Cheapest File Server Possible...!!!

demoneye

demoneye

demoneye

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15 Aug 2008
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45
All I want to do is build a small wired home network file server.

Gonna hang some USB 2.0 external drives off it and want to put 3 SATA HD's (raided) and 1 DVD.

I want the full kit, minus monitor/keyboard/mouse/os, as I will remotely control it using logmein once setup, so will only use that hardware for initial build.

Well... Any suggestions? :confused:
 
Just find the oldest computer possible that still has USB ports at the cheapest possible price - you don't need a decent spec for a file server.
 
Quite literally the cheapest thing you can get your hands on.
Last year I had a server with 3 or 4 HDD in it using a PCI SATA 4 port card. I think the specs of that were low like an XP1800 or lower, just had 256mb of ram, linux and hard drives. Never had any problems.

if you want windows on it then you'll probably need more ram etc but I had the OS running off a USB pen drive, the server was also a firewall and network monitor.
 
if you want to just store files use a nas drive.. this can be accessed from the internet and is cheaper than buying a whole computer.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-030-FC&groupid=701&catid=1240&subcat=707&name=Freecom%20500GB%20USB%202.0

if i'm buying cheaply, i normally want something to perform a handful of tasks at most, last thing you really want is another computer humming in your house using up electric for tasks that can be done by a much smaller device.

Consider Virtualisation where you wont actually have to buy the pc, but use your existing pc to create a virtual server.

I'm a firm believer that servers should be powerful machines that should be able to perform a lot of tasks and last to be used a long time.
i hate having a server room full of computers, that half of them are not being used for anything and in 2-3 years will be obsolete and all the time using up power. its just wasteful computing.

anyway just my 2 cents :)
 
Indeed, the NAS route is becoming more viable with prices coming down all the time. However you are still limited to single drives if you want it to stay cheap, you also lose the functionality of having another PC to offload downloading and other tasks to.
If a PC is still what you want then check the auction site, my first server was a 400MHz P2, I only upgraded because I ran out of PCI slots to put SATA cards in :)
 
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