danksy Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 I have been thinking of getting a buffallo terrastation server for £439. For three main reasons... 1) To provide print server functionality. 2) To store lots of stuff which at the moment is just clogging up my two laptops. 3) To give the potential to stream the output to a network media player. But then I got thinking... Is it easy to build a decent cheap PC which will provide NAS functionality as well as FTP, webserver, and then I can site it near my TV and surf TSN in 42" of joy So could I assemble something half decent for a budget of £430 ish ? Don't need a wireless keyboard and mouse Basically looking for 1TB of storage, and was thinking of using Raid5 so 4 x 250GB disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 4 x 250Gb R5 will only give you 750Gb usable, not 1TB? I love NAS - makes your life so much easier I would answer the other bits but too much and I have a chook to cook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollox Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 Danksy....I've just paid £180 for a 250gb Freecom FSG-3 NAS all-in-one jobby. It does ALL of the above and much more. There's a 500gb version you can get for about £220. Not sure if they do a bigger one but I'm sure you can link them up. Sure you need 1TB??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 I had been using a PC as the NAS filer for a while, but got rid for celeron based Thecus 5200's. I got 2 of them loaded with 5x 750GB disks. Best thing I ever did, keeps everything in one place with some redundancy. Burnt my whold DVD collection to ISO files on the NAS and now use an Xbox as a media center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danksy Posted December 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 [ QUOTE ] 4 x 250Gb R5 will only give you 750Gb usable, not 1TB? [/ QUOTE ] Thanks mate.. i meant to post that i knew that So how much would a machine to do this cost chaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danksy Posted December 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 I saw a PCI? raid controller on fleabay for next to nothing fleabay linky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 You could buy a cheap as chips PC, one of those cards, and 4 x HD of your choice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eolair Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 I've looked at using an old laptop with 2xUSBx and 2xexternal drives, bunging linux on it and sticking it in the attic. Then pipe ethernet/ wireless to whereever needed. Pros are it's small, cheap, silent and easy to upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasdrury Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 I bought a terastation 1tb a while ago - use 4x250gb drives with a RAID5, so 750Gb available which is plenty... There is the print server as mentioned but I don't use it. I used this method over any other for space reasons and that I can set permissions using active directory users... If I had thought about it I would have done the PC route, but I but things on impulse a lot!! I am very pleased with it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponge Posted December 25, 2006 Report Share Posted December 25, 2006 [ QUOTE ] You could buy a cheap as chips PC, one of those cards, and 4 x HD of your choice [/ QUOTE ] That's what I've got and it does the job. It's on 24/7 and is also the PC I do all my downloading on. I have my xbox chipped and running XBMC, to which I stream video, music and photos. (I don't use it for games anymore tbh.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KEVINP Posted December 26, 2006 Report Share Posted December 26, 2006 I have a FSG-3 as well (250gb) and use it to connect to py philips 42" LCD TV. It can be expanded and they also do a wireless one. Unless you need 1TB then as stated it is a good choice. I also have a Linux box with 4 x 300GB drives as well but the disks alone would cost more than a terrastation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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