Zeus: The Random NAS

[flibberdipper]

So, as some of you may know, I have a DFF Dell OptiPlex 170L that I don't really use. I decided to throw OVM on it and make it a cheap little NAS for some of my crap so I can have a dedicated scratch disk. Now, the specs right now aren't all that great for a NAS, and they are listed below.

 

Well, the OptiPlex 170L is retired doing nothing, and the OptiPlex 760 is my work PC now. Not only that, the idea was canned by my dad for having things run 24/7. But, that's not to say I'm done with a NAS.

 

CPU: NONE

COOLER: NONE

RAM: NONE

MOTHERBOARD: NONE

GPU: INONE

STORAGE: NONE
PSU: NONE

CASE: NONE

OS: NONE

 

This post will be continuously updated as I add new hardware and stuff.

[flibberdipper]

Front by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

Rear by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

Inside by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

Dinky Heatsink by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

Home by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

[flibberdipper]

New Drive

[flibberdipper]

Bay

[Thebman712]

ermagurd, its almost as good as your rigs

[flibberdipper]

I forgot to tag some people! D:

 

@alpenwasser (it involves storage...)

@Darkman (because why not)

@DEcobra11 (since it's older)

@terrytek (again, old)

@TheSLSAMG (since... Why the hell not?)

 

I was gonna tag someone else, but I can't remember who anymore.

[MeepLikesToBuildPc's]

you know, on those SFF Dells theres sata ports!! 

 

I have one too (well atleast the mobo from it, because case+=ugly and because PSU= Blown)

 

and theres 2 sata ports on it (or 1, dont know for sure!!)

 

oh yeah. I have i think about 1.25GB in DDR dimms for you if you want to have them for free, but dont know how many shipping to US is

[flibberdipper]

you know, on those SFF Dells theres sata ports!! 

 

I have one too (well atleast the mobo from it, because case+=ugly and because PSU= Blown)

 

and theres 2 sata ports on it (or 1, dont know for sure!!)

 

oh yeah. I have i think about 1.25GB in DDR dimms for you if you want to have them for free, but dont know how many shipping to US is

I know. My PSU is the model that doesn't have a SATA connector, and the IDE cable is already there.

 

And OMV seems to be fairly light on the RAM (it's not actually doing much of anything right now, but the last time I looked it was like 200MB or less of use).

 

EDIT: HOW DARE YOU SAY IT'S UGLY. I rather like this case. The DFF OptiPlex 780's were sex though.

[flibberdipper]

Woot! I got the SMB share all set up (thanks to @Altecice for the most part), and I now have some storage to free up my scratch disk (which is the second picture). Next up: Larger HDD.

 

 

 

EDIT: Copying 10GB of files over, and I'm hitting about 10MB/s, which is almost the theoretical max of my router and Dell (both can only handle up to 100Mbps, or about 12.5MB/s).

[Altecice]

Woot! I got the SMB share all set up (thanks to @Altecice for the most part), and I now have some storage to free up my scratch disk (which is the second picture). Next up: Larger HDD.

 

 

 

woop woop, nice one .

 

Did you use OMV or just a shared windows folder?

Can you read/write to it?

[flibberdipper]

woop woop, nice one .

 

Did you use OMV or just a shared windows folder?

Can you read/write to it?

OMV, of course. And look at the edit I just put in.

[Altecice]

OMV, of course. And look at the edit I just put in.

 

Awesome sauce!, Just remember that a single large file will transfer quicker than lots of little ones. 

I get about 120mb/s (960mbits) copying/writing a .iso to my NAS gigabit connection. But lots of files from a folder I get about half that sometimes less.

[flibberdipper]

Awesome sauce!, Just remember that a single large file will transfer quicker than lots of little ones. 

I get about 120mb/s (960mbits) copying/writing a .iso to my NAS gigabit connection. But lots of files from a folder I get about half that sometimes less.

These are all fairly large archives. But I have a 10/100 NIC in my Dell and a 10/100 router, and then I get to do all this on an ATA-100 interface... I guess I'm stuck with 100Mbps.

 

EDIT: And the load stats are in! During that 10GB transfer, CPU utilization bounced between 50% and 75% utilization (which isn't bad and should be nice during the summer since it is one of the cooler P4's), and the RAM was a whopping 6% utilized out of 1000MB.

[iHardware Shelden]

Ya I need to do something like this with my SFF gx620 since they just fit in a shelf and don't take up a lot of space. Pentium 4 is still not bad for a file server and I can't see myself living without them since I would freeze to death if they were not heating my room.

[Guest]

Nice. I would be tempted to do a similar thing with an old dimension 3000 if any of the HDD ports on it's board worked. I'll probably chuck out the board as it doesn't work and make a keyring out of the 2.8ghz P4 (no HT)

Could you tag me in any of your other old builds when you start them, I love old hardware.

[flibberdipper]

Nice. I would be tempted to do a similar thing with an old dimension 3000 if any of the HDD ports on it's board worked. I'll probably chuck out the board as it doesn't work and make a keyring out of the 2.8ghz P4 (no HT)

Could you tag me in any of your other old builds when you start them, I love old hardware.

Sure.

 

On a side note, I have copied well over 100GB to it and just watched The SpongeBob Movie, and it all worked great.

[flibberdipper]

Welp, I found my 5.25" to 3.5" caddy so the storage drive is no longer stuffed in the floppy bay. It's been working flawlessly too, so this is really nice. I ended up taking some thumbscrews from my Enthoo Pro parts box to screw the HDD in. I think I'll have my mom/stepdad get the HDD and then the new caddy.

 

GEDC0136 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

GEDC0137 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

GEDC0138 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

GEDC0139 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

GEDC0140 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

GEDC0141 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

GEDC0142 by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

 

But why the HDD first? This should explain that.

 

[iHardware Shelden]

Looks good. The 2 sound cards in that one computer caught my eye

[flibberdipper]

Looks good. The 2 sound cards in that one computer caught my eye

That would be HELIOS, my good friend. Bottom one is a SoundBlaster 16 (only used to play MIDIs really, since there's a lot of noise) and the top one is an AudioPCI 128.

 

BTW, there will be an update to that guy soon. As well as the show off your setup thread.

[iHardware Shelden]

That would be HELIOS, my good friend. Bottom one is a SoundBlaster 16 (only used to play MIDIs really, since there's a lot of noise) and the top one is an AudioPCI 128.

 

BTW, there will be an update to that guy soon. As well as the show off your setup thread.

I can't wait

[flibberdipper]

I can't wait

I would suggest following its thread if you haven't already.

[iHardware Shelden]

I would suggest following its thread if you haven't already.

Just did

[flibberdipper]

UPDATE!!!

 

I've replaced my trusty old Dell with a newer one, since this one will run quieter, cooler, and will allow for more storage. I have to call the Dell replacement parts team to see about a 2.5" to media bay thing so I can replace the ODD with a 2.5" SSD for Windows, and then leave the 3.5" drive just for storage. So, enough blabbing and here is a link to the post with the pics.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/331606-the-usff-dell-nas/#entry4502117

[iHardware Shelden]

I want one of those systems so bad

[flibberdipper]

I want one of those systems so bad

I did too.