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Suggestions for a cheap NAS

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BachOn

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Joined
Aug 4, 2011
I have three new 2Tb Hitachi drives. My plan is to run them using Unraid. Two are the 5300 Green drives and one is a 7200 drive. I was advised that having the slightly faster 7200 drive for the parity unit would speed things up a slightly.

My original plan was to use an older Abit IC7 Max3 motherboard with a 3.4 Ghz. That's a P4 Socket 478 processor. But the motherboard will only interface with two SATA drives. Secondly, UNRAID is designed to be run from a 4 Gb. Flash drive. The Abit board doesn't want to easily boot from that drive. It looks like there is a complex work-around that might allow it, but I want something simple.

I have a Core I5 2500K and an Asus P8P67 Rev. 3.1. But I've been having troubles getting them to play nice with one-another. So I'm looking for other options. (That's on the Memory Forum.)

All I want is a place to store backups of our three computers. I'm talking about mirror images AND in a separate process, saving the MyDocuments data files. I'll be using FBackup for the actual backup procedure. Then I want to offload the files to the NAS. I'll simply run this NAS on our network with a wired network cable to the router

I don't believe I need a high powered CPU to do this.

So some questions.

The Abit board won't work for my use. Is there another 478 board that would? That would allow me to use my 3.4 CPU and not have to buy another CPU? This CPU seems like it would have ample processing power for doing the tasks I have in mind.

The motherboard would need to support AT LEAST three SATA drives. An IDE interface would allow me to load drivers from my existing CD Drive, if needed.

I'm not wedded to any brand. I think most boards of this generation used DDR2 RAM. I have some of that. And I have a 500 watta power supply for this generation of boards. And I have a video card. I just need a motherboard with the right interfaces AND that will allow booting from a Flash drive.

I could get an inexpensive motherboard for the I5 CPU, but the processing power of this CPU looks like overkill for this kind of task. I figure I can do something else with this CPU.

Does anybody know a motherboard with the features I need?

Any and all input will be appreciated.

Bach On
 
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I think you would get more responses if this was posted in the motherboard area, or maybe general hardware. While your goal is to make it into a NAS, your need is specifically for a motherboard recommendation. I've flagged the post suggesting a moderator move it to help you get the best possible answer.
 
Thanks. I wasn't sure where to put it. You can see the gray-area.

BO
 
BachOn said:
I have a Core I5 2500K and an Asus P8P67 Rev. 3.1. But I've been having troubles getting them to play nice with one-another. So I'm looking for other options.
Click to expand...

Could you elaborate on that? Maybe we could find a way to fix that.

BachOn said:
I don't believe I need a high powered CPU to do this.
Click to expand...

No I don't believe you do.

BachOn said:
The Abit board won't work for my use. Is there another 486 board that would? That would allow me to use my 3.4 CPU and not have to buy another CPU? This CPU seems like it would have ample processing power for doing the tasks I have in mind.
Click to expand...

While not having to buy a cpu would be nice, finding a working socket 478 board would be a nightmare.

You'd most likely have to get a used board with obviously no warranty left (considering that platform was abandoned over 7 years ago) and if you need to try multiple boards, it could end up costing more than a brand new motherboard/cpu/ram.

You said it yourself you don't need much processing power so you could go for a low end solution, probably AMD and get better results. I had one of those P4 and while the ghz is high compared to what you see now, they were not very efficient and you would get more performance out of a recent low end cpu and it would actually cost less to run (I'm guessing your NAS would be running 24/7 so power efficiency should be relatively important for you). If that option interests you, we can try to look at specific parts.

I checked Newegg for fun and they still have a few refurbished socket 478 motherboards but none of them had any sata ports. Finding one with at least 3 SATA is gonna be hard. I could look up my old board because I remember having a RAID 0 in there and I think it was SATA but I'm not 100% sure. But that would probably wouldn't help you because once again, it would be hard to find one. Mine died a few years ago.
 
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I recently put together a budget AMD build for my NAS. I used a Llano A4-3300 and a Biostar mobo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138336

I had spare DDR3 as well as a PSU. The mobo is great because it sports 6x SATA II ports on the same controller, as well as 3x PCIe slots for expansion cards and a PCI for whatever. I'm currently using 2x Highpoint Rocket 620 cards in the 1x PCIe slots for 4x extra SATA II/III ports at full speed. I put an Intel Gigabit NIC in the 16x slot. I currently have 8x mixed green (WD/Seagate/Hitachi) 2tb disks in mdadm raid6 on this setup -- around 550mb/s read and write speed is in the low to mid 400's. During reading/writing there is almost no cpu usage/kernel time from the software raid...obviously the cpu/mobo combo is more than enough for home use.

I'd advise against the 478 cpu/mobo setup...its old, hogs power and onboard controllers may not be compatible with 2TB drives (I have a 478 setup that cannot detect large drives) and it also limits your ability to use newer PCIe devices. For a computer running 24/7 it's best to be energy efficient...prolongs hardware life & reduces monthly utility bill - not to mention those p4 prescotts ran HOT! It's summer soon where I live...last thing I'd want is a space heater running 24/7 :p - also less power==less heat==less noise.
 
Off-topic.

ziggo0, when I click on your links, even though the link points to newegg.com, I get redirected to something on tkqlhce.com. What could that be?
 
Thanks Dakyris. I believe I made all the edits you suggested. And, of course, you were correct.

BO
 
ziggo0 - That looks like a good combination. I guess everyone can understand I was trying to save a few bucks. But those P4s did run hot. I had a Zalman heatsink that kept it tolerable.

I've run a few AMD chips through the years. But I've never been their greatest fan. But this would be a specialized use, so maybe it could work. And I'd have no need to overclock.

Can you get your NAS to boot with a Flash Drive using this setup? UNRAID is designed to run off a Flash Drive. All the work-arounds to boot otherwise look rather cumbersome.

BO
 
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BachOn said:
ziggo0 - That looks like a good combination. I guess everyone can understand I was trying to save a few bucks. But those P4s did run hot. I had a Zalman heatsink that kept it tolerable.
Click to expand...

Run hot is a bit of an understatement, I had to watercool to keep my prescott (first generation, 3.4ghz) below 80°C at stock speed...
 
yeah, that sounds like that was his plan but his old parts are simply a bit TOO OLD to work with his large capacity hard drives and booting off usb drives
 
Dakyris said:
yeah, that sounds like that was his plan but his old parts are simply a bit TOO OLD to work with his large capacity hard drives and booting off usb drives
Click to expand...

argh i hate when i dont read stuff lol i just noticed he said he tried that already,

newegg still carries a small bit of 478 mobos check it out
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627 600007878&IsNodeId=1&name=478

but it looks like if you want more than two sata drives on 478 your gonna have to get a pci-sata card.
 
I'm not running unRAID off of a flash drive but I do have Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS installed to a 32gb flash drive and am running it exclusively off that to free up a SATA port. I'm not the biggest fan of AMD but price and performance are quite right in this scenario.
 
I just got this via e-mail today. Under $10 for shipping, and about $15.00 in sales tax. Cheap case with 400 watt PSU, an AMD Athlon II X4 610e 2.40GHz Quad-Core OEM CPU and a Thermaltake CL-P0503 70mm CPU Cooler, 4Gb 1833 DDR3 RAM, and has a built-in 10/100 NIC. With tax and shipping it comes to about $185, but qualifies for up to a $45 mail-in rebate. The •ECS A780LM-M2 AMD 760G Motherboard has 4 SATA2 and 2 ATA133 ports with 4 PCIe slots AND a built-in Radeon HD 3000 Graphics connection and USB 2.0. It is AMD, but I think it looks like a pretty good solution for my particular need. They'll throw in a 500Gb WD hard drive for $59. But I don't really need or want it. The case has slots for up to 4 drives (2x5.25, 2x3). I figure a cheap CD or DVD player and my three 2Tb Hitachi drives will fit fine.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...urce=EML&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=WEM3154

What do you guys think?

Bach On
 
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Dakyris said:
Sounds perfect for what you need.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You can get expansion cards to add more SATA slots if need be as well. Only thing I would do is get a more reliable PSU - Corsair CX430 V2 comes to mind (got one for cheap the other day on a NewEgg sale).
 
Well I got the drives in the computer and cranked it up. Looking good so far.

Now I've got to actually read the FAQ about how to configure unRAID. I used to do DOS, but Linux is a whole 'nuther story.

Thanks for the input folks. I do appreciate the very helpful "we spirit" I find here!

Bach On
 
BachOn said:
Well I got the drives in the computer and cranked it up. Looking good so far.

Now I've got to actually read the FAQ about how to configure unRAID. I used to do DOS, but Linux is a whole 'nuther story.

Thanks for the input folks. I do appreciate the very helpful "we spirit" I find here!

Bach On
Click to expand...

No problem, I'm glad you were able to find what you were looking for.
 
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