Wondering whether to switch hardware N40L to tower

I currently have a HP N40L microserver, running unRAID Server Plus 5.0.5. There is a 3TB parity drive (WD Red), two 1.5TB drives (Samsung EcoGreen F3), a 3TB drive (WD Red), 250GB (HP) cache drive.

I've now got to the point where I need to replace a 1.5TB drive with a 3TB one, due to being low on space.

Collecting dust I have the following tower:

• Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @2.40GHz (fsb 1066MHz)
  
• 4GB RAM (Corsair TwinX DDR2 matched 2GB modules)
  
• Gigabyte ATI Radeon 4600 1GB Graphics (DVI/VGA out)
  
• Asus P5QL-E motherboard, with onboard HD audio, optical and coaxial output, 6USB, external sATA, FireWire.
  
• 650W NorthQ power supply
  
• NorthQ water cooling unit for CPU
  
• Cooler Master Centurion CM690II Advanced Black tower case, with 4 120mm fans, external sATA drive bay.
  

I think that the two reasons that I didn't use the tower originally were:

1. Power consumption (higher?)

2. Lack of air circulation (stored in cupboard under the stairs)

Do you think that it would be worthwhile changing to the tower?

If so, what tips could I look out for in terms of power management and transferring unRAID? (and anything else thanks!)

If you're happy with the performance of the microserver, but just need more space, I'd just stay with it.  You have a LONG way to go before you exceed its capacity.

That said, I would NOT buy a 3TB drive to replace your 1.5TB drive.    Buy a 6TB drive to replace your parity;  then use the old parity drive to replace the 1.5TB drive.  That will give you the same increase in space you'd get with simply buying a 3TB drive, but the extra cost now will position you so you can use larger drives in the future when you need more space ... limited only by the 6TB parity drive.

well if you do decide to go the tower route I'm selling three 3-in-2 swap bays really cheap.

If you're happy with the performance of the microserver, but just need more space, I'd just stay with it.  You have a LONG way to go before you exceed its capacity.

 

That said, I would NOT buy a 3TB drive to replace your 1.5TB drive.    Buy a 6TB drive to replace your parity;  then use the old parity drive to replace the 1.5TB drive.  That will give you the same increase in space you'd get with simply buying a 3TB drive, but the extra cost now will position you so you can use larger drives in the future when you need more space ... limited only by the 6TB parity drive.

That would make more sense, but I just need the price of the 6TB to come down (and I already have a spare 3TB as it was on offer). It sounds like I need to re-read the info on the purpose of the parity drive!

well if you do decide to go the tower route I'm selling three 3-in-2 swap bays really cheap.

Thanks - doubt I'll need them though as there are 9 bays available for drives (more than my Server Plus licence can handle).

Since you already have the extra 3TB drive I'd just use that, as you've planned.

But the next time you need to add additional space, I'd increase the size of the parity drive so you can add larger drives to the server in the future.