Server Options Now Available in Assassin's Sticky Thread

Several of those articles linked are out of date. The first two WHS articles, for example, both reference the discontinued previous version of WHS.

It might also be useful to have a WHS section.

I know several people who also use OS X server software to support those Windows computers. Here's a decent website that covers WHS and plugins as well as using OS X Lion as a home server.

Sorry, to clarify the links work but they are out of date articles.
The "Best Home Server Software" and the "Free NAS v WHS" articles, the first two I clicked on, are articles that discuss WHS v1. V2, also known as WHS 2011 "Vail" has its pluses and minuses, but one key difference is the removal of the Drive Extender technology that the Lifehacker article mentions.
V1 was built on Windows Server 2003, V2 was on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Yes some of these articles are out of date and I realize that. My thought was that some people may just be diving into a "Home Server" for the 1st time and really any info can be helpful old or new.

The other two I am still working on . I decided to cover WHS v1 as it still exists and people still use it. I will be also be adding WHS 2011...they are a wip.

Like I said I did this based on what seems to be popular out there.

If you come across good up to date articles comparing "Home Servers" PM me the link and I will get it added.

That link will be in with my WHS v1 and WHS 2011 once added.

WeGotServed has a fantastic ebook from compiled posts on using a OS X Lion as a home server and several good articles on WHS 2011. I would comb through there for some info.

[H]ardforum has a ton of good info and stickies with links to great info on the other types of raids. Those would be worth looking into as well. As it is, the info, while great, may be too voluminous for people to handle. I would recommend breaking it into something like

Three main options to go for a server:

Mac

Windows

Unix

At the top, maybe 2-3 articles comparing the differences and then underneath each header, place 3-4 articles each. On the Unix side, maybe one or two comparing and then the rest as how-to's.

I'd say the majority of people here are using Unraid or WHS v1. Once you build up a substantial library with WHS v1 there's no upgrade path so I bet a lot of people are still using it. Honestly theres not really any reason to switch. I've got my main media library on Unraid. I use WHS v1 to back up my PC's and store my TV recordings.

So my point was to defend WHS v1 articles as being relevant, then as I'm typing this I realized that the people that will be reading these articles will be setting up new systems. So WHS 2011 should have more prominence, though V1 is still a viable option. I think Unraid should get some serious attention though. For our uses it's perfect. It can run on older cheap hardware, presents a single folder spanning multiple disks, and has some redundancy.

I would seriously gloss over the other 'nix options. For this site the people that are trying to build one of those systems aren't beginners. As mentioned already if you want to get into ZFS or some other options needing the command line they should head over to HardForums. Just stick to the basic options that will help out 95% of the users here. If you start diving into the more esoteric options you'll drive yourself nuts, and you won't even make a dent in covering everything.

I do congratulate you on your effort though. The media server storage thread started out with noble intentions. Educate people on the options, and provide a few example systems as starting points for builds. It never got there. It devolved into hundreds of pages of arguments about $1000 plus raid cards and high end servers out of the budget of all but a few. Then it seemed to die out, and most of those users seemed to have moved on. It never did much good for the beginner just trying to build a simple system. Hopefully you can do better.

Not that I have a vote .... PLEASE keep the guide simple . Most of what I see on other server type threads requires some sort of doctorate degree to even remotely understand. This is why I abandoned the server concept in htpc a while ago

One of the greatest things about the assassin guides is that they start out very simple . Then lead you to a middle ground and eventually go into more in depth tech . This way you can pick where you want to stay or later, move on to the next stage .

Please keep the assassin .... "low , medium , high " concept and folks will take the guide and run like crazy with it !!

I really do appreciate the fact that this guide is being done/ added

In case a newbie is looking to get started new egg has the HP N40L on sale today...great little beginner server. Link

I pulled the trigger on that N40L this am as soon as I saw it. Looks like they sold out already.

I just bought one a few weeks back and I am running Unraid on it.

I'd ask for tips/advice but frankly I don't know what to ask. All I know is I need media storage on the network vs my HTPC, backup is not important to me.

I guess I'll have to start researching the best setup. My PC know-how is high, but I am an idiot when it comes to server/storage mgmt.

The simplest solution is to buy a 3-5 bay usb enclosure and throw some 2tb drive in them.

I just converted my Win7 "server", which was just a basic install with drives shared, to a WHS 2011 machine. I'm running FlexRAID in drive pool mode only. Once the prices of HDD returns to affordable I'll add a drive for parity.

The good thing about FlexRAID is you can try it out on your current installation and it doesn't mess up your file system. It leaves everything as NTFS and pools your drives. If you don't like it then just delete the pool or uninstall the program and you are left with what you started with. Worst case is you just need to remap your drive letters.

^Thanks, this sounds like a good approach for my situation.

unRAID is not that hard to setup if you are somewhat familiar with PCs as another approach.

I have ran the following - Naslite, Freenas, WHS2011 tested it for a short period and went back to Freenas, then I was running Vortexbox for the last 2 years. Now I just went to unRAID last month. I had tested unRAID before but stuck with Freenas at the time. They can all work for a Home Server. It just depends on what your needs are and what you want to learn in regards to it.

Is this new thread going to cover Windows 8? I've been reading about different server options for about a week now. Earlier this week I learned about the Storage Spaces feature available in Win8 that is basically a RAID system that functions as both a server and backup.... with the added bonus of still being able to use the PC as a desktop/workstation. That's my perfect solution since my server will be doubling as an office PC.

Win8 Beta, errr... Consumer Preview, will be available FEB 29 and will include Storage Spaces.

Not sure yet since it is not available in full force yet. I felt like covering what was available and popular out there.

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