Hi,

From an earlier post (below) I am quite interested in converting an old Dell
PC (Dimension T500 range, approx 10 years old) into a NAS. I would be quite
a novice to this but am happy to play around a bit and usually am able to
bumble my way through. My query is over whether I would be able to install
one of the newer hard-drives into the machine - the handbook talks only
about EIDE or SCSI drives. Is this going to cause me a problem - I was
hoping to stick in a 1TB drive but am I likely to need to upgrade the
motherboard also?

Does the fact that I'm asking these questions mean that it would be more
sensible for me to buy something off the shelf ?

Thanks



================================================== ===========
Hi
USB to Ethernet converter does not work this way. It only works on a USB
jack of a computer.
Why? http://www.ezlan.net/faq.html#usb
These days it is very fashionable among enthusiasts to find an old P-III
computer (in New York you find them on the side walk on Garage day).
Put a bigger HD, and Windows Home Server on it, and have the best Entry
Level NAS that you One dream on, http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"Endulini" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I'm looking at getting some external storage to manage backups etc and am
looking into getting an NAS so I can access it from all my systems. I've
noticed that the LAN systems seem appreciably more expensive than their
USB counterparts; this may seem like a dumb question but what's stopping
me from getting a USB external drive and connecting it with an ethernet/
USB converter?

Does anyone have any good recommendations (I was looking at the Freecom
Network Drive 1TB LAN&USB-2 Aluminium Enclosure)?

Thanks

Endulini wrote:
Hi,

From an earlier post (below) I am quite interested in converting an old
Dell PC (Dimension T500 range, approx 10 years old) into a NAS. I would
be quite a novice to this but am happy to play around a bit and usually
am able to bumble my way through. My query is over whether I would be
able to install one of the newer hard-drives into the machine - the
handbook talks only about EIDE or SCSI drives. Is this going to cause me
a problem - I was hoping to stick in a 1TB drive but am I likely to need
to upgrade the motherboard also?

Does the fact that I'm asking these questions mean that it would be more
sensible for me to buy something off the shelf ?

Thanks



================================================== ===========
Hi
USB to Ethernet converter does not work this way. It only works on a USB
jack of a computer.
Why? http://www.ezlan.net/faq.html#usb
These days it is very fashionable among enthusiasts to find an old P-III
computer (in New York you find them on the side walk on Garage day).
Put a bigger HD, and Windows Home Server on it, and have the best Entry
Level NAS that you One dream on, http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"Endulini" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I'm looking at getting some external storage to manage backups etc and am
looking into getting an NAS so I can access it from all my systems. I've
noticed that the LAN systems seem appreciably more expensive than their
USB counterparts; this may seem like a dumb question but what's stopping
me from getting a USB external drive and connecting it with an ethernet/
USB converter?

Does anyone have any good recommendations (I was looking at the Freecom
Network Drive 1TB LAN&USB-2 Aluminium Enclosure)?

Thanks



If your system doesn't have the currently-standard SATA connections, a
cheap interface card will do the job. Go to Newegg.com and search for "SYBA
SD-SATA-4P PCI SATA" (without the quotes, of course) to see an example. I
would most likely leave my operating system on whatever drive was already
installed and use any new drive(s) strictly for data storage. I have built
file servers using Windows 2000, Windows XP, and PC-BSD and for my limited
needs any of them work just fine. The current W2K version has been running
for at least four years now with no more than a few hours of downtime --
mostly for upgrades and the like.

But if you are really serious about your data you would be advised to have
some way to back everything up. Using the controller in its RAID mode with
drive mirroring would be one good way to protect yourself. Of course this
means buying twice as many drives but safety is never cheap.

--
John McGaw
http://johnmcgaw.com

Hi
I would deem the Dimension T500 line as too old for such purpose.
In order to make it reasonably capable you would have to upgrade it with
memory, probably CPU, and add a card for SATA ports.
For the same money, using something like this can be much more reasonable,
http://www.surpluscomputers.com/3481...ghz-512mb.html
The best solution is to spend a little more and build a very nice NAS/Home
server based on Intel ATOM and Windows Home Server.
http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"Endulini" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

From an earlier post (below) I am quite interested in converting an old
Dell PC (Dimension T500 range, approx 10 years old) into a NAS. I would be
quite a novice to this but am happy to play around a bit and usually am
able to bumble my way through. My query is over whether I would be able to
install one of the newer hard-drives into the machine - the handbook talks
only about EIDE or SCSI drives. Is this going to cause me a problem - I
was hoping to stick in a 1TB drive but am I likely to need to upgrade the
motherboard also?

Does the fact that I'm asking these questions mean that it would be more
sensible for me to buy something off the shelf ?

Thanks



================================================== ===========
Hi
USB to Ethernet converter does not work this way. It only works on a USB
jack of a computer.
Why? http://www.ezlan.net/faq.html#usb
These days it is very fashionable among enthusiasts to find an old P-III
computer (in New York you find them on the side walk on Garage day).
Put a bigger HD, and Windows Home Server on it, and have the best Entry
Level NAS that you One dream on, http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"Endulini" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I'm looking at getting some external storage to manage backups etc and am
looking into getting an NAS so I can access it from all my systems. I've
noticed that the LAN systems seem appreciably more expensive than their
USB counterparts; this may seem like a dumb question but what's stopping
me from getting a USB external drive and connecting it with an ethernet/
USB converter?

Does anyone have any good recommendations (I was looking at the Freecom
Network Drive 1TB LAN&USB-2 Aluminium Enclosure)?

Thanks