kojack Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 I have had this acer mini server for years and it's been sitting just waiting for some love. Well, in the next week or so I will be firing it up for a NAS storage unit for our businesses. I have been doing some research and I can supposedly install a bootloader from sinology to make this into a "new" NAS unit. I will be adding the noctua cooling solutions to it as I think It has a 120mm fan space in the rear and I will get the low profile cpu cooler for the system. For drives I will install 4 8tb Seagates and run them in a raid array to give protection of data. If I can't get this to work correctly I may swap in a whole new board, chip and go that route for the server. Either way, it will be setup in the next two week for use! I will keep a progress report going once I start in on it! 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 Keep us posted. 32tb is alot but there's no such thing as storage overkill ZEUS-COMING SOON Omen 16 2021 Zenbook 14 oled Vivobook 15x oled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 10, 2023 Author Share Posted January 10, 2023 I figure once I get up and running with the photography/videography/design business, I will need all the storage I can get. So building for future needs. I have over 10tb of personal stuff right now on 5 drives hanging around the house and workshop. I don't think it will take long to be going into more after doing work for others. 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 like I say keep us posted. 32tb might sound like alot but in todays world is it really? 1 ZEUS-COMING SOON Omen 16 2021 Zenbook 14 oled Vivobook 15x oled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 I think it's all I can fit in there. It's an older system, and I think the max drive you can actually fit it 2tb each but I am going to try to see if it will see the 8tb drive. If so, plan moves ahead, if not. I will get a synology NAS box and load it up! 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Funny we are doing similar projects. I just put together an HP Mediasmart server and upgraded it to a quad-core xeon with 4GB of ram. I put 3x8TB drives and a 14TB drive in it for backups. It's not fast, but it runs UnRAID and is small enough to fit in my fire safe. 2 1 Desktop | Intel i9-12900k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3821DW| 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7F52 | Supermicro H12SSL-I | Tesla P40 24GB | 256GB 3200MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Backup Server | SM826 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7302 | Supermicro H11SSL-I | Tesla P4 8GB | 256GB 2133MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Dell XPS 9510 | Intel i7-11800H | RTX 3050 Ti | 16GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 1080P | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 3 hours ago, Custom90gt said: Funny we are doing similar projects. I just put together an HP Mediasmart server and upgraded it to a quad-core xeon with 4GB of ram. I put 3x8TB drives and a 14TB drive in it for backups. It's not fast, but it runs UnRAID and is small enough to fit in my fire safe. That's why I want to use this system. It fits in my printer stand like a smack in the face. I will take a picture after of the spot it sits in. I don't need fast, I need Lots of storage after I am finished with a project. Got any pics of your system? 1 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 14 hours ago, kojack said: That's why I want to use this system. It fits in my printer stand like a smack in the face. I will take a picture after of the spot it sits in. I don't need fast, I need Lots of storage after I am finished with a project. Got any pics of your system? Sure, here it is next the the server: It's not a bad little build considering I have <$75 into it excluding the drives. 1 1 Desktop | Intel i9-12900k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3821DW| 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7F52 | Supermicro H12SSL-I | Tesla P40 24GB | 256GB 3200MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Backup Server | SM826 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7302 | Supermicro H11SSL-I | Tesla P4 8GB | 256GB 2133MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Dell XPS 9510 | Intel i7-11800H | RTX 3050 Ti | 16GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 1080P | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 17, 2023 Author Share Posted January 17, 2023 9 hours ago, Custom90gt said: Sure, here it is next the the server: It's not a bad little build considering I have <$75 into it excluding the drives. Cool. Love the older HP cases. shiny coolness. I will grab a shot of mine tomorrow and post it for you! I am into mine for zero since I scabbed it from our business when we were closing. ha ha.! mods will be my only cost. I love that little machine you have there though. reminds me of my DV7 notebook! awesome external system chitty motherboard. 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 18, 2023 Author Share Posted January 18, 2023 Here's my little rig in it's home. Once upgraded I will see what it can do. 1 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 i like kojacks setup better...but nice setups guys 1 ZEUS-COMING SOON Omen 16 2021 Zenbook 14 oled Vivobook 15x oled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 I need to get my office cleaned up and set up correctly. The stand that the server is in, is going to be painted I think. I am still undecided on that, as the desk I am going to use for writing etc is the same color and my new editing desk is black. Decisions decisions. I love old stuff. Old cameras, old computers, old bicycles, etc. It brings me back to that time. Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 On 1/11/2023 at 6:32 PM, ryan said: like I say keep us posted. 32tb might sound like alot but in todays world is it really? Depending on the type of RAID @kojackruns, it may be less than 32TB. I don't have my backup server running any type of redundancy since it only has 4 bays and it's my 3rd line backup. It also lives in my safe unless I'm actively backing up files to it. 1 1 Desktop | Intel i9-12900k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3821DW| 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7F52 | Supermicro H12SSL-I | Tesla P40 24GB | 256GB 3200MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Backup Server | SM826 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7302 | Supermicro H11SSL-I | Tesla P4 8GB | 256GB 2133MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Dell XPS 9510 | Intel i7-11800H | RTX 3050 Ti | 16GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 1080P | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 I am not sure how I am going to set up the drives yet. I need to find out if it will actually take more than 1tb hdds yet, that's what the owners manual says. But I am going to toss a 2tb in. If it runs that, there is no reason to think it won't run large drives. I may even say EFF it and put 16tb drives in it. will see what happens. The 8tb drives are inexpensive, so use them maybe until they fill up. I will want redundancy in my setup so 16tb of storage for now. It will be an interesting project anyways. 1 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 I have been doing alot of reading etc about doing this system. TrueNAS is an open source software package that I think will create the raid array for me. No limitation. I am going to be adding a 256gb ssd on a PCI adapter (if I can) for OS, so my 4 hotswaps are Nothing but storage. I am adding 16gb of ram to it, and I need to cut a hole in the back of the case to mount the 120mm arctic cooling fan I have. I had bought 2 120mm fans for a project build and the case had provisions for 92mm and I didn't notice. So, I have two of these fans. One will be used on this system, the other will be sold. This project will be moving along quickly now, I almost have my new office setup done and I am putting the editing system in it's new home today. Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 I recently signed up to the acer community and asked the question regarding booting and operating my OS from a PCI-e mounted drive. I got confirmation this morning that it, indeed can run the OS from that. That's great news as I can pop in one of my 512gb ssd I have sitting here and add 4 18tb drives in the box for storage. Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted April 5, 2023 Author Share Posted April 5, 2023 So I had my acer apart. it's already running a nice fanless heatpipe cpu cooler. I noticed the boards are mounted on the back area of the case so 120mm will not fit there...HOWEVER, There is already a 120mm fan mounted on the side to push air through the CPU cooler. So swapping that to a Noctua will be easy, as will be the 40mm in the PSU. I am getting ready to order the PCI-E nvme drive card so I can install the OS on it and see if I can get it to work as OS based drive. 1 Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 Just to bump this up, I was looking for one of these for a friend but I just cannot find one. It would be a great little device for his use case... 2 Desktop | Intel i9-12900k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3821DW| 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7F52 | Supermicro H12SSL-I | Tesla P40 24GB | 256GB 3200MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Backup Server | SM826 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7302 | Supermicro H11SSL-I | Tesla P4 8GB | 256GB 2133MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Dell XPS 9510 | Intel i7-11800H | RTX 3050 Ti | 16GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 1080P | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted May 11, 2023 Author Share Posted May 11, 2023 Ok, I am getting ready to order my PCI-E SSD expansion card for my OS drive. My AC100 has PCI-Ex8. The card I am looking at is PCI-Ex4. Will these work together? Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 On 5/11/2023 at 5:09 AM, kojack said: Ok, I am getting ready to order my PCI-E SSD expansion card for my OS drive. My AC100 has PCI-Ex8. The card I am looking at is PCI-Ex4. Will these work together? They will 1 Desktop | Intel i9-12900k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3821DW| 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7F52 | Supermicro H12SSL-I | Tesla P40 24GB | 256GB 3200MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Backup Server | SM826 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7302 | Supermicro H11SSL-I | Tesla P4 8GB | 256GB 2133MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Dell XPS 9510 | Intel i7-11800H | RTX 3050 Ti | 16GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 1080P | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted May 12, 2023 Author Share Posted May 12, 2023 Thanks for the clarification. that will be awesome. Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 Update time. Started this build. Ran into a couple of issues I am working on now. One, TrueNAS needs the same size drives to work correctly. Right now all I had was 2 1tb and 1 2tb. So, This delays the project. What's worse is that I don't have a video cable and the machine has no other input method for display. So I have to wait until my buddy gets off work. He has a bunch. Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 Update 2. went down to my shop behind my house and took the cable from that to start the install of TrueNAS. I have the USB iso in rufus now creating the boot drive Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kojack Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 Update 3. Installed the OS onto the new ssd in the system. The system will not recognize the new drive in bios, and windows 7 ultimate does not see it either when I loaded in one of the HDDs with the OS on it. Any ideas? Workstation - Dell XPS 8940 - desktop creative powerhouse Mobile Workstation - Dell inspiron 5406 2 in 1 - mobile creative beast Wifey's Notebook - Dell inspiron 3169 - Little gem for our businesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 On 11/27/2023 at 9:35 AM, kojack said: Update 3. Installed the OS onto the new ssd in the system. The system will not recognize the new drive in bios, and windows 7 ultimate does not see it either when I loaded in one of the HDDs with the OS on it. Any ideas? Won't see one of the HDDs in Bios? do you have the latest bios installed? Desktop | Intel i9-12900k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3821DW| 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7F52 | Supermicro H12SSL-I | Tesla P40 24GB | 256GB 3200MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Backup Server | SM826 | Unraid 6.12.0-rc4.1 | AMD Epyc 7302 | Supermicro H11SSL-I | Tesla P4 8GB | 256GB 2133MHz ECC 8-channel | 100+TB ZFS | Dell XPS 9510 | Intel i7-11800H | RTX 3050 Ti | 16GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 1080P | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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