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My first file server

S

Shorehn

Gawd
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Messages
715
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Running headless: serving files (Tonido or Owncloud), DLNA server, Webmin, etc., possible use as HTPC in the future

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$300-400, inc. shipping and tax (I have Amazon Prime and Shoprunner)

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
  • [*]Case
    [*]PSU
    [*]CPU
    [*]Motherboard
    [*]RAM
    [*]Hard drive

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
N/A; planning a headless server

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
  • Integrated GPU
  • USB 3.0
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Linux (either Ubuntu or Mint)

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Last year, I found out about Tonido, a free software suite that lets you roll your own cloud. It sounded nice, but I didn't want to leave a leave a computer running all day, so I picked up the TonidoPlug 2. It's a cheap ARM box with a 2.5" enclosure built in.

The Tonido software works well enough, but I'm not satisfied with the Plug. It's slow, the laptop drive roasts because there isn't any cooling, and its expandability is obviously quite limited.

I spent a few hours searching the forums here and discovered that - joy of joys! - it may be possible to build a low-power file server without resorting to ARM. Here's a prospective build I put together. It's meant to be very inexpensive and very small:

CPU: Intel Celeron G530 ($50)
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-H77M-DH3 mATX ($80)
RAM: 4GB Crucial ($22)
HDD: Western Digital Red 2TB ($129)
Case/PSU: InWin BK644.BN300TBL ($70)
TOTAL: $351

That case is the major sticking point. It's damn small, which I like, but it also only supports a single hard drive. Is there another compact MicroATX case that supports more drives?
 
How many hard drives are you planning on having in this server?
 
For now, my storage needs are fairly modest. I could easily make due with one drive. But in the future? It's hard to say. I'll probably get a blu-ray drive at some point so I can rip my collection. Between that and torrents, it'd be nice to have room for expansion if necessary.

EDIT: Guess I didn't really answer the question, eh? No more than 3 at the most, 2 being the likely max.

But how can you squeeze a lot of drives in a tiny box? That's the challenge. The Lian-Li PC-Q08 has 6 bays, I think, but it's an ITX case, and it's quite a bit more expensive. The PC-V351 has room for 2 drives, and it's another small mATX case, but the design is really weird.
 
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I recommend this setup instead if you want to keep within budget:
$128 - Intel Pentium G630 CPU + Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V Intel H61 mATX Motherboard Combo
$20 - G.Skill F3-10666CL9S-2GBNT 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$120 - Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$42 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA380D 380W PSU
$79 - Silverstone PS07B mATX Case
---
Total: $389 shipped.

You get a faster CPU with the same power usage as that Celeron, a significantly higher quality PSU (the one in that InWin is crap and is likely to harm your PC), and a higher quality case that can fit 6 drives.

You can get an even smaller setup than the above that can also fit 6 drives but you would probably have to raise your budget by like $150 to $200 to get it.
 
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Cool! That looks like a much better build than what I had in mind.

I guess I should have remembered that no-name PSUs are generally crap.
 
Hmm, I was way off on my estimate for a smaller server. A significantly smaller NAS will only cost you another $88:
$68 - Intel Pentium G630 CPU
$117 - Asus P8H77-I Intel H77 mITX Motherboard
$20 - G.Skill F3-10666CL9S-2GBNT 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$120 - Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$42 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA380D 380W PSU
$110 - Lian Li PC-Q08A mITX Case
---
Total: $477 shipped.
 
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Tough call. I REALLY like that Silverstone case, and keeping it within my original budget would be nice. I'd like to go smaller with the PC-Q08, but those review comments about people stripping the screws are a little concerning.

Well, either way, I can't go wrong. I'll give it some thought and order something tomorrow.

Incidentally, I saw in the reviews for that Samsung drive that the Seagate-manufactured versions apparently use identical parts to the original drives. I can't vouch for China's quality control, but it's good to know that they're the same on paper :)
 
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