Is laptop a good option?

  • I have a 5 year old laptop with i7-3537U CPU @ 2.00 GHz with 8 GB RAM. I plan to connect 2x 4TB externally powered HDD via USB 3.0. Do you think it's powerful enough to handle OMV? Also is there a way to test the stability of this setup once OMV is installed? I have spare HDD lying around to test without touching my 4TBs.

  • OMV itself does not need any "power". Depends on what are your ideas in using it for...encoding needs more power than pure smb-sharing...and so on...

    --
    Get a Rose Tattoo...


    HP t5740 with Expansion and USB3, Inateck Case w/ 3TB WD-Green
    OMV 5.5.23-1 Usul i386|4.19.0-9-686-pae

  • OMV itself does not need any "power". Depends on what are your ideas in using it for...encoding needs more power than pure smb-sharing...and so on...

    Thanks. Right now the aim is to move my SMB server off a Asus RT-AC68U router to a separate NAS. I'll see if it can be used as a Plex server but it's not a major requirement.


    How about reliability? Is it okay to use external HDD?


    Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

  • Look at my signature...the answer is simply "yes"
    SMB is no problem (look at my hardware, it just works).
    Plex should work fine with i7@8GB, but no experiance with that...


    HTH

    --
    Get a Rose Tattoo...


    HP t5740 with Expansion and USB3, Inateck Case w/ 3TB WD-Green
    OMV 5.5.23-1 Usul i386|4.19.0-9-686-pae

  • Thanks all. I have been running it on my laptop for about a week without issues. I am just using SMB share and rsync. Though I would like to move to a better hardware soon, I'm keeping an eye on colleges replacing old PCs.

  • Thanks all. I have been running it on my laptop for about a week without issues. I am just using SMB share and rsync. Though I would like to move to a better hardware soon, I'm keeping an eye on colleges replacing old PCs.

    Colleges are a great place to find hardware. I buy parts from a couple university property centers via their Ebay store fronts. If you are on a budget, consider some of the volume hardware liquidators, many of whom have Ebay store fronts as well. I buy/build machines for an educational non-profit, and obtain most of their equipment that way. I can often find new, but recently obsolete, systems/parts at heavily discounted prices. For OMV, and Linux/BSD in general, this has the advantages of still having its full lifespan while having been around long enough any OS issues are already fixed or well documented.

  • Care to share some links? I tried some local universities but none of them anything to offer at this time.

    Here are some vendors I've used. Since I'm in California, all are from the U.S. Ebay site. I'm not necessarily advocating them. These are just vendors I've bought from. Because I tend to assemble systems, there's more selection for components than systems for sale. Your mileage may vary.


    https://www.ebay.com/usr/usderc (University of San Diego Equipment Recovery. Mostly used items)


    https://www.ebay.com/usr/kalleyomalley (Also does business on the internet as OEMXS. New and used components & some systems, along with consumer items. They are a volume Intel liquidator, but are unaffiliated with Intel. They take "offers" on most Ebay listings)


    https://www.ebay.com/usr/svcstore (equipment reseller/liquidator, new and used)


    https://www.ebay.com/usr/digitalmind2000 (used and new, both components and off lease system resale)


    https://www.ebay.com/usr/greencitizen (mostly used, both components and off lease system resale)


    https://www.ebay.com/usr/ganserscientific (mostly used, both components and off lease system resale)


    With the increased awareness on data security lately, many vendors/institutions now pull hard drives from systems and destroy them prior to resale, rather than taking the time to wipe them. So, you will find a lot of listings for off lease, out of service systems with no hard disks. For OMV, this may not be as much an issue, since you don't need an OS "key" and you may want to supply your own disks. However, since these systems have no disks, they are often listed as "for parts" or "barebones" rather than "used" (or "new" if they are liquidation) on resale sites like EBay.


    If you plan to use Plex or other CPU intensive plugins, a used server, as outlined by @flmaxey above, is a cost effective choice. At the other end of the CPU power spectrum, there's users on the forum that have/still use repurposed Thin Clients for OMV (i used to myself). There's many that can be had new for under $50. But, they aren't a good choice if you need a lot of disks and/or room for expansion, or aren't willing to tinker a bit with the hardware to set it all up. Exmple Thin Client


    The good news about it is that OMV works with such a broad choice of hardware!

    Just trying to get by

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von Markess ()

  • My main concern was that the laptop aren't not built for 24/7 operation. I've been pleasantly surprised with the stability of my 5 year laptop. It seems to be serving my purpose but I would eventually like to get/build a server meant to be run 24/7. Thanks to you all, I know of plenty of ways to make it happen with my budget.


    I also didn't know that transcoding is only needed for mobile devices. So that reduces another burden because I mainly use Plex on my TV.


    That being said, I am currently looking at a Dell T30. I have seen it drop down to ~$260 in the past. I've setup a notification for it when the price dips again. In the meanwhile if I get a better deal on a used server, I might snag it. I will grow my drives later on. Currently I am using 2x 4TB external drive.

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