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Author Topic: m-ITX based DIY NAS  (Read 3838 times)
thegrayson
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« on: February 02, 2009, 12:22:47 PM »

I thinking about throwing together a diy NAS at the moment. I have any number of spare parts lying around but was thinking that the cases I have are all too big. I was hoping I would be able to do it by just buying some drives. Given that I have an empty Shuttle case and a couple of shuttle powers supplies, I thought that a cheap m-ITX board and two hard drives would get me by. Will a m-ITX board mount okay in a Shuttle case? and will it run okay from a Shuttle psu?
After looking around tow mainboard option spring to mind. I have a working Pentium M cpu pulled from a dead laptop, so picking up a board for it seems to be one option. Given how cheap it is one ebay the Intel D201GLY2 Mini-ITX is another. Any comments on these? or would I be better off looking at an Atom, Nano or other platform? I'm trying to keep the build as cheap as possible.
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CrystalCowboy
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« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2009, 09:27:27 PM »

Here's a commercial solution based on the Atom:
QNAP Announces the World's First 4-Bay Intel Atom-based NAS - TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS

QNAP TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS is the first network-based storage unit using Intel's power efficient budget processor Atom. The processor is clocked at 1.6GHz, paired with 1GB RAM and delivers dual Gigabit LAN ports, five USB2.0 ports, two eSATA slots and a bunch of RAID configuration possibilities. The unit has room for four 3.5" SATA harddrives and QNAP promises up to 6TB of storage, which should go up to 8TB with the new 2TB harddrives that just arrived.


Pentium M boards tend to be more expensive. You could probably buy an Atom board complete with processor for less than the P-M mobo alone would run you.

A P-M system would have better CPU performance, but If this is just for use as an NAS, CPU performance doesn't really count.
Intel has decided to artificially limit features on the Atom boards so as not to cannibalize their higher-profit lines, so any board you buy check for number of SATA ports and number and speed of network ports.

Is two drives it, or might you consider expanding later on?

The D201GLY2 has only one 10/100 network port. It is not actually an Atom, but a predecessor. If it meets your requirements, and you can find one cheap, why not?

The following prices are from logicsupply.com. Your mileage may vary.
     
Intel D945GCLF single core ATOM board has one 10/100 network port and two SATA ports, at only $77.
Jetway NC92-230-LF Atom board has gigabit, two SATA, $105.
MSI IM-945GC dual-core Atom board has two gigabit ports and four SATA ports, but costs $167.


An Atom board would use less power and crank out less heat than a P-M board.

mounting the board: I've never had a Shuttle. No comment.

Power supply: I think it should work. Most mini-ITX boards take a 20 pin power connector, except a few with on-board DC-DC that take a single 19V plug.
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thegrayson
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« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2009, 12:05:30 AM »

Thanks Cowboy. I have looked at the ready built options. It just seems that a home build is a good way to use up some parts I have lying around. From a power/ heat perspective the Atom build does seem like a good plan, will give it some thought.
Must also consider the future possibility of upgrading any raid I build or migrating the disks to another setup.
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tino
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« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2009, 01:24:42 PM »

If you want to migrate the parts over to another system at a later date, think about using a hardware RAID card in the PCI slot. I did that with an old system. An that has just been taken out and moved to a new system when I needed to change something around.
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TeedOff
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« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2009, 02:06:54 PM »

I recently build a 5x1TB WHS server on an Intel BOXD945GCLF2 Atom 330 board ( this one ) and a Morex Venus 688 mini-ITX case ( here ).  Some dremel work and a custom faceplate were required to fit a 5x3 SATA drive cage in there.  BTW, his case is slightly larger than a shuttle.  The included 200W PSU is more than enough to drive this system as it pulls only 65 watts.  Since I am using WHS there was no need for a RAID card, so I am using a simple 4 port SATA PCI adaptor.  Performance has been acceptable.
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hugh
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« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2009, 07:17:20 PM »

Quote
Since I am using WHS there was no need for a RAID card, so I am using a simple 4 port SATA PCI adaptor.

huh?? you lost me.
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tino
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« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2009, 07:34:32 PM »

WHS = Windows Home Server

I guess what teedoff is saying is he/she is using software raid
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TeedOff
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« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2009, 08:15:07 PM »

Yeah, sorry...WHS is Windows Home Server.  Its not really software RAID.  Its more like folder level replication.
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