NASLite Network Attached Storage

I have been a NasLite user for the past couple of years (since 1.3) and I am afraid that I take a different view of the world to some on the forums.... I see the specs of the servers that are posted and they are something like "quintuple core 8.6 giga-ma-squiggles CPU, 84 gigabytes Ram, 16 x 5 terrabites 27,000rpm disks in a RAID 5+6+0 Striped-mirrored-spanned volumes, teamed fibre chanel 10gigabit network" (and I cannot tell a lie I do have NAS envy!) But my poor little NASLite is a Compaq PIII 667, 384 mb Ram, 500gb disk, 200gb disk, 100mb lan all crushed into a small form factor case. Serving media to an XBox media center and Media Portal (both serving and recording the TV) and I have to admit it performs GREAT! Fast enough and stable.

So I guess I have 2 questions:
1. Is anyone out there using a poxy slow machine like me? No prizes but lets see what the lowest usable (in the real world) specs are
2. For the people with the qunituple core boxes, what are the benefits, real or percived, of having such a rocket as a nas? (and I guess as we are mostly guys the old "mine's bigger than yours" is a valid argument)

Yes thanks... I do know that the high specs are nonsense but they are there to illustrate a point

Yep, mine's an eight year old Gateway 2000 machine. Can't recall what processor speed it is but probably around 650 MHz, and with a measly 256 MB of RAM and a five quid network card from PC World. Runs just fine with a 250 GB disk where I keep my iTunes music library and my laptop backups. With a VPN router I can access it when away from home and it's perfectly adequate for my needs. If I wanted more, I'd probably go for Windows Home Server.

if you look at the commercial NAS systems out there, none of them use super high-end hardware on the CPU side -

"high performance" is a 600 mhz celeron:
http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=11&pid=8

throughput is one of my main desires/"needs", so i have a retired dell machine with gigabit enet, and SATA drives (my limit in throughput is currently the drives - around 60 MB/s) but my first NasLite box was a no-name 1.2 ghz Duron system. the only problem with it was that it wouldn't boot from USB.

honestly, i don't think i have used more than about 20% of the CPU on the current 3.2 ghz P4 NasLite box - but the 1 GB of ram is in constant use as buffer!

I specifically chose a VERY LOW power (in terms of power consumption) system, but at the same time attempted to select very reliable components.

Motherboard is an Asus CUSL2 (very stable/reliable m/b!)
CPU is a Celeron Coppermine 533 (fantastic cpu for this application, plenty fast, VERY low wattage, and they're CHEAP!)

The processor is about as low power as you can get and still have an i686 cpu.

I even attempted to use a PicoPSU power supply (120W 95% efficiency) but it has some sort of odd incompatibly problems with the m/b So back to the ATX power supply for now.

..and then just a single 128Mb stick of RAM.
Updated it with a nice Promise SATA card and a speedy Intel GigE NIC.

I think it's a waste to be throwing serious desktop hardware at a system like the NL server. It's just not needed.

Excellent topic.

I agree fully that throwing hardware at a NAS is an absolute waste considering that a modest approach is far easier on the wallet. In the case of Naslite, it's efficient enough not to require great big CPU with a radiator attached to it for temp control.

I prefer to use old PCs but when I build new, I go for low cost boards that come with a VIA C3 on board. Add RAM and drives and off you go. The results are very good since you get a cool running low power CPU that is more than adequate for a NAS as well as a fast up to date board bus for maximum data transfer between the NIC and drives. At home I use ASUS C3 Terminator machines that I got for $35 each on ebay. I think others here use those too.

So I have 2 servers of the following specs:

800 MHz VIA C3 (runs like a P300 but cooler)
512M DDR RAM
2x500G SATA
2x500G PATA

I bet my NAS performs on the same level as the quintuple core 8.6 giga-ma-squiggles servers people are running.

Same here

I got an old P-III 500 Hz and 384Mb memory thrown together in a
big old case
(the mobo/memory comby was my second computer ever)
on the drive department I did go a little overboard
4x400 Gb on an IDE raid card (LSi MegaRaid)
1 drive is a hot spare so I got something around 0.8 TB storage there
and 1x750 Gb on the second IDE channel

this is my "primary" drive and it's synced to the raid array


perfectly happy with the setup
and it didn't break the bank building it




Going as low as you can:
as a test I got a P-133 with 32 Mb ram here running the SMB floppy version
even that runs without issues

Ahem..... My server has been evolving since February, when I first discovered the delight that is NASLite-2. Basically, all the recycled components originally in the server have been swapped out and replaced. Most recently, I decided to go for a motherboard with 2 x PCI-X slots to be able to use my 3Ware cards in 64-bit mode. As I didn't have a compatible CPU, I decided to opt for an X2 (for not much more than a single core).

At the moment I'm considering re-incarnating the original (although in a different case, the Dell 1600SC server case is *too* big and the PSU is not quiet) as a birthday present for my Dad.

Mine was a donor rig someone gave to me cause windows would not run anymore (Spyware) and they bought a new pc. I added hardware LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-6 (ebay cheap). The only new components were the 4 250GB HDDs. Way more than I'll ever need but it was just one of those "did it because I can" kind of things. The only thing I wish it had was some permission capabilities, SMART support for RAID, power management.

this is how i got my current NasLite server - person bought a new computer first, then asked me to help them "protect" it, decided they didn't want the older larger tower, and passed it off to me for helping them out.

i guess it is the benefit of knowing a bit about computers, and being able to help people out in your free time??

After building our first NASlite 2 on a $50(?) Asus Terminator C1 unit mostly from scrap parts...never much thought about buying "heavier" machines. We now own 6ea (soon seven) identical units and all the refinements have been cosmetic and/or capacity. Hell, the reason we used new terminators was due to their USB booting capabilities. Our other waste boxes couldn't even handle that

These boxes are used as video servers and they never hiccup. I still believe the internal LAN port is operating at gigabit speeds thanks to some NASLITE driver.

Have never managed to get the NASLite with 4 drives below 64W of power consumption. My best RAID1 server effort (with an even lower powered motherboard) still came to 55W. I would think that any mainstream motherboard would use much more power than these "worthless" Epia based units. Personally, I consider power use to be a much more relevant "real world" consideration than absolute speed.

Your old P3 with a modern Bios seems very desireable to me.