I haven't posted for a while as I have been working hard on my new site, but I am back to do some posting now. A while back I posted a review of my Icybox I have been using this plugged into my PS3 for a while now and its working great, But when it comes to 720p and 1080p content the file sizes have become an issue, The PS3 doesn't support anything other than FAT32 for USB drives so this means the drives have a 4gb file size limitation most rips from BluRay are huge 10gb Plus so it is time to move over to a NAS that can serve up my media.

The goal:

Build a NAS (Network Attached Storage) machine that is silent, small, and most of all very low power so it can be run 24/7 (oh and cheap)

The Hardware:

So far I have looked at lots of options and the only type of machine that will fit the silent and low power requirement will be a Thin Client, I have picked up a HP T5700 off of Fleabay. Now the first stumbling block is that most of the older thin clients on ebay only have USB 1.0 which obviously can't handle me streaming 1080p video through it, so I plan on installing a USB PCI adapter on the internal PCI slot and run the cable out of the case via a bit of modifying.


Costs So Far
£36.98 for the HP T5700
£6.98 for the Power Adapter
£2.99 for a USB 2.0 PCI Card
£4.78 for a PCI Flex Riser
£5.99 For a USB Ethernet Adapter
Total Cost £57.72


I will be back with further updates and proper photo's as I progress

very small update, I have been looking at the photos I can find online for the internals of this thing and it looks pretty tight the riser will definitely have to be a flexible one I am going to wait until I receive the USB card and the machine before I progress and order that part

9/06/09
Power Adapter arrived and its the wrong one I don't know why I didn't see it was a four barrel plug whoops

The HP T5700 arrived today nice little client, not tiny but a nice size to work with, more pics coming shortly


The clearance for the PCI slot looks very tight so I will have to use a flexible PCI riser for the USB 2.0 card



Pictures Taken with my phone as I just broke my card reader -

10/06/09
Bought the correct Power Supply

I am looking at using FreeNAS as the OS on the project as it ticks all the boxes I need from above, I need to create a Live CD that boots off of a USB drive

12/06/09
New power supply arrived plugged into the unit and nothing but a low buzzing noise coming from the client and it wont power up, To say I am annoyed is an understatement,

But I have tried using the wifes 3.98a laptop adapter and it works perfectly so off to ebay for a 3rd adapter

14/06/09
Ok so I took apart my spare USB hard drive caddy and plugged a IDE DVD drive into it, I have now successfully installed the full version of FreeNAS to the internal flash memory of the HP machine

Just so you know the specs for this machine are nice and low

733mhz CPU
192mb Flash Memory
256mb DDR2100 RAM
4 x USB 1.0
1 X 10/100 LAN
On Board ATI Rage XL

I will do a further update tonight as the wife wants her Laptop power supply back



16/06/09

Today I ordered a flexible PCI Riser for the USB 2.0 Card and found that after around 3 hours of messing with the settings for the initial set up of FreeNAS that the onboard Ethernet refuses to work with anything so I will be also ordering a USB 2.0 Ethernet Card

Used the PS3's card reader to upload pics from my decent camera

Sounds interesting - post the pics s soon as you can lease

I look forward to hearing how this works for you as I have been looking at doing something similar.

I need some help finding a 1u or 2u riser ribbon for as cheap as possible, Dont forget I am in the UK