Hi everyone, I have been looking to get a Home Server and have been looking at the one such as the ACER EasyStore or the HP MediaSmart Server Both systems are the perfect size I had in mind Acer EasyShare = 7.9" W x 7.1" D x 8.3" H HP MediaSmart = 5.5" W X 9.8" D x 9.2" H I would rather build my own however so I can easily upgrade as needed. I cannot however find any MITX cases that are of a similiar size. The Acer comes with an Atom 230 processor which I would liek to have something with a little more juice so will be looking at either a socket 775 or 1156 MITX boards once I have made a decision on case. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
I always thought this case would make a great home server/NAS case... http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=3&prod=39
Not sure whereabouts you live but you need to look at some dedicated mini-ITX store's such as itxwarehouse. Ebay too usually has a pretty good selection and there's things in all shapes and sizes. I certainly wouldn't go for anything much smaller if you're thinking of going the 775 / 1156 route.
I assume you are going to install Windows home server I may be wrong and if I am this probably won't apply. Before you go down the mini - ITX route for a WHS the next version of the OS is going to be 64bit only so any sort of Atom Mini - ITX rig would be incompatible.
Can the orginal poster please give us some more information regarding requirements, usage etc for a "home server"? Both the Asus and the HP run WHS but there are other choices available should you wish to build your own hardware. Have you decided upon your O/S yet or does the "build your own" preference precede that?
Yes you are correct I would be planning on running Windows Home Server. As the new version will be out soon that is another reason why I want to go with a socket 775 motherboard as the current atoms wont cut it. In regards to motherboard I have been looking at the Intel DG45FC which is a Mitx 775 board and go with an E5200 Processor. My only concern as someone above pointed out is getting a heatsink to fit in a small case. I have looked at a number of sites and the difficulty is finding something that is not to long which holds 2+ 3.5" HDD bays. The only one I have really seen is the Chenbro M300 which is only 10" long which is more inline. The Lian Li PQ07 would be a lovely case but from what I see it could only hold 1 3.5" drive. Thanks again for your help with this.
It's very tight inside that Lian Li. I've built a few rigs in them & it's a squeeze (although you can fit a 3.5", a 2.5" & either a 5.25", 3.5" or 4x2.5" HDD's in the bay
I have looked at the scan site and the only case which would seem to come close is the Lian Li PQ07. The others although being Mitx cases they are still quite large. So the question is for building a compact home server like those from HP and ACER would you go for the Chenbro or the Lian Li and how would you build it to hold 2 x 1TB drives.
Try here as well... http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=3 This shows a lot of Mini-ITX cases, scroll down to see them all.
I have my server built in a large Thermaltake case, I know that size is an issue for you but I wouldn't get a case too small the point of the server is to have lots of storage space and you need a case to accommodate a few hard drives.
http://www.xcase.co.uk/Chenbro-ES34069-Mini-ITX-p/case-chenbro-es34069.htm 4 bays or http://www.xcase.co.uk/Atomic-Home-Server-p/case-atomic-home server.htm
