All I want for Xmas.. 2 drives and FreeNAS

[gribbler]

I'm looking for something that I can slap a couple of sata drives into, run FreeNAS, and plug into the network - nothing fancy, more on the cheap side, something to store my content for my xbmc machine.. All the examples I keep seeing are more +6 drives and more beefy than I'll ever need. Any good suggestions?

 

[gpsguy]

If you live in the US, NewEgg has the HP N54L on sale for $240 (after rebate) through 12/8. You can get an extra $12 off off, with a promo code that expires today (12/5). It only comes with 2Gb of RAM, so you'd want to replace it with either 8 or 16Gb, but it works with ECC RAM.

A number of forum user's have this model, or one of the older variants.

 

[gribbler]

the review on there says the PSU fan is loud.. anyone have one and care to comment?
thanks.. this is what i'm looking for.

 

[Michael Wulff Nielsen]

Have a look at this thread .

That's a FreeNas build that works and is pretty cheap. If you want your data to be secure you need ecc memory, there is no way around it. Without ECC FreeNAS and ZFS is actually less safe than a Linux or Windows server.

But if it is only for media and your requirements are not data-safety you might be better served by an off-the-shelf product like synology og qnap.

 

[gribbler]

I have an Acer Easystore h340 that I see there's a great thread out there on how to replace the mobo and make it modern - might do that.. Thanks for that link as well. Much to ponder

 

[Michael Wulff Nielsen]

It looks like a nice small box, but you might have a hard time finding a new motherboard that fits, I suspect thats a custom board. But there are some mini-itx boards on the market from SuperMicro.

Good luck

 

[gribbler]

There's a GREAT thread, http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php/topic/15907-h340-motherboard-swap/

one guy breaks it all down on parts and how to change the power supply connectors to work with a standard board.

I might do it, I'm just trying to move next week, then to Mexico for a week, then Xmas, etc.. Busy times. But projects are fun.. Thanks for the feedback

 

[jgreco]

The Gen8 MicroServers are also available and I'm guessing they'd be a lot less messing around than retrofitting some old Acer product.