Guys.

 

I have managed to get my hands on two HP DC7600 Convertable Mini towers from work. I think both these boxes will be perfect for the storage server(s) i wish to build.

 

The motherboards have 4 SATA connections but the machine can take 6 drives.

 

What would be best here.

 

A) Port multiplier

 

B) 8 Port SATA RAID card?

 

Thanks in advance

Looks like it going to need to be a RAID card as the motherboard does not support RAID.

 

Oh well. Anyone know of a cheap 8 port RAID card?

umm, you don't want a "raid card" or to use "raid" with unRAID.

 

if you are planning to put unRAID on these boxes, you would just use the standard 4 sata ports or an HBA card. I would first boot up the free unRAId on this box with a single drive and verify the hardware even works with unraid.

 

If you are trying to build an actual "raided NAS", you might looking to another OS, windows for example.

Ok.

 

so i need to stay away from RAID card.

 

will thisdo the trick?

 

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_4468.html

 

 

err.. thats a port multiplier. you would need a sata controller that supports a port multiplier. I would stay away from those if you can.

 

this plus the 4 onboard ports would get you to 6 drives assuming you have a PCIe slot on that PC..

 

Again, I would make sure the hardware is compatible with unRAID before spending any money.

 

Also, just because you CAN shove 6 drives into a PC, does not mean you should.

hard drives need to be kept at a nice cool temperature to work. usually below 40c. closer to 30ish-c is better.

Hard drives also generate a lot of heat. shoving a lot of hard drives into a tight space without proper cooling will result in disaster.

usually OEM equipment is not well suited as-is for such projects without possibly minor modding.

 

you have not made it exactly clear what you goal is.

what is you want to do and build besides a "storage server from free parts"

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Ok just so i am looking at the right thing from the UK , is this the correct thing

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PCIE-SATA-II-CONTROLLER-CARD/dp/B002VAGSV2/ref=pd_cp_ce_1

 

Now for what i am looking to do.

 

I have one free PCI-E port in my machine. I am looking to create a massive amount of storage mainly for the following.

 

Pictures

 

Movies with a mix of MKV , AVI and VOB files

 

Music , all MP3

 

VMWare. I have a VMWare ESX 4.1 server and i would be looking to move my guests datastore off the local ESX server and on to the unRaid server.

 

Now i have two DC7600 servers the same and i am following the post about joining two servers together. Now my HP DC7600 will house 6 drives so was looking to add 6 drives to the server and then if needs be sorting out the cooling

 

Thanks in advance for your advice and help.