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Author Topic: The home server challenge  (Read 599 times)

Offline MahoneyRed

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The home server challenge
« on: October 28, 2014, 06:05:25 PM »
FITES Peeps,

I am that point where I want to start building up some kind of home server. I have two kids that are going to need battlestations soon, and I want have a centralized disk space for my media and work files, as well as a backup drive system.

My challenge to you is to tell me how you would go about building up your home server. I want the kid's rigs to be in the server "rack" and then I would only need to make a desk with the peripherals on it. I want to stream media to my tv, possibly play steam games on my tv via big picture, and have some kind of NAS with an automated backup.

What do I need, and how many hobo kidneys will it take to get it?
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Offline vincegun

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Re: The home server challenge
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2014, 08:12:44 PM »
Going to detail my 2 forays into the home server bit.

1. I'm running WHS on a tiny 4-bay HP ex470. Seriously, look up the stats. The thing is very, very underpowered at this point in time, but I put some 5400 (or is is 5900?) rpm 2tb drives in it and it's been running solid for YEARS. It does exactly what I want it to do. Store files for video/audio archiving and streaming. I have no problems running 2-3 video streams via wired and wireless here to my system, my htpc and/or the kids' tablets.

2. I'm slowly putting my freeNAS system together. Got a old dual-core AMD and I have 2 7200rpm 2tb drives in it. It'll be my "power" server that I mirror ALL my video/audio/programs/game backups onto. I'll be continuously adding drives to it when I can. As far as I can tell, freeNAS can be configured in all sorts of which-ways and I've barely even touched it. Oh, and it's free. I really like it.
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Offline _!Rathe!_

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Re: The home server challenge
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2014, 11:17:39 AM »
I am running WHS on an old desktop with 4 Gigs of RAM.  Have had no issues and it is rock solid.  I use it for storage and it backs up every desktop each night.  I have also configured it to act as a download station using Utorrent.  Drop a .torrent file in a directory and it picks it up and then deposits the finished download in a shared folder.  Very easy to use.  Also allows remote connections into your computers from an internet explorer window from any computer.  I wouldn't know what to do without it.
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