HP N40L aka Build Your Own Cheap NAS

Following hypervisor.fr’s post Les HP Proliant ML110 G6 supportent 32Go de RAM, we just confirm this time that HP N40L servers support the non-ECC RAM up to 16GB (in 2x8GB configuration).

Although the server was supposed to only support up to 8GB ECC RAM, we found a post related to some tests about supported memory for the N40L server.

Finally, HP N40L (found brand new for ~170€ on eBay) seems to be a really nice choice for homemade NAS. With four 3.5" bays and a 5.25" slot (which is a perfect spot for docks like IcyDock MB994SP-4S in order to plug four 2.5" disks, or soon the IcyDock MB996SP-6SB one in order to plug 6), and the possibility of upgrading to 16GB RAM, all in a 26.7 x 21.0 x 26.0 cm box, it quickly becomes handy to do what you want with it (for instance Nexenta ^^) :

So we took a shot, mainly because the Patriot 2x8GB G2 non-ECC is less than 100€, which make the whole NAS really cheap !