Upgrade suggestions

[Speedster]

We have a small office with a linux box running a file server. There are 5 desktops connecting via ethernet (Canyon 8 port switch) and another 4 laptops via wireless (Canyon 11g router).

The linux box has a 2.66 GHz Celeron processor, 768MB RAM (512+268), a 60GB IDE HDD and a 1TB SATA HDD and uses the onboard LAN.

Would it be worthwhile upgrading any of the components to speed up the file server? It is not slow at the moment, just wondering if it is worth upgrading some components and, if so, which ones.

 

[Pada]

If you're going to upgrade, you'll have to go for Gigabit LAN and a RAID 5 or so configuration.

 

[The_Other]

RAID 5 for safety... losing 1TB of data will not be nice! And believe me... it only happens to you once!
The Gigabit NIC will help with larger file transfers. But then he also need to upgrade his Network infrastructure i.e. routers and have proper Cat5e cables)

 

[Pada]

CAT6 cables are recommended, but CAT5e should also work for Gigabit LAN.

 

[Speedster]

So basically minor hardware upgrades to the Linux box aren't going to help much?

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

Does your company work with excel files or CAD drawings? If they are only working with excel files, you won't notice that big of a difference going the gigabit route, but it's not that expensive to do as well...

Upgrading the hardware, will only make the "server" boot faster and stuff, won't really speed up anything for the users.

Listen to The_Other!