My CoffeeBox NAS

So, at the end of this last summer I decided that when I built my new computer, I wasn't going to fill it with hard drives, because of the problems it caused me prior and the extra heat and whatnot. So I took my 4 hard drives and made the following:

http://photos-167.ak.facebook.com/ip...63167_4927.jpg

Zoomed out image

http://photos-168.ak.facebook.com/ip...63168_5206.jpg

l33t coffee. Mischievous face carved out for the one fan.

http://photos-169.ak.facebook.com/ip...63169_5473.jpg

What it looks like from the top, only cord attached is ethernet.

http://cmu.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...170&id=4803502

The 'back' of the box. Power plug and whatnot. Also visible are some screws that are used to hold hard drives and power supply in.

http://photos-171.ak.facebook.com/ip...63171_6033.jpg

The insides. 4 hard drives, 2x200gb and 2x300gb all standing up and attached by the sides. The rest of the components are an Asus motherboard, a 2.0ghz P4, 256mb of ram, and a single fan.

Thats pretty sweet. Nice job!

You need that much space?
what is it a server or something.

otherwise Cool!

I'm a TV show fanatic and have an AIW card. High quality video takes up lots of space =P it's about half-full already actually.

AIW.

My new laptop im getting says i can watch and record TV. how do i do that?
i posted a thread about it in the hardware thread it has specs there etc.

help?;)

/\ I just got a Media Center PC from HP too, and it's just like yours except it's a desktop. I have one coaxial, one FM antennae, and two composite/s-video inputs. You use one of the composite inputs if you have a "set-top box" (like for Comcast or Dish or w/e). If you don't have a set-top box, you use the coaxial input. I have Comcast with a set-top box, but I use the coaxial input and works fine (it downloads the guide for you and everything). The only thing I don't get because I'm not using the set-top box is on-demand, but I don't usually use that anyways. So you watch TV and record it through Media Center (which absolutely rocks). You can even record live TV while watching a recorded show. Also, Media Center automatically records when you are watching something, so if you miss a play or something, you can rewind. The file is deleted once you change channels or close Media Center. Any more questions? :P

P.S.: Sorry for being a little off-topic. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Video_freak

/\ I just got a Media Center PC from HP too, and it's just like yours except it's a desktop. I have one coaxial, one FM antennae, and two composite/s-video inputs. You use one of the composite inputs if you have a "set-top box" (like for Comcast or Dish or w/e). If you don't have a set-top box, you use the coaxial input. I have Comcast with a set-top box, but I use the coaxial input and works fine (it downloads the guide for you and everything). The only thing I don't get because I'm not using the set-top box is on-demand, but I don't usually use that anyways. So you watch TV and record it through Media Center (which absolutely rocks). You can even record live TV while watching a recorded show. Also, Media Center automatically records when you are watching something, so if you miss a play or something, you can rewind. The file is deleted once you change channels or close Media Center. Any more questions? :P

P.S.: Sorry for being a little off-topic. ;)

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My main desktop is the one with the video hardware, also the ridiculous processors to best convert/compress video to different mpeg4 formats. This is just storage box to hold the end result ;).

Oh I forgot to mention: Total cost: under 200$ All the parts were either gotten from the garbage of CompUSA when I worked there, or from friend's old systems, except the two 200gig hdds which I bought... maybe 2-3 years ago for 100$ a piece at the time.

hope it doesnt overheat, lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by quzar

My main desktop is the one with the video hardware, also the ridiculous processors to best convert/compress video to different mpeg4 formats.

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Lol! I'm recording every show from the Simpsons and South Park right now, and boy is the hard drive filling up fast! It's 320 GB and it has around 100+ GB left after only a few weeks. I think I got 120+ episodes now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gamerremag

hope it doesnt overheat, lol

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That was one of the two concerns everyone I showed it to raised. That and the fact that a computer case should be metal, and when I said "why?" most had no response, although others said for grounding.

It ran fine even without the fan that I added, but I put it in just to be sure =P. Hell it's a P4 running w/o a fan on it, just a heatsink and yet it runs fine, shocks me, but considering that it barely ever goes above 10% usage I guess it makes sense.