Atom based NAS for minimal power storage

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shinryuu

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Nov 8, 2005
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Hey all,
I am looking to build an Atom based NAS.
My main concern is minimal power usage and minimal price. This is going to be on 24/7.

I'm looking for some parts recommendations based on my following requirements.

I need a case that is as small as possible, but has to have 3 HDD bays, (One will be the boot drive to contain the OS, and two drives will be configured in Raid 1 for storage, especially of important files and documents, so in case of failure of 1 drive, it is still "safe").

A motherboard/atom processor combo that supports Raid 1. The mobo must have integrated raid 1 capability, video, and gigabit ethernet, and support external USB connections like connecting a flash thumb drive or something.

Oh yea, I'm going to put 2 GB ram (its fine if it is 1 dimm only).

Thanks. I'm looking at a 24 hour deadline to order the parts.

Thanks.
 
This board is the best one that I could find at NewEgg: ZOTAC IONITX-B-E.

It meets your requirements, but it's expensive compared to other Atom-based boards and it only has three SATA ports; it doesn't have an IDE port or any PCI/PCIe slots.

Here are a couple of cases that are small yet have room for three hard drives: Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK and APEX MI-008. The third HDD "slot" in each case is actually a 5.25" drive slot, so you'll need some mounting brackets for the drive.

I was running off the assumption that you weren't planning on using an internal optical (CD/DVD) drive, but if you want to find a different board or case on your own, check out the following sites that specialize in micro ATX and mini ITX parts:

Computer Gate mini-ITX store
DSL mini-ITX store
iDOTpc
Logic Supply
Mini-Box
MitxPC
Mobile Computing Solutions
Opus Solutions
PC Alchemy
 
What parts do you have in mind right now?

Hm... Isn't there a liveOS for a NAS? This would get rid of the 3'rd HDD (and the heat/power associated with it. Then for the optical drive just get a slim drive. Just throwing some ideas out there.
 
great great! I really appreciate the pointers, and I am putting all things you guys mention into consideration.

I had just seen the info on the Zotac boards on new egg. originally i was thinking about the atom330, but i think perhaps the 230 should be sufficient.

I wanted to place my order today for the parts, but I think I will have to research more...

I was considering using WHS as the OS, but I would be interested in hearing about linux version from people, and even liveOS styles where I would just need the two HDDs, and not a third boot (instead an optical).

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Thank you very much, all!
 
I suggest that you go through the links that I've listed earlier and come up with a build on your own. Trying to find a board and case that meet your requirements was pretty time-consuming, and NewEgg doesn't have a large inventory of mini ITX components.
 
Run FreeNAS from a CD as mentioned, and use a cheap USB stick to store the configuration, then you only need two disks (and most Atom boards have 2 SATA ports). Since it's software RAID, you also don't need the motherboard fakeraid either, and can use basically any motherboard you want. So I'd go with the solid Intel design (BOXD945GCLF2).

The APEX MI-100BK case looks pretty good for the price.

Without disks you should be able to do it for $150.
 
Too bad that ECS says it's only 10/100 ethernet (for a NAS application)....
 
You should really look into the acer easystore. It's a WHS box running an atom 230 with 2gb ram and 1tb space. Has room for 3 more drives via front hot swap trays, and has 5 usb and an esata port. Play your cards right and you can get it for <$300

It's about a 9" cube too.
 
Rampage said:
You should really look into the acer easystore. It's a WHS box running an atom 230 with 2gb ram and 1tb space. Has room for 3 more drives via front hot swap trays, and has 5 usb and an esata port. Play your cards right and you can get it for <$300

It's about a 9" cube too.
Click to expand...

That is a good deal if you don't already have WHS - I've been trying to re-work my storage center, and I looked into it - but I plan on getting a technet sub within the month, which includes a WHS key, and part of the price of the easystore is that key.
 
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