Help with New Server, cheers

Alaninit

Alaninit

New member
Hi Guys
I'm wanting to build my own server,it's going to be for sharing with other computers in house and backup. I would like to use windows 8 it sounds ok for using has a server. I have some hard drives already but would like to add to them if need be later on.

so would like some help with what I will need to make a good one please if you can give me an idea of what to get ie: case for hard drives and enough room to expand them, motherboard? well just everything i will need please.:) I'm new to this building lark so be kind please!
Just want something with plenty of space to store all my crap and be able to use over network. not on budget just don't know what I need to make a server and were to get it all from? I don't want to just buy one I want to have a go at building something again!

Thanks allot
Alan
 
Okay Dude how many drives do you currently have? i have never built a server myself but i can try to help as much as possible as i do have an understaning of server components not a massive one but quite a bit and is it just for personal use?
 
Cheers
I have about 6 drives at moment 4 large 2tb others are 300gb I think.
What motherboard would be best for connecting the drives? or would i need something else. So is it just like building a computer but with more drives? will have a look at the case thanks allot for help guys.

I thought it was very different from building a computer!!

Thanks

(Would prefer a tower for under desk)
 
A server is just a regular computer. It "serves" files and other resources, hence why it is called a server. Most motherboards have at least 6 SATA ports (both SATA 2 and SATA 3), so just pick one with the least features/cheapest. You may need a RAID card, but I have very little experience with them so I can't suggest one I'm afraid.

For the case you could go with Fractal as they do some decent ones like the define R3/R4.
 
Here are the specs for my current "home" server running a software called unRaid.

Antec 1200 v3 | Biostar T-Series TA870U3+ | 4GB | Athlon II X2 255 | Corsair AX750 | SuperMicro, Norco, Icy Dock and iStarUSA 5x3 Cages | 1 x SASLP-MV8 | 2 x RocketRaid 2300

I have 4 different 5x3 cages as I was doing reviews. :) You could go with all one model.
Currently have 20 x 2TB drives in this solution, very low power usage...
 
Thanks very much will have a look round to see which is the best motherboard with the most connections for hard drives

Thanks very much
 
Running a server is no problem. All you really need to do different than building a "regular" computer, is to set the drives up properly. Setting the drives up in a RAID 0 and RAID 6 are the most common for home servers these days, which means you'll want to look into getting a RAID card.

Since it is just a home server, you don't need any fantastic hardware. Unlike web servers, with thousands or more requests coming to it, a home server only has a few. Pretty much any desktop CPU on the market will be fine for your purposes. Motherboard doesn't have to be great, you don't need a GPU.
 
Was wanting to use windows 8 to control the server it looks ok for what i need. silly one but can i still use a raid card to connect the drives to motherboard and still use windows 8 and use the storage pool?

cheers
 
With windows 8 you don't need raid, you can use Storage Spaces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7R6fU0Tn6g
A raid controller card that supports raid 5 or 6 can be very expensive and unlike Storage Spaces raid isn't very flexible; drives should be the same capacity, not all cards support adding new drives later....
 
You could skip raid. Just share each drive. Name them appropriately. One for Music. One for Movies. etc etc. As it's a home server its not like its going to be stressed out all the time anyway.
 
You can - but then you would be using the Raid card just to add drives as JBOD - don't configure Raid - a basic Sata card would do. Remember - storage spaces in Win8 is like a software based RAID. If you use that, don't use Hardware raid - if you use hardware raid, don't use storage spaces. Hardware raid has a LOT better performance if you can afford it.
If you are thinking of storage spaces, read up on it - some gotchas that will need planning for...
 
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