Looking for advice/help on idea I have

[Ray Milyard]

Right now I basically have 4 NAS drives. I was given a Lenovo TS130 Xeon quad core with 16gb of ECC ram. I have got FreeNAS up and running on it using (4) 2tb hard drives. The on board controller only handles 4 SATA so it's maxed out.

I am thinking about getting a larger case for this Lenovo and maybe just using the drives from my other NAS with this system. I know would need larger case etc. I would also need to add a PCIe SATA 3 controller but not sure what one should get.

Any suggestions on case, controller, anything else, etc? Don't want to spend a ton $$ but want something nice.

 

[gpsguy]

Look at the hardware stickies.

Get an IBM M1015 for -$100 USD on eBay. Flash it to IT mode for use with FreeNAS.

 

[crisman]

If an 8 disk bay case is enough check this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352047

 

[Ray Milyard]

If an 8 disk bay case is enough check this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352047

Pretty nice case there. This the Lenovo board will fix? Can't get much info so far on the board. Looks like it could.

 

[Ray Milyard]

For 4 more sata 3 ports how about a PCIe x1 card since I have this port open? This would give me 8 SATA 3 ports to use. I was thinking maybe (4) 2tb for one and (4) 3tb on the other?

 

[crisman]

Pretty nice case there. This the Lenovo board will fix? Can't get much info so far on the board. Looks like it could.

Well, not sure!

This case supports micro-atx boards, if you could find the size of the Lenovo board could help to figure it out!

 

[Ray Milyard]

Well, not sure!

This case supports micro-atx boards, if you could find the size of the Lenovo board could help to figure it out!

View: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/140733231542?lpid=82



Still looking

 

[crisman]

It looks an ATX board, so it won't fit! :(

 

[Ray Milyard]

It looks an ATX board, so it won't fit! :(

That's what I am thinking also.

 

[Ray Milyard]

Look at the hardware stickies.

Get an IBM M1015 for -$100 USD on eBay. Flash it to IT mode for use with FreeNAS.

I have a question about this card. If I get one and add to system. Is there an external case I could say put 4 3.5" drives in? Then use other port internal?

Or maybe something 8 bay. Put 4 2tb in top 4 and 4 3tb in bottom for two different storage systems. Since the Lenovo TS130 server I found out only has 2 sata 3 ports. Thinking could then use the 2 inside for maybe a third volume.