FreeNAS Older PC

[freeNASty]

I'm considering turning an older PC into a FreeNAS box. This PC doesn't have any PCI-E slots or SATA ports so my alternative would be to get a USB connected box that I can add hard drives to or to add a PCI sata card and then mount drives in that. I don't know if PCI or USB can handle the data transfer rates very well or which would be better. Any suggestions or information would be appreciated.

 

[00Roush]

It does depend on how old your PC is. Generally using a PCI SATA card would provide better performance than an enclosure connected via USB.

00Roush

 

[freeNASty]

So generally speaking PCI has a faster transfer rate than USB 2.0?

 

[freeNASty]

This is the PC by the way.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...Id=359575&prodTypeId=12454&objectID=c00047766

 

[00Roush]

Yes the PCI bus has up to about 133 MB/sec of shared throughput. USB 2.0 has up to about 60 MB/sec of shared throughput. Real world transfer speeds for USB 2.0 are actually only about 30 MB/sec though.

Either might work for you if you will only be using 100 Mbps ethernet. If you are planning on doing gigabit the PCI bus is probably the best route.

00Roush