I have around 30TB of data scattared around between cloud services, external hard drives, a small plex server, etc.
I would like start a storage server to store everything, with a bit of computing power for other task (plex as mentioned).
I'm looking on ebay at the Dell Edgeserver t330 or similar, starting with 3x 18TB drives, and since it has 8 bay, I'll have plenty of space for future upgrades. It seems have also a decent cpu, so it should handle plex and some other tasks without issues.
My concerns is about noise; it is going to be put under a desk in my lab and not inside a rack, I saw some videos on youtube and it doesnt seem too noisy, but hard to tell from a video. And for power usage, it will run mostly at idle I think, so I dont think it will drink too much.
Do you think it make sense? Any suggestion?
As said, the only hard requirements are quite a bit disk spaces for future expansion (6x-8x 3.5 drive support) a decent cpu, and doesnt have to be too noisy.
I've also evaluated buying a parts a built it from scratch, using like the new intel n100 with is very powerful with low power usage, a big case and so on for a similar price.
EU here as well. Thing is that old server hardware is always more expensive comparatively less older consumer hardware and wastes a LOT more power. That is why I would avoid it.
On the power I agree, but as I said I found on ebay that dell t330 (250/300 eur) for the same price of a i7 6th, a mobo and 16gb ram, which on top I have to add cooling (a decent one for around 50 eur), case (for that many disks, around 150 eur min) and psu(something not too shitty, so 50-60 eur), thats why I started considering it.
Which case are you using? The only affordable thing that I found available that is able to house 8 disks is the enthoo phanteks, for around 120 eur.
I went for cheap with this https://www.nox-xtreme.com/en/chassis/forte . Pair with a MicroATX board and a few 3D printed hard drive mounts you can fit 8 disks on that case. 9 if you convert the bay on the top. Also used a 500W 20€ power supply from OCZ.