Time to Build Again?

It was a little over two years ago that built my 2nd server, as documented on this site. That box included an 800MHz Via processor in a micro ITX case with a 250GB drive. It has worked pretty well for me, but is starting to show its age.

The box's main job is file services, but I'm also using it as a music server (via web using Flash), and email backup machine (from GMail), and other things. Before iTunes, I would use it to catch and store podcasts automatically.

The 250GB drive was affordable at the time, but now I have less than 50GB free - and that's only because my son moved his stuff off to another box. Now, I can get a terrabyte drive for about the same price.

The case/power supply doesn't automatically restart after a power failure. These happen about every six weeks at my house, so I'd like something that would always be on. I'm not sure how I would confirm that before ordering.

Despite replacing the battery soon after purchase, the motherboard CMOS doesn't retain its settings after a loss of power. Therefore, I have to keep a keyboard plugged in at all times so boot ups don't hang on a 'no keyboard - press F1' error. I should have asked for a replacement during the 30 day warranty.

I'd love to be able to stash this thing in a closet with the wifi router, but these two power related problems are thwarting this plans.

Another problem is that I used a 2007 version of Ubuntu that is no longer supported or updateable. For the next one, I'll likely use an LTS release for the longer term of support. Ubuntu 10.4 LTS is due in April, so I have a few months for research.

I can't wait to get started.


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