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Thread: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

  1. #1
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    Hello all,

    Here's the dealio. I have collected almost enough spare parts to build a second PC, all I need is a cheapo case, PSU, and low budget PCIe card and I've got another computer. I have lots of HDD's, with lots of storage on my main computer but I want to strip it down because I would like to take all of my movies, music, audiobooks, etc...off the main machine. So my plan was originally to build a home server of sorts, slap a couple of TB of drives on it and just use it as a media server. Problems include; I run Windows XP Media Center 2005 on my home comp and really don't use the media functions on the main comp so I thought I'd move it to the other, but I can't afford to go buy a copy of XP Pro. I have never used Linux and don't know how hard it would be to set this stuff up, and really cannot dedicate a huge amount of time doing so. I don't know if media center and linux will play together as my concept works. I am now not even sure if a server is what I need, since it will really just be acting as a media player or storage unit depending on which PC gets Windows Media Center.
    So in a nutshell, that is where I am. Just wondering if any of you server pros could advise me?

    Jon
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

  2. #2
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    I can give you an XP home license if you want, but it might not be much help. Let me know if you want it.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  3. #3
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    Also, check out FreeNAS.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

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    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    If you have a program that can do it, you could ghost your partition with Windows to another HDD. All that you'll have to do is reactivate XP. Note: That install of XP might not work exactly as it should with new hardware... just keep that in mind.

  5. #5
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    That FreeNAS looks pretty cool, never heard of it. I glanced at the website and didn't see whether you needed windows installed or if it works as an OS of sorts. Have you used it before Luke?
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

  6. #6
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    It's an OS and everything, and it's administrated through a web interface. I havent used it, but I've read some very positive reviews of it.

    One guy installed it to a CF card using an IDE adaptor, to keep it completely seperate from his storage drives. I'd recommend that also, or just installing it on either a small separate drive, or on a small partition.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

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    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    Quote Originally Posted by Luke122 View Post
    on a small partition.
    Definitely a good idea with any OS. I have Vista on its own partition so that if it crashes for any reason I don't lose anything that's valuable to me.

  8. #8
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    thanks for the great tip, I think I'll try that!
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

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    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    Quote Originally Posted by jdbnsn View Post
    thanks for the great tip, I think I'll try that!
    You're Welcome. It's saved my music, video, and art collections many times... oh, and game saves, lol. And you can put shortcuts for the My Documents stuff.

  10. #10
    Administrator OvRiDe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Advise needed in building home storage solution.

    If you don't like FreeNAS .. there is also one called OpenFiler that is pretty popular as well.

    http://www.openfiler.com/

    They are pretty close to the same, FreeNAS is backended in FreeBSD and OpenFiler uses linux.

    I looked into using OpenFiler because of its capability to be Active Direcrory integrated, but honestly I think FreeNAS was much easier to navigate for your situation.

    Just figured I would give you another option.

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