Old laptop as server
#1
Was going to get a server but the wife wants a new laptop so her old one will be just sitting around.
Its a Dell 1545. I want to connect 3 hard drives to it and use Unraid. I have two USB HD enclosures and thinking of just connecting the other to the main internal hard drive as it will be running Unraid from a peg.
Is this the best way to connect the drives. The biggest file I have a a 4gb rip.
I was going to place it up stairs n one of the spare rooms and use powerplugs to connect everything. House is about 15 years old so should be ok.
What sort of Ethernet switch should I get. Want to have two Xbmc running at the same time but this may expand as time goes on.

How does my plan sound?
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#2
I also use a laptop as one of my XBMC machines,..and it works perfectly.

I can't picture what you're trying to do with the hdds,...but what caught my eye was the 4TB rip.
What did you rip to get a 4TB file? wow!
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#3
(2013-11-05, 15:10)vjmcdonnell Wrote: Was going to get a server but the wife wants a new laptop so her old one will be just sitting around.
Its a Dell 1545. I want to connect 3 hard drives to it and use Unraid. I have two USB HD enclosures and thinking of just connecting the other to the main internal hard drive as it will be running Unraid from a peg.
Is this the best way to connect the drives. The biggest file I have a a 4gb rip.
I was going to place it up stairs n one of the spare rooms and use powerplugs to connect everything. House is about 15 years old so should be ok.
What sort of Ethernet switch should I get. Want to have two Xbmc running at the same time but this may expand as time goes on.

How does my plan sound?

I am using them to store my media files. Eh was a 4gb rip.
Dont want to use the laptop for Xbmc want to use it as a server
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#4
Serving files takes little processing power, your laptop will do it easily. Bottlenecks though might be the SATA<>USB links and the homeplugs. Given though that you get the throughput, the laptop will easily be up to the job.
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#5
aha 4GB instead of 4TB,...hahaha,...I thought that was the case,..but then, who know what some die-hard movie addict will do.

Ahhh gotcha, you want it as THE file server,...I agree with black_eagle.
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#6
Would it be worth getting a 34 expresscard with twin Sata connections. Was going to try 500 Mpbs but if they don't work ill just run some cables.
Any recommendation on a switch?
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#7
It really depends on what you are streaming and how much bandwidth it needs.

Theoretical maximums are

USB 2.0 = 480 Mbit/s
FireWire 800 = 800 Mbit/s
USB 3.0 = 5 Gbit/s
eSATA = Up to 6 Gbit/s

but you won't hit those speeds in real life. 1080i encoded in MPEG2 would require ~25Mbits/s so you should have plenty in hand.

As regards a switch, don't you have a spare port on your router ?
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#8
I am using 3g for Internet as I live in the countryside.
Guess I'd like a router that could take an input from my 3g router for Internet and have wifi n (is this the fastest?) and have 4 hard wire connections.
Not looking for much am I.
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#9
(2013-11-05, 22:01)vjmcdonnell Wrote: I am using 3g for Internet as I live in the countryside.
Guess I'd like a router that could take an input from my 3g router for Internet and have wifi n (is this the fastest?) and have 4 hard wire connections.
Not looking for much am I.

You mean like this ?
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#10
Yeah that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.
The wifi on my current 3g router is crap and doesn't like Linux which I have running on a old laptop. Dam u Huawei
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#11
Thinking of using this as the router
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR104...2D712KCUEU

Would it be worth getting one of these, or best to wait and see if I have issues.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delock-Express-C...HD7N529TLN
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#12
(2013-11-05, 22:32)vjmcdonnell Wrote: Yeah that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.
The wifi on my current 3g router is crap and doesn't like Linux which I have running on a old laptop. Dam u Huawei

(2013-11-07, 15:15)vjmcdonnell Wrote: Thinking of using this as the router
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR104...2D712KCUEU

Would it be worth getting one of these, or best to wait and see if I have issues.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delock-Express-C...HD7N529TLN

Huawei LaughLaugh

Does that router do 3g ?
The delock ? I'd wait to see if you have issues first. No point spending money on equipment if you don't need to. If you find you can't get the speed then by all means go for it.
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