Network question...

[SilentZero]

Ok....well I have a small issue. My wife and I are having a baby, but won't be due for the next 8 months, which means my current extra bedroom which I use as my computer room/office has to go. I have a ton of hardware in here now, and don't have any other space large enough to run all of this stuff without cluttering up our bedroom. I run 6 pc's at the moment, plus have an extra 4 that I run on occassion, but only for extra storage. I have one laptop in the livingroom, so thats not really an issue. I have 4 LCD's and 4 CRTs in the room now, so that just adds to the mess.

I am wondering if there is a space saving configuration or design that I can employ to still have MAX storage w/ minimum hardware. I was thinking maybe doing a server build, or two, and running the two servers in the bedroom to consolidate all of my data, but am not aware how something like that would be networked. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!!!! Cost is always an issue, but I have a moderate budget I can devote to this task. I just need to find a solution! What I was thinking was maybe having my primary desktop and my wifes pc in the Master bedroom, and keeping my laptop downstairs in the livingroom, and maybe having a server or two with as much storage space as I can to store and access data to and from. Im far from a expert in this area so any suggestions are helpful. Thanks!

 

[JackMDS]

I do not get it, if it is only storage issue why do you need so many computers?

There are reasonably priced Hard drives with storage capacity of 120GB and more. Few of them can be put in one computer.

In any case you can Network few computers set sharing, and MAP the Disk Drives to the Laptop.

Doing so will make the Laptop as thought it has all the other Computers Disk drives as it own.

Log to this page it has a lot of links to instructions to Windows Network Setting and Sharing.

Link: Installing & Sharing

 

[SilentZero]

Well you made a great point about the number of computers. My wife asks me that about twice a week actually. To be honest, I never get rid of anything, and just let it build up. Don't know why, but I seem to do that with all of my hardware. Only thing i actually throw out is hard drives, just because its fun to destroy them and for data security purposes.

Ideally I would like to have a 1TB computer (4) 250gb WD's, and another with about half that capacity and just use those as my network storage/servers. I deal alot with media and one of my pc's function as a DVR so i use up space like crazy! Thanks for the advice!

 

[Balthazar]

Or you could buy a couple RAID cards, make sure you have a healthy relatively strong PSU and gank the drives from the other PC's and make some RAID0 arrays.
Then just connect that machine to a switch, and if your only doing basic storage just install XP on it or 2000 (or 2003) and share out the drives so you can either, as the guy above said) map the drives from the other machines, or just browse the shares like you would any other networked PC. Then viola, a bunch of PC's whose sole purpose in life was storage now become ebay/FSFT fodder and maybe instead of losing money on the deal you might make a few bucks?

 

[Balthazar]

P.S.: A RAID0 setup might be very nice for your DVR machine since, lord knows, you can never get enough disk space or speed with those babies.

 

[SilentZero]

I run a RAID0 now on two of my machines...the DVR (two 250gb WD's) and my main desktop (2 raptors).
How many drives can I RAID0 on one machine btw? I use the onboard RAID controller on my ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe's, but could I use a seperate RAID controller card supporting another 4 drives and still use the two onboard for a total of six drives in RAID0? Because you mentioned adding a couple of cards. What is the maximum number of drives possable that I can RAID0, is there a limit of RAID cards I can add while still using the onboard? What route would you take? I have a Lian Li PC75 case that I use for my DVR/video storage machine which fits a ton of drives (15 drive bays), so thats not a problem at all. Thanks for the help btw.

 

[SilentZero]

Oh and I wanted to know if its advisable to run just XP Pro or can I run 2000 advanced server or server 2003 on the server machine(s) that will hold most of my storage? What would be the benefits to using a server OS as opposed to XP pro?

 

[Nutz]

Why not recase all your systems in rackmount enclosures? A 4U ATX rackmount can be found from $65 these days. Buy yourself a cheap rack and poof! Add a tray for the LCDs and a KVM switch and you're all set.

 

[ToxicWaste]

Have you considered at KVM switch? KVM=keyboard/vidoe/monitor You might be able to reduce down to a KVM for your servers and secondary rigs and a 2nd setup for your primary rig. That would mean just two monitors,2 keyboards, and 2 mice to take up space.

 

[martind1]

get a KVM and that will limit the keyboards, and moniters you need to keep around.

 

[martind1]

thats what i get for not reading down to the end of the posts.

what do you need all this sotrage for anyways?

 

[exx1976]

Yeah.. RAID0.. Now THAT'S an intelligent way to get 1Tb of storage... Do your homework on it and you'll see what I mean...

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

RAID0 and no backup.

Well, one nice thing about that rig is the problem of a lot of data probably won't last long, just until the first disk failure, or corrupted disk...