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Not a response, but just additional info on the subject of NAS: Linux Journal recently did an article about OpenFiler, and how you could use just about any (old/embedded/new) system to turn it into a powerful File Server. The article is available only to subscribers, but here's the website, and there are some YouTubes http://www.openfiler.com/ http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=openfiler Plus, a lot of hits out there comparing with FreeNAS e.g. http://www.scribd.com/doc/29643/OpenFiler-vs-FreeNAS On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Tom Metro <tmetro-blu-5a1Jt6qxUNc at public.gmane.org> wrote: > I've bee looking around for a relatively low cost 4-drive NAS appliance > that could be hacked to run Linux (or further customized if it already > did) or FreeBSD (FreeNAS w/ZFS). They're available, but once you get > into 4-bay devices, they become disproportionately expensive (typically > $600+), relative to the cost of the components they are built from. > > (A Western Digital ShareSpace can be found populated with only 2 drives > for a bit over $300. A great deal, given the drives alone are worth $180 > ~ $200, but it would need to be hacked in order to be customized.) > > Looking at the available components, if you want something compact and > low power, the first challenge is finding a suitable enclosure. There's > not much on the market for NAS appliances that isn't proprietary. > > I did find this Chenbro Mini ITX case with 4 hot-swap SATA trays: > http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=79 > > Not bad, but it departs from the typical cube design, instead turning > the drives sideways, to create a narrow tower. The power supply is > external, and the bays aren't trayless. For a hunk of sheet metal and a > power supply, it's also a tad expensive at $160+. To get a NAS you need > to add a Mini-ITX board to it, which is going to run another $140 (for a > model w/4 SATA ports), plus CPU and RAM. The low-power oriented Mini-ITX > boards with Atom CPUs ($75) don't support enough SATA ports. A PCI card > might be an option. > > Then I ran across the VIA barebones systems specifically aimed at OEM > and DIY NAS appliances. They've got a 2-bay model[1][2] that comes with > a motherboard incorporating their 1.5 GHz VIA C7-D CPU, so it should be > fairly power efficient (one review said 29 watts; low noise too: 26dB). > They've also incorporated a CF slot for storing the embedded OS, which > is great. That can be found for a bit over $200. Add some RAM and a CF > card loaded with FreeNAS and you're good to go. > > A nice box, even if it uses an external power supply and you have to > disassemble it to swap drives. You'd be hard pressed to find any other > built-it-yourself solution that is as small, but commercial 2-bay NAS > appliances that are well supported by hacks aren't that hard to find, > and some are cheaper (D-Link DNS-321). (Though I suspect most are > probably running slower CPUs, and many don't have GB Ethernet.) > > VIA also has an 8-bay version[3], which sounds like it uses similar > controller hardware (same CPU) plus Wake-on-LAN, Wake-on-Alarm, watch > dog timer, and of course 8 SATA ports. The case also comes with hot-swap > trays and an internal power supply. This runs $600, which again seems > disproportionate given that most of the difference is scaled up sheet > metal. > > Now if they only had a 4-bay version... > > 1. http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/artigo/a2000/index.jsp > 2. > > http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/11/review-via-artigo-a2000-barebone-storage-server/ > 3. http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/nsd7800/ > > -Tom > > -- > Tom Metro > Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA > "Enterprise solutions through open source." > Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/ > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > -- Greg Rundlett Web Developer - Initiative in Innovative Computing http://iic.harvard.edu camb 617-384-5872 nbpt 978-225-8302 m. 978-764-4424 -skype/aim/irc/twitter freephile http://profiles.aim.com/freephile
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