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On 2012-12-04 10:43, David Suna wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:50BDB798.6000800@davidsconsultants.com"
type="cite">
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I have a bunch of old machines lying around which are currently
just collecting dust. I would like to collect the disks from all
of them, put them together into a single server to act as a file
server / NAS on our home network. There would probably be a
combination of IDE and SATA drives. </blockquote>
Make sure the TCO of running an old machine + lots of old HD's, is
not more then buying a cheep green M.B. + 1or2 green HD.<br>
That said, ...<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:50BDB798.6000800@davidsconsultants.com"
type="cite">What would you recommend as the best way to achieve
this (with minimal cash outlay). The home network is a mixed
Windows and Linux environment so I assume I would run Linux on the
new server and provide access to the disks via SAMBA. </blockquote>
Yep, you can RAID(1,5,10,6) the HD's as appropriate (i.e. see:
selecting a RAID sys. on any wiki) and put LVM2 on top of that for
use with SAMBA on a minimal stable Linux distro. If you need more,
fancy file system btfs/zfs or iSCSI, FTP, NFS, it may be
faster/better to go with a dedicated distro, checkout: OpenIndiana,
FreeNas, Nexentastor, Openfiler.
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<blockquote cite="mid:50BDB798.6000800@davidsconsultants.com"
type="cite">For now the main function of the server would be to
serve as a place to do backups. I have never done anything with
RAID so I don't know if that is something that I should take into
consideration (especially as the disks are of varying sizes).<br>
</blockquote>
Yes, you should select the best RAID sys for the H.D's size and
condition, S.M.A.R.T is your friend. Remember <u>RAID is not a
backup</u>! <br>
<blockquote cite="mid:50BDB798.6000800@davidsconsultants.com"
type="cite"> <br>
Any information, suggestions or pointers would be appreciated. I
am viewing this as a learning experience (in addition to making
use of old hardware for a positive purpose).<br>
</blockquote>
For a learning experience checkout: OpenIndiana, FreeNas,
Nexentastor, Openfiler ,see there implantation-points and D.I.Y.<br>
<br>
Good Luck!<br>
<br>
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