[acegis]

Hi all,

Currently I am building a brand new HTPC but it will also act as an home NAS, file server, jdownloader, etc. and therefore this hardware will be running 24x7. Just all-in-one ;-) So far I have an MSI Brazos Board, PICO-PSU, BR-Drive. Running OS - XBMCBuntu.

I am considering two options:

Option 1: one small drive (2,5" HDD maybe SSD) for system and boot running 24x7 and an additional drive eg. 1T for data movies, etc (HDD 3,5" or maybe 2,5")? I guess the big drive will go sleep when no in use?

Option 2. Just one drive for system and data but here what about power saving? This drive will always on or will be suspended if not in use?

I know the first option is more "elegant" but the second is just more cost efficient.

My goal is to optimize the TCO of the entire system, HDD performance it is not the issue.

Your recommendation?

[wsume99]

If your goal is to build a system with the lowest total ownership cost then a single drive is definitely the way to go. Your concern with option 2 exists with option 1 as well. No matter what you do you are going to have to deal with the OS drive spinning. So option 2 is cheaper due to not purchasing or having to power a 2nd HDD.

[tredman]

Don't know what os you were planning to use, but if it's *nix you coud install it to a fairly small (8 or 16 gig) sd card and boot from that.

[Kirky99]

What's ur CPU, that's the biggest hog in the bunch frankly...

[acegis]

The thing is I use to have a separate "home server" - it was running 24x7 Atom/WXP (40W in idle) and a "real" HTPC running AMD X2 and W7, now I am starting with another home server with HTPC functionality.
My first decision was to go for openELEC on a pen-drive + additional HDD for data, unfortunately I can not use apt-get on OpenELEC ;-) - it was missing some features that I need. The second try it was XBMCbuntu - it seems feel out my needs (I can apt-get whatever I need) but it seems I can not handle to run it smoothly from any pendrive (tested with 4 different pendrives, with LiLi als installer, with unetbootin) no success the results are not stable.
Therefore I decided to go for "normal" old - school install on any drive connected to sata ;-)
I am considering use ony one drive - but what happens to my HDD when it run permanently weeks and months?
Is eg. WD green capable to be used in such configuration? I mean server usage? 24x7?
Will also my linux suspend it when not in use? (what about system processes accessing drive).

[Morrtin]

I have 2 WD Green running in my QNAP 24/7 and they are working but they are not really in IDLE mode. They spin down but doing something every time. I like the idea with the sd card even when I am going to get a SSD for my system.