On Aug 31, 2018, at 8:29 AM, Gary Stainburn gary@ringways.co.uk wrote:
I've got a very small footprint rack server with a 4TB drive in that I wish to be a Bacula storeage device. However, it's got an old board / processor in it.
You’re giving two very mixed signals here.
“Old Pentium,” as someone else said, can mean anything back to 1993, but “4 TB drive” suggests something far newer than that.
I ask because that affects the expected energy draw of the server. If it’s old, it could be 200 W or so. If you’re using “old” rather loosely, then it could be down in the double digits.
Here’s why it matters:
https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/energy-cost-calculator.html
At 12 pence per kWh — typical for power in some places in your country, based on your TLD — it’s going to cost you about 1 pound per watt consumed if it runs all day every day. If it draws 35 W, that’s £35/yr. If it draws 200 W, that’s £200/yr.
If the cost is high enough, then it’s probably cheaper to buy a new energy-efficient server, which then lets you buy something that will run any Linux distro you want.