTPC is also the Slimserver, with the music stored in the HTPC case. A NAS with Slimserver is great, however they don't have the power of a PC so as Septh said building the database takes ages, a mates Buffalo Linkstation took all night to build it. Also couldn't get SQL scripting to boot up properly.

I recommend use "Custom Browse" plugin for the Squeezebox.
 
maybe a htpc case might be the thing for you then?

kill 2 birds with 1 stone

some think like a

Antec Fusion HTPC Case Black . price tag of £120.00
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-091-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160
Antec Fusion HTPC Case Silver . price tag of £120.00
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-060-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

- Quiet high-efficiency 430 Watt ATX12V v2.0 power supply with universal input and active PFC
- Aluminum plate front bezel with Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD)
- Triple chamber structure to separate heat and noise of power supply
- Removable HDD brackets with extra soft silicone grommets to reduce vibrational noise
- 2 x sidemounted 120mm Tri-Cool™ 3-speed fans
- Low profile desktop height to fit in any environment
- Front Accessible: 1 x 5.25"
- Internal 2 x 3.5"
- 4 Expansion Slots
- Motherboard: Micro ATX form factor (9.6" x 9.6")
- Front-mounted ports fo reasy multimedia connections
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire®, i.Link®)
- Audio In and Out
- Durable 0.8mm cold rolled steel construction

all you would need then is a matx mother board, cpu, ram, hdd, rom
 
silver stone make some very nice htpc cases.

but if htpc isn't the way you want to go there are loads of other cases to go for
from shuttle systems, sff cases, mini towers.
 
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