Spec me a NAS solution...

[darael]

I'll explain what I want, so people can see what I'm trying to do.

I have a small network of three computers. Each machine has two individual harddrives, for the sake of reliability: one for the OS, programs, Windows, etc - another drive for My Docments and the contents within, such as My Pictures, and maybe a small backup of Firefox, drivers, etc. So when I reinstall the machine, I don't have to move everything.

My utlimate goal is to remove the second drive from each machine, and have a RAID 1 NAS setup on two 2.5" drives. The three machines will then connect to this RAID 1 NAS array, and use it as they currently do with the second harddrive.

My reason for this, is to reduce my energy consumption. Say each curent 3.5" harddrive consumes 12w, and the new 2.5" harddrivees consumes 3w - that's a saving of 30w, or 262.8KW each year. Assuming 12p per KW, I save about £31.54/year.

What do you think? Good idea, waste of time, too much hassle?

 

[kae2]

If you're doing this purely to save £31.54 a year, you're wasting your time. Most drives spin down when not in use, so your actual energy usage will be much lower.

 

[darael]

My drives don't spin down at all. They run 24/7, for the sake of reliability. I've lost data on one drive many moons ago, due to it not spinning up. And not so many moons ago, came close to losing my data again - again, due to not spinning up.

If the drives last 3 years, then that's easily £90 saved. Money well spent, and much more economic.