Hi all,
I'm looking for some kind of low cost network storage solution for my very small business. The use case will mostly be storage of all kinds of project assets, including some large video files, 3D models and other multimedia stuff. We're just two people at the moment, may expand up to 4, so clearly not a huge operation. We're not in the market for a fast high-end system – just looking for a better option than putting all our stuff on Dropbox, really …
I've looked at some of the low/mid-range units form Synology, Qnap and suchlike, but I'm also curious about building my own FreeNAS solution. (At the moment business is a little slow due to Covid, so I have more time than money).
I happen to have a really old workstation that hasn't been used for a few years, and am curious as to whether there's any point in trying to repurpose it for FreeNAS. The build is:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
MB: Intel "Bad Axe" D975XBX r.304
RAM: 4GB Crucial something (non ECC)
GPU: Some kind of fanless ATI, can't remember which one, guess it hardly matters
PSU: Tagan Easycon 580W
Storage: all EOL
Obviously this is pretty much ancient, but could it do the trick for a simple file server? The motherboard is quite decent; it does support ECC RAM and has an Intel NIC. I'm thinking I might stick in 8GB of ECC RAM (max amount the mobo can handles), a system SSD and some NAS HDDs – thinking two at first, possibly expanding up to 6 as the space requirements grow.
It's currently in an ATX desktop case, could move it over into a 4U rack and possibly use 5.25" hot-swap bays for the HDDs. The PSU is probably approaching end of life, so would need to do something about that as well.
Lots of old tech here – DDR2, SATA 3GB/s, etc – is there any point in trying to breathe life into this, or will it just end up being frustrating? It's a relatively power hungry CPU, but electricity is cheap here. Not very "green", but on the other hand, reusing old hardware must be environmentally friendly. Is it practical though?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
I'm looking for some kind of low cost network storage solution for my very small business. The use case will mostly be storage of all kinds of project assets, including some large video files, 3D models and other multimedia stuff. We're just two people at the moment, may expand up to 4, so clearly not a huge operation. We're not in the market for a fast high-end system – just looking for a better option than putting all our stuff on Dropbox, really …
I've looked at some of the low/mid-range units form Synology, Qnap and suchlike, but I'm also curious about building my own FreeNAS solution. (At the moment business is a little slow due to Covid, so I have more time than money).
I happen to have a really old workstation that hasn't been used for a few years, and am curious as to whether there's any point in trying to repurpose it for FreeNAS. The build is:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
MB: Intel "Bad Axe" D975XBX r.304
RAM: 4GB Crucial something (non ECC)
GPU: Some kind of fanless ATI, can't remember which one, guess it hardly matters
PSU: Tagan Easycon 580W
Storage: all EOL
Obviously this is pretty much ancient, but could it do the trick for a simple file server? The motherboard is quite decent; it does support ECC RAM and has an Intel NIC. I'm thinking I might stick in 8GB of ECC RAM (max amount the mobo can handles), a system SSD and some NAS HDDs – thinking two at first, possibly expanding up to 6 as the space requirements grow.
It's currently in an ATX desktop case, could move it over into a 4U rack and possibly use 5.25" hot-swap bays for the HDDs. The PSU is probably approaching end of life, so would need to do something about that as well.
Lots of old tech here – DDR2, SATA 3GB/s, etc – is there any point in trying to breathe life into this, or will it just end up being frustrating? It's a relatively power hungry CPU, but electricity is cheap here. Not very "green", but on the other hand, reusing old hardware must be environmentally friendly. Is it practical though?
Thanks in advance for any advice!