Small Home server box

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Frozen8950

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 30, 2003
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Im about to get married.
(Yes im sure. Yes I want to do it. :p)

I have a ton of files on my computer and the fWife (futureWife) has files on her computer.
We are both into photography and having lots of pics on 3 different computers and trying to keep things orginized and easily accessible is hard.

Enter a home server.

I havent quite decided if I want to build my own small box with Microsoft Home server or
if i want to go with something prebuilt like the HP servers or something like the Synology DS210...

Part of my decision will depend on where I want to keep the server. My house was broken into and they only took my TV. I would of been devastated if they ran off with my computer because like everyone it has lots of priceless pro.... data that I could never recover.

However.. I have a 6ft tall 2.5ft deep gun safe. It has electrical wired into it. I think a normal sized box would take up to much space but i think a mini form factor might work.

Anyone think the server would get to hot running 24/7 inside something that is enclosed like the safe?

If this seems crazy because there is no airflow or whatnot what other 'secure' ideas does everyone have?

Maybe the top of a closet somewhere in an unused room with an electrical/cable drop from the ceiling and then lock the closet? Hmmmmmm....
So
 
The server will get too hot running in a gun safe without ventilation. Heck mine almost gets too hot running in a large closet without ventilation. Of course, the specs of the server itself will dictate how much heat it puts off. If an Atom of other low end processor would suffice speed-wise, it might work, but I doubt it. My current desktop is a i3-540 mini-ITX system, and while it is pretty low on the power usage, it still puts off some heat.
 
The gun safe has no airflow so the system will get hot.

A closet without a lock will draw less attention.

I would use one or more external drives to back up the data. Store the external drives in a place where a thief would not look. That might be at a friend's house, in the back of a kitchen cupboard, in a safety deposit box.
 
annoying to do but the newer routers w/ usb for an external HDD... then lock that external away in the gun safe when away from home??

that would be cheapest... but like i said probably annoying to keep doing
 
Just as a thought for the OP... backup... and make sure main storage is redundant. If the fWife is into photography a few bucks more on an extra disk or two to have the fWife calm in the event of a disk failure at any time is worth it. If the main storage is redundant so she won't notice a disk failure that is probably a good thing. 4 hours of restoring a backup might as well be a week if it comes at a bad time.
 
I might do the locked closet thing.
I can keep it at the top and maybe even put a panel up there and slowly wire my entire house.

Thieves don't like to spend a lot of time in houses and if the door is locked they will probably just pass it up and go for the easy target.
You cant kick open a door that opens outward and I doubt they will have a prybar or anything since they need a free hand to carry off their loots.

I like the home server idea so I can have one local place for all our music/movies/videos and even get it to work with other devices. I can pay for a remote backup once everything gets implemented. I was just curious about the safe but after really thinking about it its not feasible.

I could put an external HD in the safe that has a network connection and just have the server mirror stuff to that drive.. I doubt the external HD is going to put off enough heat to matter.
 
Frozen8950 said:
I could put an external HD in the safe that has a network connection and just have the server mirror stuff to that drive.. I doubt the external HD is going to put off enough heat to matter.
Click to expand...

Not sure what your safe looks like on the inside, but if the metal walls are exposed, you could always try to mount the HD with the top plate pressed against the steel with some thermal paste. That should cool it by conduction (just make sure not to cover the breather holes)

If you have a dry basement, you could try sticking the server behind the furnace or some other cobwebby place where a thief wouldn't expect to find expensive electronics (might want to use some air filters though, and make sure there are no holes where mice and insects can get in). Also use quiet fans and HDs, and disable or cover any bright LEDs on the case.

Finally, if you're really worried about theft of personal data, you may want to look into file or full disk encryption. I don't know if WHS supports it though.
 
Metaluna said:
Not sure what your safe looks like on the inside, but if the metal walls are exposed, you could always try to mount the HD with the top plate pressed against the steel with some thermal paste. That should cool it by conduction (just make sure not to cover the breather holes)

If you have a dry basement, you could try sticking the server behind the furnace or some other cobwebby place where a thief wouldn't expect to find expensive electronics (might want to use some air filters though, and make sure there are no holes where mice and insects can get in). Also use quiet fans and HDs, and disable or cover any bright LEDs on the case.

Finally, if you're really worried about theft of personal data, you may want to look into file or full disk encryption. I don't know if WHS supports it though.
Click to expand...

The entire inside of the safe is carpeted. I dont think one single hard drive with an external enclosure will get hot in a 6 foot tall 2.5 foot deep safe...

Basement? lol this is Texas :p

Atherton213 said:
... store stuff offsite... get a dropbox account or something?
Click to expand...

Im not worried about someone using my data or blackmailing me with it. Its just personal photos of family events and photos we take as a hobby.
Its not secret government conspiracy documents lol..
I may have made it seem that way but its really just average basic stuff that is of no interest to anyone but me.

I think throwing a server in a closet with it mirroring to a HD in my safe will be more than enough. The safe is over 1000 lbs and the door way we put it in is now smaller than the safe so it cant come back out without some serious destruction.... If they get my server and my safe.. well.. they can have it lol..

I just needed some brainstorming to work it out and I think thats what im going to go with. Thanks for the help guys!
 
lol i didnt mean storing it off-site cause its secret stuff... its just a safe alternative... if your gonna go through all the trouble of a server or anything like that... something like a drop box account might actually be cheaper and your data is safe if anything were to happen in your home
 
Atherton213 said:
lol i didnt mean storing it off-site cause its secret stuff... its just a safe alternative... if your gonna go through all the trouble of a server or anything like that... something like a drop box account might actually be cheaper and your data is safe if anything were to happen in your home
Click to expand...

agree 100%
 
Atherton213 said:
lol i didnt mean storing it off-site cause its secret stuff... its just a safe alternative... if your gonna go through all the trouble of a server or anything like that... something like a drop box account might actually be cheaper and your data is safe if anything were to happen in your home
Click to expand...

Second 100% agreement.

While most of us enthusiasts think of an off-site drop box to be a laughable alternative, I think it is a viable option for some people such as you (and your wife) to invest in given your situation. If things are stolen from your apartment, you'll still have all your most important files backed up via the online backup service. They range from $5 to $10 a month depending on the service provider and amount of space. I probably would recommend Dropbox, there are other such as Mozy, Crashplan, ElephantDrive, and Carbonite as well, but honestly I don't have experience with any of them.
 
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lots of people ive worked with use carbonite and it does most of your backups automatically... its like $55 a year for unlimited space

ive got a friend who works for a small sign shop that uses carbonite too
 
Buy a couple cheap hard drives.
Buy a hot-swap carrier for your PC.
Copy the files onto the new drives.
Lock them in your gun safe.

Better backup than 99% of the readers of this site...
 
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