Built a NAS from some scrap parts I had lying around and a case I picked up

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/staticlag/P1020678.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/staticlag/P1020670.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/staticlag/P1020676.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/staticlag/P1020677.jpg

Its pretty quiet, thew a spare 250 GB and a 1TB in it for now.

The case is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219020

The front door needs to be locked to keep it shut, but other than that its a pretty solid case, light for its size, and big enough to hold just about anything you could throw at it (board in there is a 12" x 13" Extended ATX server MB), holds 8 drives comfortably and 3 DVD spots.

Oh, and the fans are actually really quiet, and it moves a ton of air! Has spaces for 2x80mm fans in the back and 2x120 MM fans in front

That thing is big. I've found a couple of deals (sub-$200) for dual Xenon 1U boxes. I thought about picking up one for this purpose.

I have this EXACT case. I filled it with all of the hard drives I had laying around. A bunch of 80's and some 160's. I think I had like 13 or 14 at one point (5 each in the two hard drive cages and an added 2x5.25 -> 3x3.5 adapter cage with 80mm fan in the optical drive bays). I also picked up a 3-pack of low-speed 12cm fans at Frys to cool the main hard drive banks.

Used FreeNAS for mine. What software are you planning on running?

Dual-proc for a NAS though? That's like killing a fly with a canon.

My only gripe about the case is the front panel needing to be locked to stay closed.

looks nice. :)

Nice, you rack mounting it? I have to get off my ass and do this.

I have this EXACT case. I filled it with all of the hard drives I had laying around. A bunch of 80's and some 160's. I think I had like 13 or 14 at one point (5 each in the two hard drive cages and an added 2x5.25 -> 3x3.5 adapter cage with 80mm fan in the optical drive bays). I also picked up a 3-pack of low-speed 12cm fans at Frys to cool the main hard drive banks.

Used FreeNAS for mine. What software are you planning on running?

Dual-proc for a NAS though? That's like killing a fly with a canon.

My only gripe about the case is the front panel needing to be locked to stay closed.

Yeah this case is pretty awesomely priced! I think I'll pick up some blue 80mm fans for the back or something just so I can reduce the potential of air to swirl inside of the case by giving the exhuast a clear exit path.

I wanted to use FreeNAS b/c of the low overhead, but I thought about going more the SAN route and trying to use iSCSI so I threw Win Server 08 R2 Datacenter edition on it. At least this way I can also put an advanced Torrent client on it as well.

Maybe I'll also throw some blue cathode lights in it just for kicks!

This thing definitely kills. I'm getting 90-110 MB/sec transfers from it to my desktop using windows file sharing. flow control enabled on both, Jumbo 9K frames, Interrupt Moderation disabled.

Nice, you rack mounting it? I have to get off my ass and do this.

I have those wire bakery racks and I just stack them on them b/c I am too cheap to buy a REAL rack.

Maybe some day i can get a great deal on a half-size or smaller one!

That thing is big. I've found a couple of deals (sub-$200) for dual Xenon 1U boxes. I thought about picking up one for this purpose.

Those are nice for power builds, but for NAS you really can't stick drives in them (typically only 2 spaces). And a lot of those are geared mostly for SAS drives.

They are also really loud so be sure to ask them to power it up before u buy.

It is a nice machine to have around though if your into PCs, fun times!

I wanted to use FreeNAS b/c of the low overhead, but I thought about going more the SAN route and trying to use iSCSI so I threw Win Server 08 R2 Datacenter edition on it. At least this way I can also put an advanced Torrent client on it as well.


Ugh, just realized that apparently the only OSs with iSCSI targets built in are Windows Storage Server 08, and version 03.

does anyone know of anyway to get the MS software target onto Server 08 (or any other MS OS)?

Awesome! i just discovered that FreeNAS can do iSCSI!!!

http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/how-to-setup-iscsi-drive-using-freenas/2009-01-19/

Update: I am an idiot, this was supposed to be just a "throw together from spare parts" build.

It's gotten pretty out of hand....

Will post pics when the latest batch of stuff from the egg gets here on Thurs...

I guess the upside is that it kills out-of-the-box machines....

Ok! here she is in current incarnation

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/staticlag/Server-1.jpg

Got a few more drives on the way but shes at 6.75 TB currently. The hot swap bay on the right is housing a RAID 5 array of 1 TB disks. Of course UV lights and UV reactive cables were added for bling.

Wow that thing can start wars!

HP ProLiant DL380 G3 Dual Xeon 3.06GHz Server
2U Chassis
Our Price: $169.99

http://www.pacificgeek.com/woot.asp