NAS Backup Solution

[mattx]

There is only 256 in the boxes that hold the media stuff - i have no plans on up-dating the firmware on those. The min spec for updating the FreeNAS firmware is 192 meg. [ I think ]

The box which has been up for over a year only has about 128 in !!

[dhicks]

Which RAID card?

 

Sorry, busy, can't remember model of RAID card, but I remember a decent hardware RAID costs around £300. Cheaper than that and you might as well use software RAID.

 

What kind of motherboard/chip?

 

Check eBay, it really is the best way to get model numbers of motherboards and an idea of prices, even if you don't actually buy stuff from there. You can now get motherboards with 8 to 10 SATA ports and two ethernet ports on-board (sorry, don't have a part number to hand, but I'm sure there's plenty out there).

 

How much memory?

 

Might as well get 4GB of RAM, it's cheap these days. Get 6 500GB SATA drives (best price / size ratio) and set them up as two RAID 5 arrays. Might want to get two small SATA drives and maybe a RAID 1 card to boot the machine off (if budget is limited, just get the two small drives, boot off one and have the other as a spare).

 

What PSU (will it take to power 4 HDD's?)

 

Again, can't remember model number, but around £100 for a PSU should cover it.

 

I like the Antec 900 "gaming" case - lots of room to stuff components in, big fans (plus blue glowing lights!). The cheap Dell server (currently on offer for £99 again, I think) will actually take four harddrives if you take the CD drive out - you can buy said server with two 250GB or 500GB drives for around £200, stuff a couple of extra drives in, done.

 

--

David Hicks

[Hightower]

After a bit of research I found all the hardware I need to do the job. It's pretty basic spec but should do. I found a decent case for £40 that holds up to 7 drives. I also found out that to power 4 drives and a mobo & raid card it will take about 250 watts max, so I've opted for a £40 400 watt PSU that has 4 sata connectors.

 

I think I'm about there now so thanks for everyones help - just got to get it ordered. All in all it's gonna cost £425 ex VAT for everything.

[mattx]

Well all this talk of NAS - I just opened up this months PC Pro and on page 187 is a guide to setting up FreeNAS......