Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:04:19 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Hill <chris@monochrome.org> To: Clifton Royston <cliftonr@lava.net> Cc: FreeBSD questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Recommendations on reliable home fileserver hardware? Message-ID: <20090118214333.C32776@tripel.monochrome.org> In-Reply-To: <20090119004620.GD26150@lava.net> References: <20090119004620.GD26150@lava.net>
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On Sun, 18 Jan 2009, Clifton Royston wrote: [snip] > Can anyone recommend an integrated SFF system or other small > case/mobo combination which they're using with FreeBSD 6 or 7, and > which is both long-lived and fairly quiet? (It sits on my desk, and > near my wife's desk, so the vacuum-cleaner-like noise levels from many > 1U servers will not cut it.) > > As I am running two 200G PATA drives in gmirror - this has saved me > twice now - one additional requirement is that it must fit at least > two standard 3.5" hard drives and have an IDE interface. (Eventually > I may switch over to SATA but would rather not change everything at > the same time.) I'd consider running a Mac Mini (tiny, silent, s/b > reliable) if it weren't for needing 2+ drives for mirroring. > > I'm comfortable either building my own system, or buying a packaged > system if it offers better value. I have a Dell GX150 SFF which has been running 24/7 for about two years now with no problems (knock on wood). Right now it's running 7.1-PRERELEASE from November. It's small and very quiet; I like it. You may have issues with: a) it nominally only supports one hard drive, but there are "slimline" spots for optical and diskette drives, so you may be able to commandeer one of those for a second hard drive; b) the machine I have has SATA interface, which is truly nothing to fear. From FreeBSD's standpoint, it looks exactly like ATA. If I were trying to do what you want to do, I'd probably end up with one HD running SATA in the "hard drive" slot, and the other running PATA in the "optical" slot. I don't know if the physical dimensions would work out for that. See the service manual at http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx150/sm_en/smdsktp.htm ..and the user guide at http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx150/en/ug/index.htm Anyway, I've had good luck so far with Dell desktop hardware; it seems to be well-made, easy to work with and QUIET. Check it out if you can get a machine cheap or free. Hope this helps. -- Chris Hill chris@monochrome.org ** [ Busy Expunging <|> ]
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