Zero1
10-07-2008, 02:06 PM
Wow, long time, no visit.
Not so long ago I got the networking bug. At first networking was a bit of a mystery to me and although I'm pretty savvy with most stuff, networking always let me down. Since I took the plunge and got into networking, I'm loving it. I'm loving the learning process and I'm loving the benefits (such as printing wirelessly to a wired laser printer, sharing media on my Xbox360 etc.)
Well my situation is I have anything up to 4 machines I use (depends whether I need access from my mini-itx, a laptop or a more powerful machine), plus another 3 devices that are capable of sharing media (Xbox360, KiSS 1600 DVD/media player and a Nokia N96). I thought it was high time I took my files from the 3 machines I use most and consolidated them in one place so they are accessible anywhere at any time. NAS seems to offer what I need.
Now obviously I need a NAS box. I'm open to suggestions for the NAS software, but initially I intend to use FreeNAS as it seems pretty simple and lightweight. I'd like a software that can set access restrictions by MAC address or IP address if anyone knows of one, so I'm open to suggestions.
The criteria for my NAS (which is probably the most common) is that it's quiet and relatively low power consumption. I don't know what to expect with throughput, and obviously that will be dictated with the hardware, but if I'm using a 2 disk RAID 1 array, I hope for around 40MB/s + (In an ideal world, 60MB/s, but access speed is actually more important than throughput I would say).
If I were to use some spare hardware I've got, then at my disposal I have:
AMCC/3Ware Escalade 9500s-4LP PCI-X RAID card (also works on standard PCI)
AMD Duron 750MHz (will O/C to 900MHz fine), + Socket A motherboard 100/120MHz FSB + 320MB SD-RAM
Socket A motherboard 200-230MHz FSB (originally took an Athlon XP 2600 but the CPU is dead) + 1GB PC3200 DDR-RAM
2x 80GB Western Digital Caviar RAID Edition (8MB Cache each)
Now although that list is very hit and miss, my two viable paths are a Duron 750MHz based system with 320MB RAM, or an Athlon XP based system (no particular CPU speed) with 1GB RAM. My question is would the Athlon XP system be overkill for what it is? Essentially I will be storing documents and there won't be a great deal of concurrent access. 2 systems would be about average. How about the 3Ware RAID Card? Is that overkill for my intended purpose, and are there any cheaper but just as good alternatives? Finally, in a NAS environment, what is usually the most beneficial in terms of an upgrade, faster CPU, more RAM, faster HDD? I guess some amount of caching goes on so I'm not sure.
I would also be in need of a small case and a quiet and/or efficient PSU, so I'd appreciate any suggestions. I'd also consider getting some new harddrives.
I know it's not really an excuse since I'm dealing with old technology anyway, but I haven't assembled a PC for around 3 years (and I've been out of the loop just as long)
Thanks guys, really appreciate your help.
Not so long ago I got the networking bug. At first networking was a bit of a mystery to me and although I'm pretty savvy with most stuff, networking always let me down. Since I took the plunge and got into networking, I'm loving it. I'm loving the learning process and I'm loving the benefits (such as printing wirelessly to a wired laser printer, sharing media on my Xbox360 etc.)
Well my situation is I have anything up to 4 machines I use (depends whether I need access from my mini-itx, a laptop or a more powerful machine), plus another 3 devices that are capable of sharing media (Xbox360, KiSS 1600 DVD/media player and a Nokia N96). I thought it was high time I took my files from the 3 machines I use most and consolidated them in one place so they are accessible anywhere at any time. NAS seems to offer what I need.
Now obviously I need a NAS box. I'm open to suggestions for the NAS software, but initially I intend to use FreeNAS as it seems pretty simple and lightweight. I'd like a software that can set access restrictions by MAC address or IP address if anyone knows of one, so I'm open to suggestions.
The criteria for my NAS (which is probably the most common) is that it's quiet and relatively low power consumption. I don't know what to expect with throughput, and obviously that will be dictated with the hardware, but if I'm using a 2 disk RAID 1 array, I hope for around 40MB/s + (In an ideal world, 60MB/s, but access speed is actually more important than throughput I would say).
If I were to use some spare hardware I've got, then at my disposal I have:
AMCC/3Ware Escalade 9500s-4LP PCI-X RAID card (also works on standard PCI)
AMD Duron 750MHz (will O/C to 900MHz fine), + Socket A motherboard 100/120MHz FSB + 320MB SD-RAM
Socket A motherboard 200-230MHz FSB (originally took an Athlon XP 2600 but the CPU is dead) + 1GB PC3200 DDR-RAM
2x 80GB Western Digital Caviar RAID Edition (8MB Cache each)
Now although that list is very hit and miss, my two viable paths are a Duron 750MHz based system with 320MB RAM, or an Athlon XP based system (no particular CPU speed) with 1GB RAM. My question is would the Athlon XP system be overkill for what it is? Essentially I will be storing documents and there won't be a great deal of concurrent access. 2 systems would be about average. How about the 3Ware RAID Card? Is that overkill for my intended purpose, and are there any cheaper but just as good alternatives? Finally, in a NAS environment, what is usually the most beneficial in terms of an upgrade, faster CPU, more RAM, faster HDD? I guess some amount of caching goes on so I'm not sure.
I would also be in need of a small case and a quiet and/or efficient PSU, so I'd appreciate any suggestions. I'd also consider getting some new harddrives.
I know it's not really an excuse since I'm dealing with old technology anyway, but I haven't assembled a PC for around 3 years (and I've been out of the loop just as long)
Thanks guys, really appreciate your help.