Looking for an old computer

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Does anyone here have an old computer currently gathering dust that they're looking to get rid of? I am looking for a machine to store digital photos on and I need something with the following specs:

- SATA support (anything made in the last 6 years or so should have this)
- Room for at least two 3.5 inch hard disks (any non-low-profile machine should have this but if you're in doubt let me know what you have and I will try to research it myself)
- At least 1 gigabit ethernet connector OR an empty PCI slot (most machines made in the last 5 years will have at least one of these too).

The machine need not have any hard disks at all (but I'll take them if you're willing to part with them for free) as I'm planning on putting two fairly large ones in there once I have the machine.

I'll pay up to $75 depending on the machine. This appears to be about how much I'd have to spend to buy it on eBay, but I'd rather buy local if possible. :-)

Any takers?

Comments

Re: buy something new

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at the SheevaPlug (http://www.marvell.com/products/embedded_processors/developer/kirkwood/sheevaplug.jsp)? Costs $99, has built in gigE and a USB 2.0 port to plug in drives. Power draw: 5W. Add a two-drive enclosure for $30 or so, and throw in your two drives at your $160 price and you're under $300 *and* have low power draw.

Re: buy something new

[m00n.livejournal.com]

This does look cool enough to buy just for the geek factor, and it would be the cheapest option so far especially considering its tiny power draw (although the disks, it turns out, are going to be more like $90 each, and you can only get a two drive enclosure for under $40 if you're willing to go with something exceptionally crappy). That said, it also looks like it's very much in the early adopter phase and I wonder if anyone's managed run a RAID 1/0 array via USB on it (as would be necessary in my case). Definitely worth at least reading the Gizmodo article I think. Thanks for the suggestion!

Re: buy something new

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

It runs regular Linux, so you'd certainly be able to run the (very good) Linux software RAID 0/1.

Re: buy something new

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Have you looked into getting a Buffalo Tera Station? Perhaps one of the older models (1 or 2T RAIDs), to save money. You can install Linux on it (it's a hack, but it works great). Then you have your huge network storage server. They are pretty cheap. You can probably find an old one on ebay, and install your own, bigger, disks. You can also add external USB disks to it.