UPDATE: I'm going with FreeNAS, but I need FreeBSD drivers for the Atheros L1 lan chipset
I've searched high and low, read everything I could find, researched all kinds of NAS boxes, and I'm still at a loss for what I should go for.
Requirements:
NTFS (or anything that all windows machines on the network will be able to use w/o filename/filesize issues arising)
Samba (windows folder sharing)
support for 3+ drives (750GB since 1TB drives are just too expensive and I don't need 2+ TB yet.)
RAID-5 (need the security)
gigabit ethernet
Aesthetics and footprint size aren't the biggest of my worries but it would be nice to be able to have this sitting on my desk without people asking, "what the hell is that loud ugly case for?"
HP MediaSmart home servers? look nice and have support for 4 drives, windows home server = simple to use and has a decent alternative to raid5 (can't remember what it's called, folder duplication or something like that)
Or cheap barebones system and throw FreeNAS or Ubuntu Server on it?
Also, with the cheaper barebones pc route, what should I use as a system drive? I have small spare HD's laying around but most of them are ridiculously loud. USB flash drive? I know they have limited read/write cycles, but I'll just keep an image backup of the tiny little thing and if/when it goes out, replace it, pretty cost effective, and I can't imagine a file server needing to access system files very often if all logs and such are disabled.
I'm thinking pick up this barebones system, a cheap dual core celeron, a gig or two of memory, then just wait for a great deal on 500GB to 1TB drives.
Are there any factors I'm overlooking?
I don't need this ASAP, I'll probably hold off on everything for a couple months so I can scope out the best hard drive deals.
I've searched high and low, read everything I could find, researched all kinds of NAS boxes, and I'm still at a loss for what I should go for.
Requirements:
NTFS (or anything that all windows machines on the network will be able to use w/o filename/filesize issues arising)
Samba (windows folder sharing)
support for 3+ drives (750GB since 1TB drives are just too expensive and I don't need 2+ TB yet.)
RAID-5 (need the security)
gigabit ethernet
Aesthetics and footprint size aren't the biggest of my worries but it would be nice to be able to have this sitting on my desk without people asking, "what the hell is that loud ugly case for?"
HP MediaSmart home servers? look nice and have support for 4 drives, windows home server = simple to use and has a decent alternative to raid5 (can't remember what it's called, folder duplication or something like that)
Or cheap barebones system and throw FreeNAS or Ubuntu Server on it?
Also, with the cheaper barebones pc route, what should I use as a system drive? I have small spare HD's laying around but most of them are ridiculously loud. USB flash drive? I know they have limited read/write cycles, but I'll just keep an image backup of the tiny little thing and if/when it goes out, replace it, pretty cost effective, and I can't imagine a file server needing to access system files very often if all logs and such are disabled.
I'm thinking pick up this barebones system, a cheap dual core celeron, a gig or two of memory, then just wait for a great deal on 500GB to 1TB drives.
Are there any factors I'm overlooking?
I don't need this ASAP, I'll probably hold off on everything for a couple months so I can scope out the best hard drive deals.