Suggest a Shell/Hardware for me!

I'm interested in purchasing a computer for the sole purpose of supporting multiple harddrives. I'd like the ability to have probably 10 harddrives, ATA and SATA. I assume I would need a controller card for each... but I'm not sure if there is a motherboard out there that would do that for me. I'm not so much interested in processing speed or memory on this particular PC... so that isn't a priority. Also, what OS would you suggest to do this?

How ya doing, buddy?

Get a mainboard with a SATA controller and four ports. Then get two additional SATA controllers for PCI express. Each one with 4 ports (that's standard). And voila, you can connect 12 harddrives to your system.

OS: Some linux with samba support. Or how do you wanna have access to the files? SCP/SFTP?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

Get a mainboard with a SATA controller and four ports. Then get two additional SATA controllers for PCI express. Each one with 4 ports (that's standard). And voila, you can connect 12 harddrives to your system.

OS: Some linux with samba support. Or how do you wanna have access to the files? SCP/SFTP?

I'm not sure about accessing them... and I haven't used Linux much, so I'm undecided on that.

What about a case for it all though? A lot of the ones I see on newegg don't support that many drives. I dont want them just hanging all over the place lol.

Most amazing jew boots

So you wanna setup a headless machine with Windows? Have fun

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

So you wanna setup a headless machine with Windows? Have fun

I don't want it to be headless (I'm assuming you mean without a monitor, therefor 100% accessible through networking), I still want it to have basic functions like internet browsing and word processing, I just want a motherboard and a case that can handle a lot of harddrives (necessary mounting, cooling, space). So I guess what I'm looking for is a large case with a lot of harddrive mounts, a power supply that can handle those, and a motherboard that has a few PCI slots for 2-3 controller cards. I can't seem to find a case that fits this description on newegg, and I'm not sure whether to go with PCI or PCI Express slots, or really what the advantages are, and will a regular PCI card fit into a PCI Express slot? I guess the first step is finding a case though.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hmm, I can't help you with the case, but I think that what you're planning is a really bad idea.

1) File servers / terabyte blocks should be dedicated
2) Even harddrives produce noise, and ten of them quite a bit

I wouldn't want to work on a system where 10 drives are constantly producing heat and noise.

Your biggest problem will probably be cooling. Fan based solutions -> even more noise.

I would aim for some case with a watercooling solution for harddrives. Something that is easy to maintain (minimum number of moving parts).
Or get yourself ten of these noiseblocker boxes with integrated heatspeaders. I have two of those in my audioserver, hooked up as RAID1 device. The boxes absorb a lot of noise and cooling is quite decent.

Then put the whole thing somewhere where the noise can't reach you (keep in mind though that air flow has to reach the system). Hook it up to the rest of your network and setup some samba fileserver on it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Newegg.com - ARK SR-8100BK Black Pedestal Server Case 4 External 5.25" Drive Bays - Server Chassis

Newegg.com - Antec 4U22ATX450-2 Black 4U Rackmount Rackmount Case 450W 3 External 5.25" Drive Bays - Server Chassis

These are the only cases I found that can hold 10 hard drives, and apparently for the second you actually have to take out the fans to get the full 10. Most server motherboards will come with at least 6 SATA slots, so you only need one extra controller for the other 4.

If you're dead-set on Windows, Server 2008 is probably the way to go.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm running 9 harddrives (4xSATA, 5xIDE) in an Antec 900 case. It has three 120mm intake fans in the front, another on the side. I added an additional 120mm on the inside blowing upwards towards the 200mm on the top, and lastly one more 120mm on the rear of case. It's actually not that noisy at all (just make sure you get good fans). The entire rig is driven by an old Athlon 3800+ on a mATX board. Also I use an el cheapo controller card that gives an extra 4x IDE slots and I'm using all the SATA slots on my mobo.

It has been up and running for a good 6 months without any failure (and actually some of the drives have been in my other rigs for many years past). I use UltraVNC to access it over the network and have had no troubles. And I'm using XP Pro but I imagine the server editions may be a better choice if you're starting anew.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?