My current unraid box is an aging P4 3.2ghz xeon (5 years old I think)

 

I have a dell optiplex 740 AMD 64bit dual core system I'd like to utilize... it's just collecting dust ATM. The only problem is that it's one of these super small form factor desktops.

 

it has 2 PCI slots and one PCI Express slot.

 

Could I use some sort of external box to put drives in, and use a half height SATA card and run cables to it? Something of that nature? Or should I just sell it and buy a cheapo barebones kit from newegg? What are my options here?

What motherboard is in the system?  Hardware incompatibility could be an issue...  Also depending on your plan for number of drives, you may need a better PSU

What motherboard is in the system?  Hardware incompatibility could be an issue...  Also depending on your plan for number of drives, you may need a better PSU

 

I planned on testing the hardware tonight on a free version of unRAID. As far as the power supply goes, I assume if I had a box with drives in it, the power would come from that box, not the PC. This little guy wouldnt' even have a spinning drive in it.

I planned on testing the hardware tonight on a free version of unRAID.

 

That's fine, but it's worth finding out what the motherboard is and doing some research before committing data to it.  For instance some Gigabit motherboard have a "feature" called HPA that needs to be carefully disarmed before bowling in with UnRaid.  It may work off the bat, but unless you check up, the could be future issues that won't be obvious when you first fire the computer up.

 

As far as the power supply goes, I assume if I had a box with drives in it, the power would come from that box, not the PC. This little guy wouldnt' even have a spinning drive in it.

 

Sorry, I had misread your initial post.  You're planning of buying some sort of caged drive connected via SATA to the computer?  I can't think of a problem with this approach, although I've never seen it done.  Probably not very cost or space efficient either, and arguably somewhat dangerous to have loose drives (to get knocked about).  Most people even put their USB flash drive inside the computer to protect it!

A few issues to check:

 

I'm not sure whether the Broadcom 5754 ethernet chipset is supported by unRAID.  It appears that the 5751 is, but I can't find much mention of the 5754.  However, you should be able to perform some basic functionality tests

 

Dell describes the PCIe slot as being for graphics but that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't support other types of card.  If it will, then something like this could work.

 

Drives could be housed in an external enclosure such as one of these, with two SFF-8088 cables connecting the two chassis.

 

If you were to use HBAs on the PCI expansion sockets, with more than two drives, don't be surprised if you experience some performance problems during parity check/build.

 

However, I suspect that you may find it almost as expensive to try to build a decent unRAID system around this existing hardware, compared with starting from scratch.

I was thinking something like this; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132029

External cases aren't all that inexpensive. I try to avoid them unless it's stand-alone NAS or the portability is required.

 

If your unRAID tests are successful you could transplant everything from that Dell into a standard case. It would be cheaper and more future-proof than external enclosures. My most recent was a 8.5 bay Rosewill Destroyer for $39 shipped. You'd obviously need a power supply upgrade to push more than 2 or 3 drives but it could make better use of your existing hardware.

 

If all else fails that Optiplex would make a good box for Untangle.

Are the motherboards in those boxes standard ATX? I'm totally cool with sticking it in a regular case!

That one's recent enough that I'd guess so. More likely mini than ATX. Old Dells were almost universally weird. It's the other way around now. While a sff board could still be odd you have plenty of room and flexibility with aftermarket cases. If all it took were drilling a hole or two and adding standoffs I'd do it.

 

Suppose the third option is to sell the Dell. That kind of box makes a nice brouter once you add another nic.

 

Back to the tests though, that's the first thing. Make sure it behaves as expected or that issues are easy to work around.

That one's recent enough that I'd guess so. More likely mini than ATX. Old Dells were almost universally weird. It's the other way around now. While a sff board could still be odd you have plenty of room and flexibility with aftermarket cases. If all it took were drilling a hole or two and adding standoffs I'd do it.

 

Suppose the third option is to sell the Dell. That kind of box makes a nice brouter once you add another nic.

 

Back to the tests though, that's the first thing. Make sure it behaves as expected or that issues are easy to work around.

 

I've actually got some dual nics for it; it used to be a router  That's why I got the SFF. I'll check out the form factor tonight. Sounds like the best plan.

Those dells are pretty proprietary inside.

 

there is no changing anything other then memory, PCI cards, and hard drives (i did upgrade a cpu in the previous generation once).

that model might only have space for a single hard drive.

 

Honestly, if you're going to invest in an external enclosure, you might as well use the cash on a new "budget build".

to many "what if's" and potential for disaster.

Those dells are pretty proprietary inside.

 

there is no changing anything other then memory, PCI cards, and hard drives (i did upgrade a cpu in the previous generation once).

that model might only have space for a single hard drive.

 

Honestly, if you're going to invest in an external enclosure, you might as well use the cash on a new "budget build".

to many "what if's" and potential for disaster.

 

I'm with you. Going to hunt down an ATOM board and processor just to have something current that I don't have to worry about crashing on me.