NAS options

[Shuruga2]

I've maxxed out my mobo's HD connections, and a 2 sata 1 pata expansion card.

I need to break out with my storage. I do run an overpowered smoothwall (1.4 gHz, 1 gig ram, 80 gig hd) and I believe it's possible to put more drives in it and share them to the network, but I dont want to compromise it.

I've been looking at the Linksys EFG80/120 and like that the enclosure can take more than one drive, but dont like the limits on the size of the drives.

Theres lot of products that let you connect a usb drive to the network, but I dont want to have to buy new enclosures for every drive. And a power cord for every drive? No thanks.

Buy a cheap PC and stuff it full of drives for a fileserver... Myabe, but size/noise is a concern.

Re cap:
Features I'm looking for:
Able to take more than one drive
Able to take large drives
Small size & low noise - I'd like to be able to shove it in a corner and never have my girlfriend notice it's there.
PATA

Does anyone have any ideas or tips?

[ErikD]

How much you willing to spend? There are NAS enclosures just like you want, but they are pricey.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2000240124+50008408&Subcategory=124&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

A cheaper option of course would be just FreeNAS on an old PC.

[Shuruga2]

Those look like a good fit, thanks. Size and capacities are spot on. You're right to ask about price though. My range is Max $150 for a 2 drive unit, $200 for 2+ drive unit. Thats why I was looking at empy units (tho I forgot to mention it).

1000/100/10 is a big plus as well. None of my network is gigabit now but a gigabit nas would be a good reason to start looking at upgrading.

[smokie mcpott]

take a look at this thread (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=487889)

[Shuruga2]

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=402&l1=1&l2=2&l3=0

Theres a place near me where I can get that for $180.
Comes with 2 sata, 2 pata, 1 ide. So a max of 10 drives after an expansion card.
Only a 165 watt PS. The online PSU calculator thinks that if I have all 10 drives in there I'll need 280. That upgrade could come later.

This and FreeNAS are looking like a good combo.

[gorilly]

i've used buffalo terastation pro 1TB (id give it 6/10), synology and readyNAS

all are fine, an old PC with linux FREE NAS is cheaper

[fUzZ bUnNy]

Ditto the last post,

I bought a Dell Poweredge 1300 with 2 500's and a Gig of RAM for $76 of ebay 8 months ago (that included shipping). I tossed in two 80 Gig HD's SATA HD's and a pci controller for another $100 and have a RAID file server that runs Ubuntu and Samba.

I would buy a Router for $30 bucks and the Hard drives and look into changing the Smoothy box into a File server. Another option would be to switch to IPcop, there is a mod to create a SAMBA share on it, but if misconfigured it might cause problems.

In all honesty, the server I have is overkill because I am wasting CPU cyles (I wonder if I can fold on it?), but I have my data stored and protected from a HD failure. I know now that Hard drives have come down in price a ton and building a new filesharing box with more space would probably cost the same.

[Shuruga2]

I just looked at some of those dells and they are monsters. I want something smaller than that.

I have two linksys routers sitting around (befsx41 and befsr40) which both give random resets. I went to a smoothie because of those routers and doubt I will ever go back.

[gorilly]

I just looked at some of those dells and they are monsters. I want something smaller than that.



buy a pc with big hdds and stick freenas on then

[Shuruga2]

I picked up that comp yesterday and it's working out well. So far I've got the old 9gig from my Xbox and a 250 (which also saw time in the box) hooked up and filling.
Unfortunately the stock bios doesnt support USB boot, and I cannot find an updated version, nothing horrible but it's a feature I would have liked.

FreeNAS went on quickly and was easy to set up. Getting the drives to appear was a sticking point, but actually going through the setup instructions cleared that up quickly.

Now I just need more big drives.

[gorilly]

sounds good, well done! see its pretty easy!