[fishypops]

I am building a server for a friend.

This is going to be W7 (at least to start with until I work out Unraid for myself).
This will be serving Video/Audio, documents and photo's.

It would be great if it were low power. I was thinking of the AMD Sempron 140U.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6819103698
I would get the 2TB WD Caviar Greeens.
I think that we are probably talking about a max of 4Drives.

I don't have access to Rasewill Cases.

Can you please help me try to decide on the components.

Thanks.

[eskro]

you can still go with unRAID...
unRAID Basic is free and handles 3 HDD's...

this is all you need for a basic/perfect unRAID server

[nemek]

If u don't want to have more than 4-5 hdd's i would choose zacate/atom instead sempron (similar performance & way lower power consumption)

[fishypops]

What is the best Zacate board to go for ?

[eskro]

i would still get a SEMPRON CPU + ASROCK BOARD just to be more futurproof....
in case you'll someday need more storage place, you'll be ready for it!

[hick]

even with the zacate you can put a 4 port sata card if more is needed. My asrock zacate has been stable.

[eskro]

SEMPRON CPU + ASROCK BOARD = possible 18HDD for $100....

[fleeball]

SEMPRON CPU + ASROCK BOARD = possible 18HDD for $100....

Hi Eskro

Can you please expand on this. I currently have an old P4 server that I'm looking to replace. Currently have 10x 2TB(6 internal & 4 external) attached and looking to expand. I see on 6 SATA ports on the Asrock board you have mentioned. Which addin cards do you recommend to expand to 18 drives?

[eskro]

theres PCI cards that gives you 2 more SATA ports
and PCIe cards that gives you 4 more SATA ports

[fishypops]

There is a good deal on the antec EA-500. 500W is probably more than I need for my new server build.

If I buy a 500W supply, does that mean that it uses 500W, or does it only use that when it needs to ?

[eskro]

only when needed,,,
and my favorite PSU for a NAS is the same one CHOQUE bought,,,,

[Choque]

this is all you need for a basic/perfect unRAID server

I recognize this build

[maxinc]

Can you please expand on this. I currently have an old P4 server that I'm looking to replace. Currently have 10x 2TB(6 internal & 4 external) attached and looking to expand. I see on 6 SATA ports on the Asrock board you have mentioned. Which addin cards do you recommend to expand to 18 drives?

theres PCI cards that gives you 2 more SATA ports
and PCIe cards that gives you 4 more SATA ports

PCI SATA controllers are a bad compromise because of the PCI bus speed limitation. They should only be used as a last resort or if you already have them. If you have to do that in a unRAID configuration, at least put the smallest capacity drives on them to minimise the penalty on performance.

PCIe controllers are the way to go and the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 can handle 8 SATA drives on one card.

[Choque]

PCI SATA controllers are a bad compromise because of the PCI bus speed limitation. They should only be used as a last resort or if you already have them. If you have to do that in a unRAID configuration, at least put the smallest capacity drives on them to minimise the penalty on performance.

PCIe controllers are the way to go and the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 can handle 8 SATA drives on one card.

Original quote from the unRAID site

Forget PCI-E

For a less expensive solution, you can use PCI disk controllers. Your parity sync/check speed will not be as fast, but all other normal operations (read/write of media data) will be just as fast. Since parity sync/check can be done during times when your server is not being used, parity sync/check speed is less important.

So it doesn't really matter since the only thing that suffers is the parity sync/check speed which - as described here - can be done during times when the server is not being used.

[maxinc]

So it doesn't really matter since the only thing that suffers is the parity sync/check speed which - as described here - can be done during times when the server is not being used.

Depends on how many discs you have on the PCI bus and how large they are. For a simple parity check it could take several days. On disc upgrades, replacements, the process could take a similar amount of time.

The PCI bus in theory has 133MB of bandwidth available so if you have 8 x 2TB drives on the PCI bus, the speed would be divided between them so you would have 133 /8 = 16.6MB/s in theory. In practical terms would be more like 12MB/s which would take a 2TB drive about 46 Hours for a simple parity check.

(2.000.000 MB / 12MBps / 3600 seconds per hour).

Once the 3TB and 4TB drive will be out and supported, it will get even worse.

So yes, it can be done, but could become very inconvenient later.