EventHorizon27
New member
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!

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!