[kstenerud]

I hated the noise that my N40L microserver made (even though it was super quiet already). Now I have a NUC, and plugged a USB powered fan [1] into it to blow air over the chassis (the small fans in the NUC are noisy as hell when it's under even moderate load). Now it's so quiet I can't hear it. For storage I got a USB3 based 5-drive chassis and hooked up my 4 drives running mirrored ZFS. USB3's 5Gbps is more than plenty for my usage.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/EasyAcc-Rechargeable-Personal-Regulat...

I actually got the earlier version that didn't have a battery. Just adjust the speed knob to the sweet spot of quiet + cooling factor.

[devonkim]

Wish there was a non-insane costing 12 bay Thunderbolt array but because the market mostly consists of video professionals the math in cost and noise works out better to build a more traditional server anyway. 8+ drives won't be quiet. I've got my 8 drive array right behind me and the drives are the issue really.