Joined
·
288 Posts
With my htpc case running out of room for new hard drives, I've started to look into building a budget/introductory home media server from spare parts that I have laying around the house and just wanted to get opinions on what I should or should not use and on servers altogether. I'm also wanting to keep costs to a minimum.
Ultimately, I was this server to be a hub for all rooms in the house but for right now it'll just serve the main room. Storage will be backed up SD and bluray movies, music, pictures, etc etc. So far I have at about 2tb of data but would like the server to have 4-5tb to start with. The hardware that I have right now from old builds are Asus a8n-sli deluxe mobo, AMD 3200+ single core, Antec P182 case, and 2gb ddr400 memory. If you guys think this hardware will be fine I'll add a 550ish Watt PSU, and use the WD Green TB drives.
Questions:
1) OS: With me being stingy I don't want to pay for WHS but I've never used Linux before so I'm curious on how easy Linux is to pick up on and build a server around. Also, if I were to use Linux will I have to use linux on other computers hooked into the server or will Windows be able to be used? Any other freeware OS's that might be recommended for the servers?
2) Raid: I'm wondering if a Raid 5 would be a best fit for me. Correct me if I'm wrong, in a raid 5 I can use however many HDD's and have redundancy so if 1 were to fail I'd still have all of my info.
3) Raid: How easy is it to install new hard drives into a pre-existing raid? Or even able to?
4) Raid: If I were to install a hard drive with information on it into a pre-existing raid system, will it recognize that data and back it up immediately?
5) Raid: Would the onboard raid controller be good enough or should I go ahead and get a raid card? What should I look for in a decent raid card?
6) UI: I'm assuming I'd be able to open VMC on my htpc and have it recognize everything from my server?
7) Hardware: If I were to add another htpc down the road and have 2 tv's streaming 2 different shows, will there be a problem with transfer rates since the server hardware would be older?
As you can probably tell, I'm really new to this sort of computing so any information or input in addition to my questions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Steven
Ultimately, I was this server to be a hub for all rooms in the house but for right now it'll just serve the main room. Storage will be backed up SD and bluray movies, music, pictures, etc etc. So far I have at about 2tb of data but would like the server to have 4-5tb to start with. The hardware that I have right now from old builds are Asus a8n-sli deluxe mobo, AMD 3200+ single core, Antec P182 case, and 2gb ddr400 memory. If you guys think this hardware will be fine I'll add a 550ish Watt PSU, and use the WD Green TB drives.
Questions:
1) OS: With me being stingy I don't want to pay for WHS but I've never used Linux before so I'm curious on how easy Linux is to pick up on and build a server around. Also, if I were to use Linux will I have to use linux on other computers hooked into the server or will Windows be able to be used? Any other freeware OS's that might be recommended for the servers?
2) Raid: I'm wondering if a Raid 5 would be a best fit for me. Correct me if I'm wrong, in a raid 5 I can use however many HDD's and have redundancy so if 1 were to fail I'd still have all of my info.
3) Raid: How easy is it to install new hard drives into a pre-existing raid? Or even able to?
4) Raid: If I were to install a hard drive with information on it into a pre-existing raid system, will it recognize that data and back it up immediately?
5) Raid: Would the onboard raid controller be good enough or should I go ahead and get a raid card? What should I look for in a decent raid card?
6) UI: I'm assuming I'd be able to open VMC on my htpc and have it recognize everything from my server?
7) Hardware: If I were to add another htpc down the road and have 2 tv's streaming 2 different shows, will there be a problem with transfer rates since the server hardware would be older?
As you can probably tell, I'm really new to this sort of computing so any information or input in addition to my questions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Steven