Re: Low-power home server

[Ian Oliver <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In article <VA.00002251.001a4588@xxxxxxx>, Ian Oliver wrote:
> I'm after lower power (to get my base electricity consumption down
> below 1.2kW!), capable of running Ubuntu at a decent speed, and with
> room for 3-4 1TB HDs plus a smaller HD (or SSD) to use as a system
> drive.

OK, new server up and running. I got the Tranquil BBS2; the version
with 4x Hot Swap and 1x fixed.

Pros:
Very quiet, very low power (haven't measured but guess about 40 watts
with five drives)
Well made and a quality feel to everything.
Ubuntu Linux booted straight up and was happy with all of the
hardware (I just copied my current install to a new HD and away it
went)
How swap SATA just works.
It's got serial, which I need for programming my X10 controller and
for connecting my 433MHz receiver.

Cons:
You can't have four raid drives and e-sata. e-sata would have been
nice for backups.
The power plug is a normal DC push-in one. It hasn't fallen out, and
probably won't, but THIS IS A SERVER! Something more positive would be
good.
Only 4xUSB and all at the back. They are also all rather close
together.
Manual is a bit skinny - just a folded A4.

As you might be able to tell. Other than the lack of e-sata (which I
knew about up-front as I choose the version without it to get 4x raid)
I was having to think hard regards cons!

I'm currently selling 8x250GB SATA drives on ebay and it looks like
I'll raise enough to pay for 2x1TB drives, which is nice. I then just
have to sell the 500GB the 400GB the 80GB ...

Oh, and I also have a *BIG* CM Stacker with 3x the modules that take 4
hard drives if anyone is after a box that can take 12 drives and lives
near Leeds.

Ian Oliver
Sunny Leeds, UK
Using Java on Tini for control via Dallas 1-wire





------------------------------------