• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Make-shift file server enclosure?

S

sphenx

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Messages
181
Recently I have obtained some decent hardware to run a file server on. Although the cases that they both came in are these Gateway ATX mid-towers. I would like to save as much money as possible and rig up a make shift enclosure for the two servers. I had an idea of getting two of these and placing the mobo on the inside and PSU, possibly on the inside or maybe on the outside. These will be placed in a closet near my PC. Just wondering if anyone had any advice or ideas on some make shift enclosures?
 
The "ghetto mods" thread: Ghetto Mods might give you some ideas. Cardboard boxes have always worked for me - easy to cut and cheap.
 
You could also do a drawer. What kind and # of hard drives are you going to have. Electrical isolation and airflow will probably be pretty important.
 
Two Western Digital HDDs. One is a 20gb and another is a 40gb, might upgrade them when i get teh money, but for now it'll have to do. And yes a drawer sounds good as well, didnt think of that.
 
Those aren't very hardcore drives. I wouldn't worry TOO much about cooling or heat. Just use common sense.
 
When you dont have a case, cardboard or wood is your friend ;)

Both are easy to work with but one just lasts longer... and you have the potential to make it look nice too... but to save time just offset the motherboard to be in the middle of the case in the event you want a box and just have the wires branch out the back in one hole... looks nicer and easier to implement.
 
You would be amazed at the simple solutions you can find by driving around on trash day in your neighborhood. I've seen MANY people throw out old computers that had fine cases that would work in a hitch. Also many many more people will put old shelves, etc. out on the corner that are great for snatching up... :D
 
People still throw computers out?
In the past I didnt see many being dumped now I rarely see any by the curb.. Several monitors but rarely the tower. I think its the raised awareness that the garbage collectors wont dump that now.
 
awdark said:
People still throw computers out?
In the past I didnt see many being dumped now I rarely see any by the curb.. Several monitors but rarely the tower. I think its the raised awareness that the garbage collectors wont dump that now.
Click to expand...


I actually saw a case by the curb about 3 days ago on my way to work... it looked like someone had thrown it down some stairs and then dragged it behind their car with chains though... :p

I also saw a nice table and a bookshelf as well as what would be some nifty things for making into a Make-shift pc case (drawers, plastic totes, etc.) but all the good stuff was gone by the time I got back in the neighborhood... :(
 
Yeah its a pretty decent system, its got a AMD Athlon 900mhz CPU, 256mb SDRAM (which will be upgraded to 512mb soon), DVDROM, CDRW, 10/100NIC, IDE Controller Card for more HDDs. 20gb IBM HD, 40gb Quantum Fireball HD and its got Fedora Core 4 installed and running well.
 
You can do amazing things with thin sheet metal, paint, screws, standoffs, dremmel, and drill.

Thats pretty much all I used to build a 1U fileserver case.

(Any bends in the metal are made easy by "scoring" with dremel cutoff wheel first)
 
sphenx said:
I had an idea of getting two of these and placing the mobo on the inside and PSU, possibly on the inside or maybe on the outside.
Click to expand...
DONT use those plastic bins. I use those exact ones for storage containers. They hold a ton of static!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top