Network Storage

alferret · 08-12-2007, 10:50

Im looking to build a network storage pc so that nearly all content is accessable to all on our home network without having the main PC on.
I have a 1.4 t\bird, case, mem, etc and I will be adding somewhere in the region of 3-4+tb of storage.

2 questions

1 what would be the ideal OS

2 could I use another router as an access point plugged into the main router 9as I have 2 spare routers?

TIA

08-12-2007, 10:53

Windows Home Server is what you need!

Paul K · 08-12-2007, 11:33

http://www.freenas.org ? The cheaper option

alferret · 08-12-2007, 13:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

http://www.freenas.org ? The cheaper option

Free suits me sir

Time for some reading up on NAS & freenas.

My initial thought was a linux box with drives, but looking that freenas takes up only 32mb and as long as the board can boot from a USB flash drive I think that may be a winner initially

Im gonna dig out all the old stuff I have burried around the house and see what options there are.

dragon · 08-12-2007, 15:55

Linux.

Then you can have it as a media server.etc if you want to.
Apache + Php + jinzora makes for a great Jukebox, bit slow sometimes (that might be down to my server being a p3 500) but works with pretty much any media player that supports HTTP streaming.

use webmin to setup shares.etc makes it lot easier than playing around in the console (unless you wish to play around in the console of course)

Freenas has a nice web interface but its a bit limited IMO, if you got the machine running make it more than just as NAS

Those sata controllers you can get for about Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£10 on ebay seem to work ok (or at least the one i got did) if you find yourself short on ports to plug the HDD's into.

dragon · 08-12-2007, 16:07

First 2 pics are of Webmin which is a web-based management application.

2nd 2 are jinzora which is the jukebox app i was saying about.

alferret · 08-12-2007, 23:30

This is what I got for the box.

Duron 1.2 (not t\bird my mistake) 256mb SDram with a CD-R\RW, 20gb hdd. Aint got a clue what the mobo is but it has OB VGA (whoooooooooo)

Need a recommendation for a passive HS & PSU (although 1 is in the case) want this silent as poss.

So if I were to put Linux on it what would flavour be recommended? I know jack about Linux but very willing to learn

And has anyone got any idea's about using a router as an access point?

Druchii · 09-12-2007, 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by alferret

This is what I got for the box.

Duron 1.2 (not t\bird my mistake) 256mb SDram with a CD-R\RW, 20gb hdd. Aint got a clue what the mobo is but it has OB VGA (whoooooooooo)

Need a recommendation for a passive HS & PSU (although 1 is in the case) want this silent as poss.

So if I were to put Linux on it what would flavour be recommended? I know jack about Linux but very willing to learn

And has anyone got any idea's about using a router as an access point?

FreeNAS should be all you need

As for passive heatsinks/coolers... Good luck, those Durons ran hot as far as i remember.

SOSAGES · 09-12-2007, 12:58

http://www.qnap.com/

Vlad_Dracul · 10-12-2007, 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by alferret

Im looking to build a network storage pc so that nearly all content is accessable to all on our home network without having the main PC on.
I have a 1.4 t\bird, case, mem, etc and I will be adding somewhere in the region of 3-4+tb of storage.

2 questions

1 what would be the ideal OS

2 could I use another router as an access point plugged into the main router 9as I have 2 spare routers?

TIA

You've probably checked this already but i recently bought a buffalo linkstation live box
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/pr...kstation-live/

I had thought about network storage as a solution for a while. The actual device has a very small footprint, probably about half the height of a piece of A4. I picked the 500Gig model. Its hard wired to my wireless router. On my home network i habe my own lappy running Vista and my GF has a Macbook. It all works very well and there is a wealth of info/ and a forum about buffalo NAS. Apparently it runs some form of embedded linux. I have not delved too deeply ,it just works and sits there quietly.

danielf · 10-12-2007, 12:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlad_Dracul

You've probably checked this already but i recently bought a buffalo linkstation live box
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/pr...kstation-live/

I had thought about network storage as a solution for a while. The actual device has a very small footprint, probably about half the height of a piece of A4. I picked the 500Gig model. Its hard wired to my wireless router. On my home network i habe my own lappy running Vista and my GF has a Macbook. It all works very well and there is a wealth of info/ and a forum about buffalo NAS. Apparently it runs some form of embedded linux. I have not delved too deeply ,it just works and sits there quietly.

I was going to say that, until I noticed the Op is after 3-4 TB of storage, so he'd need quite a few of them. Other than that, the LinkStation is a brilliant piece of kit.

alferret · 10-12-2007, 13:28

I had looked at that senario, but getting the amount of storage I need will take a bit more, and it will be easier to add additional drives to the setup, aslong as I can squeeze drives in the box I can add controller cards.

I'm gonna boot the box up tonight and make sure everything is working, once done I will first look at freenas, if I cant get my head around that I will try Linux.

The whole idea behind my storage idea is that we have 3 PC's on the network and the kids are quite often shuffling through disc's to find the music/film/prog they want and this sometimes ends up with damaged disc's etc.

This will save my time and the kids, and give me a project to tinker over on the cold winter nights.

Thanks for all your replys, i'll keep popping back into this thread with more questions no doubt

Vlad_Dracul · 10-12-2007, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

I was going to say that, until I noticed the Op is after 3-4 TB of storage, so he'd need quite a few of them. Other than that, the LinkStation is a brilliant piece of kit.

Just another point, the new linkstation live has a couple of USB2 rear conectors to allow daisy chaining of further storage and also incorporates a print server which i haven't used yet.

dragon · 10-12-2007, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by alferret

This is what I got for the box.

Duron 1.2 (not t\bird my mistake) 256mb SDram with a CD-R\RW, 20gb hdd. Aint got a clue what the mobo is but it has OB VGA (whoooooooooo)

Need a recommendation for a passive HS & PSU (although 1 is in the case) want this silent as poss.

So if I were to put Linux on it what would flavour be recommended? I know jack about Linux but very willing to learn

And has anyone got any idea's about using a router as an access point?

Debian or Ubuntu (server)

Centos is quite good also although I've never set that one up on any of my local machines (use it on the webserver but it was installed by the DC)

would put it on my home server but its quite happily running Ubuntu server 7.10 and I see no real reason to go to the hassle of changing it.