09-16-2007, 05:14 PM
[quote DRR]If I could make a fileserver suggestion -
Get an old mac and set that up as your fileserver. Linux is great for people who already know it, and people who want to learn it, but I was in your situation a while ago, trying to salvage a cheap enough solution with old PC parts and linux. It ended up being an exercise in frustration. Just go Mac:
G4 Sawtooth: $100
4 port SATA card: $80
2x500GB SATA drives: $200
Cables, misc: $20
Total: $400 for a TB of storage and 2 free sata ports for future expansion. A mac fileserver is IMO the best cross platform solution. Plays nice with everything, and easily. Can't say that for Win or Linux.
True dat. And, honestly, last night I was shopping for parts and a Mac to do that with. The reasons I'm not going that route are:
1. No Mac made in a really long time has decent support for multiple drives. I can get about four built-in and that's it. I'm looking for something that can take more drives at the least, but preferably in a 5.25" bay so I can put a hot-swap cage in. Maybe putting the guts of a Mac in a PC case would do it but...
2. Lack of PCI SATA RAID controllers. I can't seem to find much in the way of hardware RAID controllers that support SATA and don't require me to get a MacPro to put it in. I want to use a RAID5 for redundancy and it also makes the best use of the drives as compared to JBOD or a RAID1.
Get an old mac and set that up as your fileserver. Linux is great for people who already know it, and people who want to learn it, but I was in your situation a while ago, trying to salvage a cheap enough solution with old PC parts and linux. It ended up being an exercise in frustration. Just go Mac:
G4 Sawtooth: $100
4 port SATA card: $80
2x500GB SATA drives: $200
Cables, misc: $20
Total: $400 for a TB of storage and 2 free sata ports for future expansion. A mac fileserver is IMO the best cross platform solution. Plays nice with everything, and easily. Can't say that for Win or Linux.
True dat. And, honestly, last night I was shopping for parts and a Mac to do that with. The reasons I'm not going that route are:
1. No Mac made in a really long time has decent support for multiple drives. I can get about four built-in and that's it. I'm looking for something that can take more drives at the least, but preferably in a 5.25" bay so I can put a hot-swap cage in. Maybe putting the guts of a Mac in a PC case would do it but...
2. Lack of PCI SATA RAID controllers. I can't seem to find much in the way of hardware RAID controllers that support SATA and don't require me to get a MacPro to put it in. I want to use a RAID5 for redundancy and it also makes the best use of the drives as compared to JBOD or a RAID1.