Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

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accipiter
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:44 pm
Location: South West UK

Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by accipiter » Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:20 pm

I am looking to build a replacement for my existing network-attached storage (2x 300GB freecom NAS’s), as they are so sloooow . (on gigabit network)

Tasks I need this machine to do now...
• Data backup for 1 PC (wired) and a laptop (wireless):
• ?OS backup for connected PCs
• Serve data for laptop (mainly jpgs)
• Spin down disks when not in use, be energy efficient.
• Allow Remote desktop-style connections as its likely to be without monitor in the loft.

Current data storage requirements:


Photos, short avi clips Size now = 80 Gb, Annual increment = 30 Gb
Music Size now = 60 Gb, Annual increment = 20 Gb
Films Size now = 1 TB, Annual increment = 400 Gb
Data Size now = 40 Gb, Annual increment = 5 Gb

I have a number of future projects in mind and would like to design this with these in mind I’ve listed these below:

• Run home/wildlife IP cameras and store footage
• Act as a media server for a HTPC - the project after this one.
• I’m interested in the possibility of using this to host virtual os’s to thin client desktops when my kids are big enough to want to use PCs (wont be long) – I don’t yet know much about that, but its an idea sort of bouncing about in my head.

It doesn’t have to be totally silent as its likely to be in a loft space, but ever the purist, I would look for a little moving parts as possible.

I recently successfully built a near silent PC so don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I have no experience of server architecture and have limited use of linux distros, but would have a go if need be.

Case: Fractal Define R2, since my current PC is build in one, and its really quiet. I like the look of their new offering, a (slightly) smaller I rather Fractal Define mini. Can only accommodate up to 6 HDs, and not an ATX MB.

CPU
My most recent research was pre-SB architecture so some recommendations what sort of CPU I ought to be considering would be appreciated, and I have no idea about whether any of the atom offerings are suitable in any way.

MB: I would probably want at least 6 SATA ports. Probably support for USB3. Gigabit NIC (?standard), and I don’t want wireless modules. Something reliable?integrated GPU or use SB CPU-GPU setup? I'm not wedded to ITX, and am happy to consider something smaller.

Memory: For my current needs, 2Gb is probably fine, but for virtual machine ? over 4GB would be better since my PC wheezes slightly running XP window over windows 7

PSU: 400 or 460 W Seasonic Fanless

OS: This is where I draw a blank. For the current requirements, a free NAS distro would probably do, but for media server I would either need to go full linux distro, or windows… server or windows 7? I am more comfortable with windows environments in this case.

HDs: 1x small fast HD for OS, and the rest for data? Any recommendations based on proposed uses? Some sort of raid array setup (maximise availability for media serving functions). I use a number of Samsung HDs currently, and am happy with them: Would consider a number of 2TB HD204UI drives for data

Backup: Current use is as a backup machine, with a view to expand in the future as media server. Would mirror critical data (family photos) to existing commercial NAS boxe, and maybe to internal dedicated HD.

Any suggestions would be helpful, especially around the new S-B MBs and CPUs,

Cheers,

Dave

HFat
Posts: 1753
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:27 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by HFat » Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:23 pm

I'm not sure what you want with this talk of "media server". If you're serving files to a separate HTPC, that's just a NAS. If you're connecting it directly to a display, that's not a NAS. If you want to serve movies to a limited playback device such as some gaming consoles, that may require more than a simple NAS as well.
Serving desktops to thin clients PCs is way overkill for the home. It's complicated to set up, puts limitations on what you can do with the PCs, requires a more powerful server and, so far as I can see, accomplishes nothing. A cheap fanless PC can run a desktop just fine on its own nowadays. Sure, you need a drive per PC but single-platter 2.5'' drives make very little noise, consume very little power and are cheap.

You don't need more than 1G of RAM for a NAS unless you want to use ZFS or some other memory guzzler. Even 1G would be overkill with reasonable software. Nor do you need virtual machines.

Atoms are fine for a NAS. Depending on the speeds you want and on how complicated your array might be (software RAID5, ZFS?), the slowest Atoms may not cut it. But the fastest ones should work fine. And so would AMD's and VIA's comparable products of course. Spending more than that would be a waste in my opinion unless you want ECC RAM.
The trouble with the cheap Atom boards is that they have a limited number of SATA ports (easily remedied unless you want a very small NAS). Another limitation is that most Atoms don't have the VM instruction. So it might be worthwhile to spend a bit more to get an AMD board.

If you want the lowest power consumption possible, you could get an ARM-based NAS. But the good ones aren't cheap and you won't be able to run Windows on it any time soon.

Availability is not only a matter of being able to deal with a drive failure. There's also the other parts to consider.
If you want to save time and get quality at an affordable price, consider getting a low-end server instead of building your own. It'll make more noise than something you'd build yourself but that wouldn't be an issue in your situation. It would also use more moving parts but not that much more. The Proliant Microserver for instance has two fans (small power supply fan and large case fan that blows on the drives). It's got low power consumption, ECC RAM and 4 hotplug drive bays.

It looks like a pair of 2T drives (for mirroring) would last you about two years at which point you might want too buy two more drives. So you don't need more than 4 SATA ports unless you want to reuse a bunch of old drives.
You don't need a separate drive for the OS.

goatsandmonkeys
Posts: 91
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Location: new york

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by goatsandmonkeys » Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:46 pm

my advice to you would be use the term "NASpirations" :)

Sounds like you'll only need 2TB for a while. Is there a compelling reason not to just set up a redundant RAID on your main system and run it 24/7? My guess its it would save energy and redundant parts.

Also don't forget to buy an additional 2TB drive and do occasional backups that you keep at work or a family member's house in case of fire.

Dr. Jim Pomatter
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Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by Dr. Jim Pomatter » Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:47 pm

It is really hard to help when you have left so much undecided. The three big questions are:
1 --> What tasks and programs that you want to use via the remote desktop-style connections? This decides what OS you might want to run, how much RAM, etc.
2 --> Will this be in an uninhabited space, or in your living space?
3 --> Do you like having "the best" or do you want to get the job done at a lower price.
accipiter wrote:I am looking to build a replacement for my existing network-attached storage (2x 300GB freecom NAS’s), as they are so sloooow . (on gigabit network)

Tasks I need this machine to do now...
• Data backup for 1 PC (wired) and a laptop (wireless):
• ?OS backup for connected PCs
• Serve data for laptop (mainly jpgs)
• Spin down disks when not in use, be energy efficient.
• Allow Remote desktop-style connections as its likely to be without monitor in the loft.
Many RAID cards do NOT spin down the disks. Also, the additional processor and RAM of a RAID card can add 20+ watts to the system power draw. Using software RAID is preferred either use Linux software RAID or "Intel Matrix RAID" on Microsoft Windows. This saves watts at both idle and load, and money.
accipiter wrote:Current data storage requirements:
Photos, short avi clips Size now = 80 Gb, Annual increment = 30 Gb
Music Size now = 60 Gb, Annual increment = 20 Gb
Films Size now = 1 TB, Annual increment = 400 Gb
Data Size now = 40 Gb, Annual increment = 5 Gb
2tb drives are the best buy today. A 3-drive or a 5-drive RAID array of 2tb disks will take 3-6 years to fill up.
accipiter wrote:I have a number of future projects in mind and would like to design this with these in mind I’ve listed these below:
• Run home/wildlife IP cameras and store footage
• Act as a media server for a HTPC - the project after this one.
• I’m interested in the possibility of using this to host virtual os’s to thin client desktops when my kids are big enough to want to use PCs (wont be long) – I don’t yet know much about that, but its an idea sort of bouncing about in my head.

It doesn’t have to be totally silent as its likely to be in a loft space, but ever the purist, I would look for a little moving parts as possible.


Larger fans are more reliable. Ball-bearing fans are also more reliable. Faster fans shed or drive through the dust that builds up on lower-speed fans. If you are going to have the system in another room, you might want to stick with the stock Intel cooler.

If you are normal about PC noise (meaning your don't care about noise under 40 db) you can get away with having a single PC that is both your NAS and your HTPC. A thick case that soft-mounts the hard drives and has foam padding will help with hard drive noise.

Image

I have been using the NZXT Whisper with up to 10 hard drives. Nine (yes, 9) of the drives fit into the trays with vibration isolating dampeners. The last drive is a 1.8" Crucial SSD that is just taped to the lower divider of the case. (The trays work for 2.5" and 3.5" drives.)

I disconnected and then taped over the rear 80mm fans. I disconnected the 140mm front fan (it was quiet, but not under-30db quiet). My Corsair VX450 power supply 120mm fan moves enough air for my 9 "green" drives.

The NZXT Whisper also has foam-lined sides, top, and bottom. No need to spend $45, and get your fingers all sticky. This case comes with a rubber power supply grommet (another $8 you don't need to spend). It ALSO has a door to make the front air-path less direct.

A quick video review:
http://www.3dgameman.com/reviews/1011/n ... ilent-case

Lots of pics in this review:
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/?q=node/371

Put your loudest drives in the middle trays of the foam-lined lower chamber. You will be happy with this case. They have it at Newegg. Price has been $120 for more then a year, but they did have free shipping once.

Amazon is the place to buy cases, including the NZXT Whisper. The free shipping for orders over $50 means that you get them to move this huge piece of metal for free!

accipiter wrote: Case: Fractal Define R2, since my current PC is build in one, and its really quiet. I like the look of their new offering, a (slightly) smaller I rather Fractal Define mini. Can only accommodate up to 6 HDs, and not an ATX MB.

CPU
My most recent research was pre-SB architecture so some recommendations what sort of CPU I ought to be considering would be appreciated, and I have no idea about whether any of the atom offerings are suitable in any way.

MB: I would probably want at least 6 SATA ports. Probably support for USB3. Gigabit NIC (?standard), and I don’t want wireless modules. Something reliable?integrated GPU or use SB CPU-GPU setup? I'm not wedded to ITX, and am happy to consider something smaller.
What do you have on hand, or what can you get cheap? You do not need much speed to run a NAS. The real question is what else, if anything, do you want to do with the machine. If you do not want to do anything but run a NAS, go with a bottom-end or a used CPU.

Even a slow Celeron 420 (1.6 ghz single-core LGA775) can serve 35 mb/s with a simple linux distro. This is the setup for the Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-EHW, a ~$200 box that runs around 35 dba (my guess).

If you are going to run virtual machines, look at the VM host software to see if it requires hardware virtualization support. While almost all AMD chips do have these extentions, many Intel chips do not support these instructions. Both of the SB "K" series overclocking CPUs do NOT support hardware virtualization.
accipiter wrote:Memory: For my current needs, 2Gb is probably fine, but for virtual machine ? over 4GB would be better since my PC wheezes slightly running XP window over windows 7
If you are just going to use this as a NAS for 2-4 clients, then 512-1024 Mb can be enough.

I know that we all like speed, but WindowsXP does a fine job of working within 768-1536 MB for regular desktop use.
accipiter wrote:PSU: 400 or 460 W Seasonic Fanless
Are you made of money?
accipiter wrote:OS: This is where I draw a blank. For the current requirements, a free NAS distro would probably do, but for media server I would either need to go full linux distro, or windows… server or windows 7? I am more comfortable with windows environments in this case.
I would suggest Amahi.
accipiter wrote:HDs: 1x small fast HD for OS, and the rest for data? Any recommendations based on proposed uses? Some sort of raid array setup (maximise availability for media serving functions). I use a number of Samsung HDs currently, and am happy with them: Would consider a number of 2TB HD204UI drives for data

Backup: Current use is as a backup machine, with a view to expand in the future as media server. Would mirror critical data (family photos) to existing commercial NAS boxe, and maybe to internal dedicated HD.
We need to know about budget vs. "the best". The best would be a 128 GB SSD for the OS, and 3-5 hard drives. On a budget I would get two 500 GB regular disks for the OS (RAID 1), and three 2tb disks for data (RAID 5).

How are you going to back up this server?

Taxcheat
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 3:44 pm
Location: Washington DC

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by Taxcheat » Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:55 am

HFat wrote:You don't need more than 1G of RAM for a NAS unless you want to use ZFS or some other memory guzzler. Even 1G would be overkill with reasonable software. Nor do you need virtual machines.
Actually, OP's future NASpirations sound like he wants a full server. He mentioned serving up virtual machines for kids running on cheap, disposable terminals. This is a pretty good idea: easy to control internet use when it flows through the server. And the kiddies will never be able to disable the internet filter that resides on the server, as long as you protect the root password. Also, it's trivial to back up and restore VMs. Kids have a tendency to screw up the OS. Throw a few extra $ into this project and save money in the long run.

One issue is that I'm not sure how well VMs would run kiddie games. I use VirtualBox which has some DirectX emulation, but I've never tried games. I tried to use it to watch BluRays under linux, but it didn't work. Regular video files work great. You definitely need lots of ram for VMs.

In case my experience is useful, I've been setting up Ubuntu Server myself for the first time (no gui for me, but it can be installed if you want). It's not that hard, and there are a few handy guides out there to walk you through the process. Webmin makes controlling the system via browser very simple. Setting up Samba is trivial, and that's all you need to do to make your box a NAS. Here's what's hard:

1. Setting up VMWare. You need to do a thousand things to get it to work on Ubuntu. I haven't succeeded yet. If this is high on your list of options, make sure your preferred distro is VMWare friendly.
2. PS3MediaServer is a nightmare. You need to download and compile a lot of stuff to get it to work, and then -- for me at least -- I can't get transcoding to work with the particular media files I use. It works brilliantly as long as I transcode the files (takes 30 seconds) manually.

I love the flexibility of linux. I also run a Windows Server for work, which I like, but there's something compelling about getting things done at the command line and without the bloat.

HFat
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Location: Switzerland

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by HFat » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:09 pm

Taxcheat wrote:He mentioned serving up virtual machines for kids running on cheap, disposable terminals. This is a pretty good idea: easy to control internet use when it flows through the server. And the kiddies will never be able to disable the internet filter that resides on the server, as long as you protect the root password. Also, it's trivial to back up and restore VMs. Kids have a tendency to screw up the OS. Throw a few extra $ into this project and save money in the long run.
One issue is that I'm not sure how well VMs would run kiddie games...
This used to be a decent idea but times changes. But there's very little upside for home use now and definite downsides. The complexity is likely to cause downtime and it will be a waste of time to set up. You won't save money but waste it because you might as well use cheap, disposable PCs. The price difference with a terminal will be $40 at most (per seat).
An internet filter running on a server or a NAS will work just as well if the users are using PCs instead of terminals. It would be better to run it on a dedicated router anyway.
It's almost as trivial to restore PCs from images on the NAS or the server as it is to restore VMs. The time saving with VMs is not nearly large enough to justify a more complex setup with dumb terminals.
Games is not the only thing that's going to be limited with dumb terminals. It's not only the VM: the network will be a worse bottleneck.

You can lock down the PCs so that you filters can't be bypassed and the the OS can't be broken. But it's not trivial to get right so it's better to rely on simpler, reliable solutions like a filter on the router and reimaging.
Taxcheat wrote:make sure your preferred distro is VMWare friendly.
Why do you need VMWare?

I sympthize with your PS3 problem. For those with no interest in console gaming, a real HTPC might set you back less then 200$ if you don't insist on absolute silence.

accipiter
Posts: 58
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Location: South West UK

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by accipiter » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:49 pm

Thanks for the comments, I like NASpirations enough for a possible machine name...

After some consideration, I didnt realise that the whole virtual OS running via thin clients was going to be a headache :roll: , I kind of thought that if my local library can do it.... anyway that's more of a possibility, rather than a definite plan at the moment.

Someone wanted clarification on what this is meant to do.. (in order of wantage)

1) Backup connected PCs

2) Act as a backup for crucial data (specifically family photos & short avis)

3) 'Serve' (?is this the correct nomenclature?) files across the network

4) I am looking at setting up a HTPC and would want the majority of media (mostly DVDs) available from it, rather than having to have lots of noisy HDs sitting under the TV (I am a bit anally retentitive about computer noise... the loudest components in the PC under my desk are its HDs).... I am quite happy with WMC and would look to run this with the backend sitting on the server.

5) Run IP cameras for home security & projects such as birdboxes (again for the kids.. spot any themes here ?)

If I'm realistic, I dont see myself tinkering with a linux distro - I just dont have the time (did you get the hint about having kids....). I think server is the way to go, with Windows Home Server is a likely candidate. For the same reason I undersand that the data duplication in WHS is fairly idiot-proof?

So on that note, some questions....

Can I install any software on a WHS box (the sort of thing I'm considering would be SW for home security / camera management specifically).

I've read that a new version of WHS is in development. Should I wait for this or just look to go ahead ?

Machine Specs...
I dont have a handy pile of old PC bits, so would be a new build. I'm aiming to go for efficiency with low noise.

General spec.. again as I think I've gone down the server route, is as many SATA ports ~6+, gigabit NIC, ?4Gb ram (?overkill, but ram seem sfairly cheap ATM). Should I be looking at the new SB processors ? if so, any CPU suggestions
Form factor.. prob ATX.. and stupid question, does a server need a graphics card / integrated graphics (hence the SB processor question) ? Are some MBs designed for servers rather than workstations.. does this matter ?

HDs: if it better to have OS on dedicated fast HD with storage on slower large ones?
If the OS on a WHS corrupts is it all gone ?

My existing commercial NAS's will stay in action to backup crucial stuff off the server, with an external USB HD for off-site backup.

Thanks in advance.... :wink:

HFat
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Location: Switzerland

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by HFat » Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:16 pm

Lots of WHS-specific questions I can't answer since I'd use free software myself. It's often easier than Windows actually (depending on what you want to do with it). But it's less daunting to use what you're familiar with of course.

But I can tell you:
-for the purposes you listed, you don't need to spend more than about $100 on the motherboard, CPU and (optionally) SATA controller card
-server-grade hardware is more expensive (although branded complete servers and barebones are sometimes available at attractive prices) but has features which are mainly useful for servers and is supposedly intrinsically more reliable

object88
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Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by object88 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:48 am

I am in a similar boat, although I think my requirements are lighter than yours. I haven't put everything together, but I did choose to go with a "server" class motherboard from Supermicro, because it supports KVM remoting... meaning that I should literally never have to plug a keyboard, mouse, or monitor in. I plug in the NIC & power, kick off a remote app on my laptop, and use the laptop to emulate drives & i/o. If you want to stick your machine in the loft and more-or-less forget about it, this is an interesting option.

The one that I chose is using an Atom, so it's not going to be good enough for all your needs -- I don't think you're going to run VMWare on there -- but they make models with support for iX and Xeon MBs... for a fair amount more.

If you're interested (and don't need to buy hardware right away), I can report back once I've received mine and have had some time to plug it in. That would be some time next week.

accipiter
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Location: South West UK

Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by accipiter » Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:55 pm

object88 wrote:I am in a similar boat, although I think my requirements are lighter than yours. I haven't put everything together, but I did choose to go with a "server" class motherboard from Supermicro, because it supports KVM remoting...
Thats interesting. I had assumed I would remote desktop in from any networked PC.. will have to look into that.
I would be interested in hearing how you get on. What board did you choose?

object88
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Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by object88 » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:39 pm

I got the SuperMicro X7-SPA-HF-O; just plugged it in last night. Without a keyboard, mouse, monitor, or bootable device attached (or ever attached!), I was able to connect up power & LAN, and watch the BIOS boot process from my laptop. I have yet to figure out how to do the virtual device thing yet, but I am hopeful.

dragonfire
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Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by dragonfire » Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:09 pm

I might be able to answer some WHS related questions. I've had an Acer H340 for almost 2 years now (small Atom box that runs WHS). It's pretty much a "set it and forget it" kind of hardware.

Once you get it set up (takes a little bit of work), it automatically backs up all client pcs every night (this is highly configurable if desired). It does version control on all files (keeps old backups around for a few weeks).

Duplication is handled in software (at least for the current version of WHS). You tell it which folders you want duplicated and it does the job. Of course, this protects you ONLY from a disk failure. Your backup solution for important files like photos should include backup to an external source. WHS can do this too.

WHS serves files of all sorts and integrates nicely with WMC and MyMovies. Should be great for this purpose.

As far as I know, corruption was an isolated problem with very early adopters. Completely solved through patches at this point. I've never had a problem in 2 years.

To me, it seems Windows Home Server is ideal for the usages you described - and the ability to set it up and then have it run without intervention is priceless.

Now you have to decide what sort of server you want. I have 3 suggestions depending on your wishes:
- Acer, Lenovo, and HP have all made WHS boxes that are cheap, small, low power (atom). Support is poor if you have a problem, but these may represent the easiest options for you. Can't beat an Atom processor for power efficiency, and it's plenty fast enough for WHS v1.
- Dell routinely sells their low end servers without an OS for very cheap. See http://dealnews.com/Dell-Power-Edge-T11 ... 42650.html. Not quiet by any means, but it's powerful, cheap, and should be capable of running WHS.
- Build one yourself. SPCR released a great guide a few months back that I would recommend following.

Finally, I should note that WHS v2 is coming out soon, and requires more power than an Atom can offer. It drops some features while adding others. I don't see any compelling reason to upgrade now, but it may be required for future compatibility with Windows 8 or the like.

Also of note, WHS v1 does not play well with "Advanced Format" drives. The WD20EADS is a great "old format" drive.

For additional WHS info, check out: http://www.wegotserved.com

Hope I didn't overwhelm you!

Best,
--Jonathan

azazel1024
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Re: Help plan a NAS with aspirations...

Post by azazel1024 » Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:37 am

Build I finished about 2 weeks ago

Rosewill blackbone case
Asus M4A78LT-M LE motherboard
AMD Sempron 140
2GB stick of Mushkin Enhanced silverline DDR3 1333
1TB Samsung F3 7200rpm HDD
120mm Gelid silent fan

Total build cost was $250. Admittedly I am adding a new GbE NIC and just dropped some change on a Samsung F4 2tb drive, so total cost after all this is going to be $350.

I would suggest maybe looking at a different MoBo as I am having some GbE trasnfer speed issues. I am only getting 22-25MB/sec receive, but 75MB/sec transmit from the file server. I suspect the issue is with the file server's network adapter on the board, but I could be wrong (I get 22-25MB/sec from my computer to the file server, but it slows to 18MB/sec from my computer and 9MB/sec from my wife's faster ethernet equipped laptop with concurrent transfers, which is what makes me think it is an issue with the file server's adapter). Anyway, dropping a pair of Intel GbE NICs, one in my machine one in the file server.

So, all that aside, it is more than powerful enough for to work as a file server, and if my wife's schemes get off the ground working as a yoga instructor offering private lessons and selling homemade crafts it should be powerful enough for a low use web server as well (and I verified that the 2nd core is unlockable, though this ups power consumption by about 9w at idle, so it is disabled for now). Total power consumption at idle on windows desktop (running XP SP3 right now) is about 40w. At worse all I should need to do is considering getting a seperate boot drive/web storage drive so that there isn't any real slow down on file transfers if it is running as a web server as well (a little 32GB SSD should be more than enough to hold XP + the files needed for a small website).

If I had to pay for an OS I'd probably go WHS or at the very least Win7. As a free OS since I had a copy laying around, XP SP3 works just fine. You can schedule tasks, backup up from or to different sources, transfer files resonably quickly (networking support on Win7 and WHS is much, much better than it was on XP, but XP still manages it decently, if not quite as well), etc, etc. I played with Ubuntu, but couldn't get Samba working right. Turns out the issue was mostly on my Win7 box that I finally corrected after I had already given up and installed XP on the server, but if you are more comfortable in a windows environment, than go for it.

Frankly, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a case or power supply. Go the cheapest, main brand and efficienct PSU you can. The seasonic stuff is nice, but more expensive. The Antex 380d is well rated, pretty efficienct, especially at low loads, and cheap.

Case...well unless you need dead silence, a cheap case is fine if you don't mind possibly replacing the fans. My file server you can hear resume from sleep...but frankly if you walked in to my storage room with it running, you wouldn't notice it at all (case LEDs are disabled as well, only way you can tell is that the GbE switch has the 1000mb/sec light illuminated below the Link active light when it isn't sleeping). The CPU fan runs at about 30% speed at idle and the single 120mm silent fan up front and the PSU's silent 80mm fan really are silent. Either a single front fan, or frankly just the PSU fan is probably enough if the server is located somewhere cool.

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