Project: Storage Cube

[EventHorizon27]

Hi everyone, sorry to bore you all with a server build but it may interest some of you

I recently upgraded my internet connection to virgin media's 100meg service and have been downloading everything I can get my hands on, silly fast!

My HTPC has a 2 x 2TB hard drives and I have managed to fill an almost empty 2TB drive in under a week.

I've been thinking about getting some Network Attached Storage for a while and started off looking into getting two of those cheap £60 dual-bay ones you can get, meaning a total cost of £120 before HDDs.

I then started looking into those 4-bay netgear ones that cost £250 before HDDs. Bit better but getting pricey.

Continuing to look around I come across this little gem.

HP N36L Microserver

Its a HP micro-server for £230. With 4 HDD bays and the ability to run Linux/windows server/windows home server, it should do everything I need. By no means powerful but should save some electricity that way. And if you send a claim form off to HP before October the 31st you get £100 cash back.

That's £130 for a micro-server!!!

I'm not sure what OS to run yet but so far I've just placed an order for:

1x HP N36L Microserver

4x WD AV-Green 2TB Drives

2x 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 Memory

1x StarTech 5.25" Trayless Hot Swap Rack

1x StarTech 2 Port SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express Controller

1x Akasa 4 pin PSU molex to 2x 15 pin SATA Power Connector Cable

The idea is to be able to dock a 5th storage drive in the 5.25 drive bay (when required), stick an old 60GB vertex 2 SSD I have gathering dust in as a OS drive (somewhere) and connect both drives to the additional SATA controller.

So that's the basic plan

Let me know your thoughts and i'll keep you updated (with pictures)...

Thanks!

 

[sheroo]

I've heard nothing but good things about those microservers.

However 8 gb of memory is a waste. The only time you would need that much memory in a server is if you are running virtual machines, which I don't think that processor would be up to.

Home servers are definitely the way to go, that way you can have a nice quiet rig on your desk.

 

[EventHorizon27]

Problem...

When choosing the hard drives for the server I decided to go with WD. I wanted a green drive. This gave me three options (at the time).

£55 2TB WD Green HDD

£70 2TB WD AV Green HDD

£150 2TB Enterprise Drive.

The cheapest option was a no as WD say its not designed for 24/7 use. The enterprise drive is way too expensive. This left me with a obvious choice... The AV drive. It's designed for 24/7 streaming video use and is completely silent (I have two in my HTPC).

Now here's the problem: I ordered everything from Misco. (due to their finance options) Apparently they don't hold stock for finance orders. So the 4 HDDs I ordered are out of stock and discontinued.

Add the fact that all HDDs have now risen in price by 40% and I think it's the death of my little server build

Any ideas?

 

[daniSAUR]

Man that's a shame.

Well, with the rise on HDD costs, you could alternatively eBay (but the drives could be faulty) or risk getting a few of Aria's bargain basement 1.5TB drives?

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Bargain+Basement/Z-Mixbrand+1.5TB+SATA+Drive+?productId=39960

Only thing is you don't know what drive you're getting (as well as a 30-day warranty). Hope you can get it sorted fella!

 

[sheroo]

I have 4 of the bog standard green drives in my server 2 * 2TB & 2 * 1.5TB, never had any problem with them. Been running 24/7 for over 1 year.

 

[EventHorizon27]

Decided on 2 stardard seagate 2TB drives, should be enough to keep me going until the prices settle down a little... I hope.

On the plus side, I'm also getting a ASUS 560Ti to replace the Palit 560Ti I fried in my HTPC. This means I can jump between my desktop and my TV playing battlefield 3 using EAs cloud-storage-save-game thingy

Can't wait

 

[EventHorizon27]

Waiting on parts but here's an update:

Pulled the motherboard out and fitted the 8GB of completely unnecessary memory and the SATA PCI card

Velcro-ed the Vertex 2 SSD to the back of the micro-server.

10TB of very hard to get hold of storage. Including a 2TB WD RE4 drive

This pic makes me smile, I don't know why, It just does

 

[dugdiamond]

if you are intending on RAIDing those HDDs, make sure they are all the same RPM (5400rpm, by the looks of it)

 

[EventHorizon27]

if you are intending on RAIDing those HDDs, make sure they are all the same RPM (5400rpm, by the looks of it)

I'm planning on manual back-ups. I know that's extra work and very anti-geek but its the best system for me. I love being able to swap and change drives around without having to worry about breaking and re-building raids.

 

[dugdiamond]

wouldn't blu-rayWR disks be cheaper - lol

 

[EventHorizon27]

wouldn't blu-rayWR disks be cheaper - lol

A Sandisk rep said they'd managed to make a 1TB SD Card. This is the way forward

I'm thinking:

60GB SSD - OS

2TB WD RE4 - Important back-ups from networked PC's

2TB WD AV Green - TV Shows

2TB WD AV Green - Movies

2TB Seagate Green - TV Shows Back-up

2TB Seagate Green - Movies Back-up

I didn't realize how heavy this little box would be when filled.

 

[equk]

These little server cubes look pretty good for the price

Was going to get the N36L last month for £120 but heard they were releasing the N40L soon so waited.

Looks like they are doing the same deal on the N40L now so might be buying one of those for £120 instead.

What OS are you going to be running on it?

 

[EventHorizon27]

These little server cubes look pretty good for the price

Was going to get the N36L last month for £120 but heard they were releasing the N40L soon so waited.

Looks like they are doing the same deal on the N40L now so might be buying one of those for £120 instead.

What OS are you going to be running on it?

They are doing the same deal on the N40L and I'd recommend you pick one up, they are really good for the money. They have the build quality of something triple the price. Shame about the floods.

To keep things simple I'm using Windows Home Server 2011, it does everything I need.

 

[Ethermaster]

IM building my own

from the ground up, well..... thinking about it about it anyway, thats a nice little box mind. with a nice little linux OS