[XCSSA] Tips for DIY NAS?

Fri Mar 6 16:04:18 CST 2009

Hmm...that's definitely an option. Looks like you can drop a version  
of Debian on the Linkstation, although I'll need to do a bit more  
research. I need to be able to do rsync (which seems easy enough) but  
I also was thinking about using JungleDisk to backup my data to it (in  
case of multi drive failure, fire, unattended JungleDisk backups,  
etc.). They seem to have a generic Linux client but I haven't played  
around with it too much (just been using the OS X client so far).  
You're right, though, the Linkstation looks better, and is much  
smaller, than any NAS I could build myself. Plus, I'd get more drive  
space...

*goes away to ponder for a bit*

Tim S.

On Mar 6, 2009, at 3:34 PM, X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio  
wrote:

> For $229, you can buy a Buffalo NAS with 2x500GB drives.  It runs  
> linux,
> hackable.  Firmware is available for download.
>
> If you prefer to make your own, consider the Kurobox.  It's Buffalo's
> offering
> to hackers for $160 - no drives included.
>
> Yes, I've made my own NAS with an x86 embedded board I bought from  
> ebay
> for $25 with 300Mhz CPU, 128MB memory and a 16MB CF.  The 2 500GB
> drives cost $200.  Total: $225, not counting the power supply.  I  
> use a
> drive bay
> from an old PC to house the hard drives.  It looks ugly but I put it  
> in
> a closet
> since the whole thing runs on no fans.
>
> It worked fine for me, but since I saw the Buffalo NAS for around  
> $200,
> I went
> with the Bufallo.
>
> X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio wrote:
>> Just to give everyone an update, the direction I'm thinking of going
>> is as such:
>>
>> * 1Ghz VIA C7 Motherboard/CPU Mini-ITX with on-board Gigabit LAN  
>> and 2
>> SATA ports (JetWay J7F4K1G2E)
>> * 1GB DDR2 RAM
>> * SANS DIGITAL ST-SAN-CS1T Compact Flash CF to 2.5” SATA Enclosure
>> * 8GB SanDisk Ultra-II CF Card
>>
>> All that runs about $216 ($230 with shipping) from NewEgg. I wanted  
>> to
>> get a hot-swap enclosure but I don't really need that to get things
>> working. I already have 3 160GB SATA drives (in a RAID5) and, while
>> that's a bit small, I figure I can start there since I already have
>> them and they work.
>>
>> The VIA C7 is a fairly nice chip. It's not amazingly fast compared to
>> the newer VIA Nano, but I can't find any boards that ship with the
>> ultra-low power version (the standard version draws 17W). No fan
>> required, and the thing runs at like 5W. Actually, I think it's even
>> faster than my current file-server (An Athlon something or other).
>>
>> The only thing I need to figure out is how to power down the drives.
>> I'm using a CF card for the OS, so no problem there (I looked at  
>> full-
>> blown SATA SDD drives, but they are easily 2x the cost). I'll be  
>> using
>> my existing LSI MegaRAID controller and I'm not sure how power down
>> states are handled (if at all). Going to figure this out before I
>> order any of this stuff since if I can't spin the drives down, there
>> isn't much point. If I'm stuck I may just sell the LSI and opt for a
>> RAID1 using the on-board SATA ports. That means I'd have to buy 2 new
>> drives though, making the cost go up (and I don't think I'd make a  
>> lot
>> back from selling the LSI RAID).
>>
>> OS of choice is going to be Ubuntu. Actually, switching from Gentoo
>> (*shivers*) to Ubuntu was partly what sparked this - I've just had  
>> the
>> idea on the back burner for a while. I thought about using FreeNAS  
>> but
>> I'd rather have the configurability of a regular Linux distro.
>>
>> Thoughts welcome if anyone else has done this before. Unlike my
>> MidiBox stuff, I should be able to throw something together somewhat
>> quickly once I pull the trigger on the parts.
>>
>> Werd,
>>
>> Tim S.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 5, 2009, at 8:31 PM, X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I was checking out CPU magazine on the plane ride home today and was
>>> reading up on commercial NAS solutions. They all look pretty cool  
>>> but
>>> seem to be very expensive or not configurable enough. I already  
>>> have a
>>> nice LSI SATA-RAID (4-drive) and, in fact, already have a file- 
>>> server.
>>> The problem is that it's loud and consumes too much juice. That's  
>>> one
>>> thing the commercial solutions have up on me - power usage.
>>>
>>> I've been trying to piece together a VIA C7-based machine, but all  
>>> the
>>> boards I have found seem to be too small. I actually would love a
>>> MIPS-
>>> based solution (just because I jones for RISC :) but I have found  
>>> even
>>> less info about that.
>>>
>>> Granted, all I need is a PCI/PCI-X slot for the controller, but I'd
>>> like to have a 1x PCI-E slot for future expansion. I was also  
>>> thinking
>>> of having it boot up off CompactFlash or something else that would
>>> otherwise allow me to keep the RAID separate from the OS drive.
>>>
>>> Any thoughts?
>>>
>>> Tim S.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> XCSSA mailing list
>>> XCSSA at xcssa.org
>>> http://xcssa.org/mailman/listinfo/xcssa
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> XCSSA mailing list
>> XCSSA at xcssa.org
>> http://xcssa.org/mailman/listinfo/xcssa
>>
> _______________________________________________
> XCSSA mailing list
> XCSSA at xcssa.org
> http://xcssa.org/mailman/listinfo/xcssa
>