Spec me a cheap home server

matthewhotdude · 10 Mar 2009 at 13:17

Doesnt need to be powerful, Really just going to be used for backup, Thanks

joey1211 · 10 Mar 2009 at 13:18

Considered a NAS?

matthewhotdude · 10 Mar 2009 at 13:28

I have, but I wan't something I can play about with more...And the satisfaction of doing it myself...well with the help from OCUK

PhillyDee · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:15

Look in the b-grade section. It doesnt have to look pretty! Find a barebones and go from there. How many drives do you want in it? And more importantly, I would find a PCI graphics card (OR onboard if you can!), which should leave the PCI-Ex16 slot for a RAID card!

matthewhotdude · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:34

Well I have at least 1tb of data that needs backing up

matthewhotdude · 11 Mar 2009 at 00:13

Ok so was thinking of this. I know it's not powerful but it doesnt neet to be. Can anyone see any problems with it? Would I need a raid card?

PhillyDee · 11 Mar 2009 at 00:35

Depends what you want to do with the data. I personally use Windows Home Server and have no need as it provides a form of software RAID. There is a thread in the Windows Forum about WHS. Or look into the Linux and go for open source software. Just get 2x512mb ram. Its also cheaper to get 2x1tb drives. Though if one fails then you have lost 1tb of data as opposed to 500gb.

chrislusty · 11 Mar 2009 at 08:23

If your going for a backup solution you would want to use RAID ao if a drive does fail, you havent lost data.

matthewhotdude · 11 Mar 2009 at 08:37

chrislusty said:
If your going for a backup solution you would want to use RAID ao if a drive does fail, you havent lost data.

Have changed my spec. the motherboard now has Raid. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-265-AS

So would all this work together?

chrislusty · 11 Mar 2009 at 08:49

I dont know enough about the motherboard, but providing all the sata ports support RAID 1 then yes,

matthewhotdude · 11 Mar 2009 at 08:54

Serial ATA 3Gb/s
This motherboard incorporates four SATA 3Gb/s ports with high performance RAID functions in RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD. This is the ideal solution to enhance hard disk performance and data back up protection without the cost of add-on cards.

Taken from the motherboard website. I also have a old P4 processor that I could use, would that be powerful enough?

chrislusty · 11 Mar 2009 at 09:26

Yes, sounds ok to me, see if any one else comments though.

Tomsk · 11 Mar 2009 at 09:34

Normally I recommend starting with a barebones asus system for cheap PCs ~£100 for case, motherboard and PSU. However they're only suitable for a small server because of the limitations of the case and PSU.

I recently built a WHS system based on the following (I already had RAM and HDs) (prices below are ex. VAT)
£46.99 x 1 - Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£39.99 x 1 - OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply
£31.99 x 1 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM
£25.21 x 1 - Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black (No PSU)

Total £144.18 + VAT = £165.81 - a little cheaper than your equivalent parts

The Coolermaster 335 only comes with one 120mm fan to the rear, not two as stated. I didn't bother with a DVD drive - I just pulled the one from my current system to load up WHS and then put it back. No driver/hardware issues with WHS either.

matthewhotdude · 11 Mar 2009 at 09:48

Also I take it the Hard drives don't come with any SATA leads, Which ones would I Need?

PhillyDee · 11 Mar 2009 at 10:12

chrislusty said:
If your going for a backup solution you would want to use RAID ao if a drive does fail, you havent lost data.

RAID isnt a backup solution, it only offers redundancy in the event of a drive failure. You will still need regular backups of your important data.

chrislusty · 11 Mar 2009 at 10:43

PhillyDee said:
RAID isnt a backup solution, it only offers redundancy in the event of a drive failure. You will still need regular backups of your important data.

I know its not a backup solution, but as he is making his own NAS box as such, he wants his backup safe, so if a drive fails, the work is not lost as he has raid setup, rather than different data on different drives.

I am fully aware you need to make regular backups.

adamibbo · 11 Mar 2009 at 10:50

PhillyDee said:
Depends what you want to do with the data. I personally use Windows Home Server and have no need as it provides a form of software RAID. There is a thread in the Windows Forum about WHS. Or look into the Linux and go for open source software. Just get 2x512mb ram. Its also cheaper to get 2x1tb drives. Though if one fails then you have lost 1tb of data as opposed to 500gb.

WHS is great for a home server. The software raid setup is excellent and allows all sorts of configurations for backups etc. You should definately consider it mate

asm495 · 11 Mar 2009 at 12:17

If you just need backup then look into the Atom CPU/motherboard systems. They consume very little power and will provide more than enough power for backup.

Tomsk · 11 Mar 2009 at 13:04

matthewhotdude said:
Also I take it the Hard drives don't come with any SATA leads, Which ones would I Need?

You usually get two with a motherboard.
Just any regular SATA lead will do.

You might need to get some Molex to SATA power adaptors as well, if your PSU doesn't have enough.

wonko · 11 Mar 2009 at 14:23

I'm afraid I haven't quite worked out what you want it for.
If it's only to do periodic backups from one PC (i.e. switch it on, do a backup and switch it off again) then having a server seems overkill, and you could get a more secure backup arrangement by buying several external 1TB USB/eSATA (or cheap 1-disk NAS) disks and rotating the backups to them. This would probably be cheaper and would give some protection against deletion/corruption of data or fire etc. if you kept one off-site.
Just a thought...