Power [Consumption] - Laptop as NAS/media server
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:05 am
Hi,
I have a few old components and am thinking of going the the route of using an old laptop with an attached external drive to serve as a NAS but was wondering on what kind of power consumption I can expect.
I have an old Acer Aspire 3610 - Celeron 370 1.5G, 1.5gb RAM, 60Gb HDD - the screen was damaged, so I ripped it off. It will be used as a headless unit, possibly Windows Home Server or some flavour of Linux.
I also have a WD3200JS 320Gb SATA HDD, for which I was thinking of buying a USB/eSATA Enclosure.
It would be used primary as a NAS, for my Squeezebox and PS3, but also as a print server and maybe a VPN so I can securely connect when I am away. - This flexibility is why I want to set this up, rather than buy an external Nas box.
I know its a very vague question, but what kind of power consumption could I expect, if left on 24/7. The laptop has no display,no battery (always on mains) and I would disable Wireless (connected via ethernet only). Unfortunatley, the bios is very limitted, Wake On Lan would be a nice to have, I am not sure if its possible to load a custom bios with extra features such as this.
Im trying to workout the cost of leaving these devices (laptop/external HDD) on all the time. I know without some kind of meter I can't get a precise output, but even a ballpark figure would be fine. I would greatley appreciate any advise/recommendations.
Thanks
I have a few old components and am thinking of going the the route of using an old laptop with an attached external drive to serve as a NAS but was wondering on what kind of power consumption I can expect.
I have an old Acer Aspire 3610 - Celeron 370 1.5G, 1.5gb RAM, 60Gb HDD - the screen was damaged, so I ripped it off. It will be used as a headless unit, possibly Windows Home Server or some flavour of Linux.
I also have a WD3200JS 320Gb SATA HDD, for which I was thinking of buying a USB/eSATA Enclosure.
It would be used primary as a NAS, for my Squeezebox and PS3, but also as a print server and maybe a VPN so I can securely connect when I am away. - This flexibility is why I want to set this up, rather than buy an external Nas box.
I know its a very vague question, but what kind of power consumption could I expect, if left on 24/7. The laptop has no display,no battery (always on mains) and I would disable Wireless (connected via ethernet only). Unfortunatley, the bios is very limitted, Wake On Lan would be a nice to have, I am not sure if its possible to load a custom bios with extra features such as this.
Im trying to workout the cost of leaving these devices (laptop/external HDD) on all the time. I know without some kind of meter I can't get a precise output, but even a ballpark figure would be fine. I would greatley appreciate any advise/recommendations.
Thanks