Need help w/mobo selction, have everything else I think...

[jjchambers]

Here's what I'm planning on getting... BUDGET is the key word here, other than the case (I wanted one that looked good, with room to expand)

 

Case: $80 shipped, Thermaltake Case M9 http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-VI1KBNS Room for 3 of the next item down

HD Cages: $36 shipped for 2, 4 into 3 cage with 120mm fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999169

PS: $35 shipped, Earthwatts EA380 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371005

CPU: $42 shipped, Celeron 430 http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1938257&cmp=AFC-CJ_CBIT

4-Port Sata2 Controller Card: $57, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816102062

HD: I have 6 x 500GB SATA2 drives

RAM: I have a 1GB stick of HP DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

 

QUESTIONS:

1) I need a good/CHEAP mobo that will support this CPU, at least 4 sata2 ports (use controller card for other 4), gigE and onboard video.  Prefer to be less than $60.

2) Will this PSU handle at least 8 x 500GB drives?  I don't see myself going beyond 8 drives anytime soon.

3) With unRAID, can my parents log into this box over the web (password and login) and look at pics of my kids I've set in a certain folder??  (This is the biggest requirement and the entire reason I started researching NAS, unraid, etc...)

4) Is unRAID the entire OS or just an application, do I need an OS (like Ubuntu) installed on this machine also?

5) Tell me why I shouldn't use FreeNAS...

 

Thanks for your time!

 

J

 

P.S. Iif you know where I can get any of this stuff cheaper let me know!

[JRS]

1.  If 8 drives is your current goal, drop the controller card and get an Asus P5B-VM DO, which is prossibly the most used unRaid mobo and the one limetech uses in its builds:

 

http://www.lagoom.com/ASUS_Motherboard_P5B-VM_DO_LGA775/P5B-VM_DO/partinfo-id-569698.html

 

It is at $95 + shipping, so about $105.  If you get the controller card, you'd have to find a 4 port motherboard that works with unRaid, has onboard video, and 4 sata ports for under $50 to meet the same price point.

 

2.  Yes, the Antec earthwatts 380 will handle 8 drives.  It has the 80+ rating, which is ideal for an unRaid bos that runs a bunch.  For a budget box, I don't think you can do better for the price, wattage and quality.

 

3.  I dunno about getting on over the web to unRaid.  I have to believe it would be possible to open a port, etc, but you'll have to wait for someone smarter in this area to reply.

 

4.  unRaid is a combined OS and application, so you don't need any other software.  If you have a couple spare drive(s) and a mobo that will boot off a flash drive, you can experiement with the basic version, just disconnect your current OS (windows, linux, whatever) drives from that box, connect the spare drives, setup the flash drive and go.

 

5.  The first line in the FreeNas FAQ is "FreeNAS is Alpha or Beta, its not a production release and it will have bugs in it."  unRaid seems more more mature to me than that.

 

I experimented with unRaid basic on hardware I already had, so I could get a warm-fuzzy feeling with it without having to spend 2 cents.  I then bought parts to build an unRaid box, but I didn't have to buy anything I could not re-purpose if after some more use, I decided not to go with unRaid.  I ran unRaid basic for awhile, doing a number of experiements in an attempt to see if it would lose or corrupt some of my data, including moving unRaid data disks between machines.  It never did - I now trust unRaid with my data more than Windows as I've moved NTFS disks between Windows boxes before and have it not be recognized.

 

This is a good read for reasons to go unRaid:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1191.0

 

[jjchambers]

Thanks for the response JRS,

 

I kept seeing that mobo in all the reading I've been doing but kept going past it since it was $100.  I never realized it had 8 SATA2 ports.  It actually looks like there are 7 internal ports and one e-sata external port, is that correct?

So do I just run an e-sata to sata cable from the outside to the inside to hook up my last drive?

 

I really do want to find out if I can access my unraid box from the web.  Read only would be great for my parents, but if I could also upload pics to it when we're on vacation that would be even better!

 

Thanks again!

 

J

[JRS]

You are correct on # of ports and on the eSata port - just run a cable from it back into your case through an open bracket spot on your box.