Is this cheap server good for a NAS??

[GaryRW]

OK - I'm getting really confused here. I'm trying to find a NAS solution for the loft (edit: to replace the temp FreeNAS solution based on an old work pc - see post #3 below). It's networked up there, so we're talking a wired connection.

The main purpose is to have access to files from my and my wife's pc's. Basically to store photo's, media etc... in one place. Trying to keep things brief, ideally I would like it to be cheap, low power (as ideally 24/7) and expandable i.e. long term can see myself having 2-4 drives in it. I know that combination may not be possible, but at least I'm not asking it to be ultra-quiet as well

I was very surprised at the prices of dedicated NAS's - I hadn't really thought about what was involved and had much lower figures in mind. Eventually I found this 2 disk one on scan:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Icy-B...-Servers-inone
£95 + drives. and gigabit

except I then did some google-ing and found the performance is pretty much at 10/100 levels, not gigabit. So then I thought about building a low power/lowish spec pc from scratch or with a barebones and I think £200 is about the minimum really (unless others can make suggestions )

So the point is, I then came across this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147999
I think these are the full specs: http://sp.fujitsu-siemens.com/dmsp/d...nel-100-s2.pdf
£190 for a e2180, 1gb ram, 160 hdd (useful as spare i guess...) & gigabit NIC. 4 sata connections which should be enough, and I think it'll be 2 internal 3.5inch bays, with possibility of converting the 2 external 5 inch ones to hold 3.5 drives as well.

I would have liked Raid 5 as I might get to that number of drives in the future, but at the moment, it's not on the cards so not a deal breaker. I plan on using something like FreeNAS or maybe, if I've got time to learn, a linux distro.

I also like the idea of a pc as giving more flexibility in the future. maybe a cheap tv card and maybe using the linux version of XBMC or MythTV to record stuff.

so the question is, what kind of performance can i expect from this as a NAS/file server? is it better to just buy a ready built NAS for about £200, and if so, any recommendations?

Oh, & power? how would that server compare to a NAS or pc built specifically with low-power in mind?

[cmjrees]

You really should try an xbox. They can be had cheap (you can have mine pre-prepared for a small cost if you like), and they use very little power. And they're small. Install Linux or FreeBSD on it, you have a very reliable NAS. Mine's chugged away now for over a year.

Of course if that's all you want it for, it'll be fine. It has one IDE channel, and you can put two IDE hard drives in there, if you have any spare knocking around, or buy them cheap.

http://video-games.shop.ebay.co.uk/i...=p3286.c0.m282

Look at those prices! From about £20... Try to make sure it's an old one first though, the 1.6 ones aren't so good, you need a modchip AFAICR.

[GaryRW]

thanks CMjrees, but I've already got 2 xboxes softmodded, and as you say, IDE drives only

I should've mentioned I've already got an old dell optiplex up there running freenas - but the post was already getting long! I grabbed it from work when they were chucking it out, but it's limited to 1 IDE drive. I've stripped out the FDD and DVD drives which hopefully will mean it's using what, 5w less power It's a 933mhz PIII, 256mb ram but only 10/100. (any ideas what kind of power draw that will actually use?? I guess a modded old xbox would use less?)

I guess I could buy a gigabit card for the optiplex and see what kind of performance it can actually give. Might give me an indication about performance from something a bit newer.

[cmjrees]

Power draw kinda depends on whether the components were cutting-edge when you bought them, or whether they were ones you bought cheap later on. Obviously, the best of the time would use more power. The only way to really find out is to get a power monitor, like this cheap one from Maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=220691 . Could be 70W, could be 150W, but I can't imagine a PIII chomping more than that.

On the subject of OSs, if you want an opinion, FreeBSD is way simpler to administer, and is totally self-contained; you _never_ have to download anything yourself, software installation is all guided and automatic; and it's all done from command line, which trust me once you're a little acquainted, beats ticking boxes and clicking things. Set it up yourself, while reading the handbook, and you'll be delighted. It's the only way to learn, and you learn properly.

Sorry if I've mistaken you for a geek like me. Though with two modded xboxes, I wouldn't be surprised....

[GaryRW]

fairly geekish in spirit if not knowledge...

That's mainly why I'm leaning towards a pc build of some description rather than a pre-built NAS. I saw a review on the Tom's US site for a NAS, and there were loads of comments along the lines of "what kind of people buy these, don't they know how to build computers". I think the comments were harsh, but it did get me thinking, particularly when I saw the cost of 4 bay NAS's were £300+

so hence thinking about this server. I really think I'll struggle to put something like it together myself for the price - without looking at specific parts i'd imagine £50 for CPU, £50-75+ for board(??), £10-20 ram and then case. There is this one for £55 at scan: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=944400.

I would be worried about the psu if it was a really cheap case+psu, but I assume that'd be ok. I'm already up to £175ish though assuming I can actually find board etc.. for those prices. & that's without the inevitable creep in the spec if I build myself (oh what's the harm, it's only another £x for that one instead )

& I really should learn how to use linux at some point .

[synaesthesia]

I can't remember if I mentioned it before or not but FreeNAS is a fantastic little OS - boots from a CD or local drive (takes next to no room) and instantly transfers any aging or recent PC into a all singing all decent NAS system with support for upnp, streaming media, any security methods you'd like to use, standard file sharing, samba etc etc. Might even try that on an xbox

[Maccer101]

You could also by a PCI card to give you 2xSata1 connections on the old dell

[GaryRW]

Yeah - I like FreeNAS. It was very easy to setup on the old dell. a couple hours absolute max iirc, and a think most of that was trying to find a spare power lead. The only problem at the moment is that it apparently doesn't support wake on lan or automatically powering down the computer after non use. You can set timed power-off on a schedule, and looks like you can do clever scripting if you know how. But if I can't wake it up remotely, not much help if I've got to go up in the loft to turn it back on.

I guess my view is that the Dell seems overkill to house one IDE drive (currently an old 160gb drive I had spare), and I don't feel I can justify the 24/7 power for it. I turn it on at the moment purely for backup of our photos once every week or so.

the server on ebuyer presumably uses similar-ish power (???) but feels more worthwhile if it can house 2 or more decent sized sata drives and store video files as well.

I'm hoping that with a new build, I can try a full on linux solution which would do wake on lan and auto power off, so I would have best of both worlds. Would take a bit of time to set up as I've never used linux, but hey, I'll enjoy learning it.

Anyway, sorry for sidetracking with probably too much info. I'm still looking around, and so far I think that ebuyer one is the best value.