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We currently have a pc that we use as a file server which has Intel Pentium 4 2.66 GHz processor, 512 mb @ 2.67 GHz of ram, with (2) 80 GB hard drives. We have a software that copies one hard drive to the other all day.

My question is, we are beginning to run out of space on our hard drive. We have less than 5 GB free. We could archive drawings, but it would be convenient not to, so that we can have file available for reference. Should we consider upgrading the entire machine, if so to what specs, or could the existing machine handle two new 500 GB hard drives?

Thanks to all that can help.

The machine is not that old and should handle the 500Gb drives without a problem, so I can't see any point in upgrading it. You ought to be archiving the stuff anyway and, who knows? if you do some weeding on the way, you might find that the 80Gb drives are enough.

Hello Arthur,

You might want to migrate to a NAS (network attached storage) device. These typically use RAID 5 which is better than the RAID 1 that it sounds like you have currently. NAS devices work like any other peer-to-peer network, and they cost a lot less than a server computer. If you buy two of them, then one can be copied to the other with increases redundancy further.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165046

These are small "headless" computers (no monitor or keyboard) that run Linux -- but you just turn them on and set them up and manage them with a browser interface. The 2TB rating is based on the total of (4) 500GB hard drives, but with the RAID 5, you get about 1/3 less than this, because of the parity error checking. And like all hard drives, the formatted size is always smaller than the rated size -- check you 80GB drives for example.

Neil,
A N.A.S. is a great idea, but we have some software that we run on our server like a software for Outlook contact sharing, scanner software for a networked scanner and networked software that allows for a set number of people to use the software at one time verses buying a licence for every machine. So I question if a N.A.S. will work for what we are doing.

But thank you for the suggestion.

Hi Arthur,

You can always keep all those other functions going on the current server -- just copy all the data files to the NAS.