Small Server

[[GSV]Trig]

I've decided I'm gonna get rid of my 2xTerastations (TS-H2.0TGL/R5, make me an offer ) and build a small server (Windows Home Server) with 4x1TB+ hdd's in it to replace the disk space of the Terastations.

So, I'm after a board, needs to have at least 4 SATA connections on it, preferably 6, 1x for the boot drive, 4x for the Data drives, 1x for the Optical drive.
Or possibly 1x IDE, (Boot/Optical) and then the rest sata for the data drives.

GB Ethernet would be nice.

Sounds not an issue as it wont use it.

Onboard GFX would be nice.

RAM Slots doesn't really matter if its 2 or 4 as I'll probably just stick a pair of 512's in it, as long as its DDR2..

I would like, and this is the killer, Raid 5 on the sata ports so I can have the 4 drives in R5 for a bit of security (yes I know R5 doesnt replace backups but seriously, where am I gonna get something cheap that'll backup that amount of data.) Failing that I could goto 1.5Tb drives and just split the data over the 4 drives.

Socket type, doesnt matter if its AMD or Intel as I have a spare S939 and S775 CPU's that will be used.


Any suggestions, surely I'm not the only person on here thats doing this kinda thing...

[Singh400]

So, I'm after a board, needs to have at least 4 SATA connections on it, preferably 6, 1x for the boot drive, 4x for the Data drives, 1x for the Optical drive.

Or possibly 1x IDE, (Boot/Optical) and then the rest sata for the data drives.

I'm using the Asus P5QL-CM.

GB Ethernet would be nice.

Check. The P5QL-CM has it.

Sounds not an issue as it wont use it.

Check. The P5QL-CM has it. (Even though you don't need it).

Onboard GFX would be nice.

Check. The P5QL-CM has it.

RAM Slots doesn't really matter if its 2 or 4 as I'll probably just stick a pair of 512's in it, as long as its DDR2..

Check. The P5QL-CM has it. Running 2GB in mine (2x1GB)

I would like, and this is the killer, Raid 5 on the sata ports so I can have the 4 drives in R5 for a bit of security (yes I know R5 doesnt replace backups but seriously, where am I gonna get something cheap that'll backup that amount of data.) Failing that I could goto 1.5Tb drives and just split the data over the 4 drives.

Thing is with Windows Home Server, RAID is not needed and not recommended either. It uses file/folder duplication which is far more effecient generally and space wise too. If you insist on wanting RAID then I think something like FreeNAS would be better.

Socket type, doesnt matter if its AMD or Intel as I have a spare S939 and S775 CPU's that will be used.

P5QL-CM is S775.

Any suggestions, surely I'm not the only person on here thats doing this kinda thing...

Certainly not, this is like the 4th topic on the same subject

[[GSV]Trig]

Thing is with Windows Home Server, RAID is not needed and not recommended either. It uses file/folder duplication which is far more effecient generally and space wise too. If you insist on wanting RAID then I think something like FreeNAS would be better.

Is freenas the one you can boot from a USB stick?
If so I had thought about something like that but theres a few features in HS that I like the look of..
The reason I was tihnking RAID 5 was the extra bit of security you get on the off chance one of the drives fails.

I'll have a look at that board tho, ta..