Home Media Server - Guidance please

Alien18

Alien18

Alien18

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Joined
2 Jan 2005
Posts
189
Hi All,

A while back I specced myself a system that I could use for a centralised file/media storage server. To be used by 2 PCs, 1 Laptop and (very importantly to me) as a media server for my PS3. This is the system I speced though the prices may have changed now - I found this spec saved in an excel file from about 3 months ago!

Asus Vintage V3-M2V890 Barebones System - £61.09
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz - £44.64
Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit - £27.01
LiteON DH-20A4P-21C 20x DVD±RW - £16.44 (Incase I want to Transfer stuff to DVD-Video)
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II - £63.44

Total system price = £212.66

My first is what do you make of the system?

I will add that I plan to add at LEAST one more 500Gb HDD drive in the future as that one fills up?

I am on a budget and would like to spend absolutely no more than £250 but the closer to £200 the better. Since I know have to Xmas money to spend.

My second question is, what OS & software would you recommend? I'm not sure whether to go with Linux or Windows Home Server. I have read that the Media side of WHS isn't great but I'll probably be after something that can transcode (for PS3 playback).

Any help/advice/general info would be much appreciated.

Alien
 
Apologies for hte double post. But it just occured to me that perhaps I should install a small (80gb?) HDD to install the OS and software onto and use the 500Gb for the files?
 
I dont have much experience in setting up a dedicated server, but I stream vobs from my PC to my laptop for watching on my TV in the living room and use normal windows XP professional. After reading a few articles, this seems like a good setup for small home server setups.

Also I have that HDD and it appears to perform well and very quiet.
 
Thanks for your reply but I'm really looking to set up a dedicated server. I forgot to mention I'd also like to do backups (which is a plus for WHS because of how it does the backups).

I had read that the HDD was quiet and performs well, it's one of the reasons I picked it.
 
Hi sorry to bother you all again.

But, in addtion to my previous questions, does anyone have any exerience of using WHS with the PS3 (particularly for video)?

If so, do you have any advice?

Many thanks again,
Alien
 
Sorry to keep bothering you all. I've re-speced a server PC and had a proper read into WHS. and now I'm not sure whether it's worth it yet (for the cost of WHS). Do you think it might be better to use Windows XP/Vista to run the "server" if so how would I go about setting it up to run as efficiently as poss?

Many thanks, in advance.

Alien
 
if worried about software prices, stick linux on there and there are plenty of good apps which are freeware to stick on it, if anything its a better os to run alongside the ps3
 
I've never tried Linux before (except for a Live CD a friend lent me).

Could I easily install it on my current PC to see if it does what I'd like it to, etc - it'd be a dual boot with Vista.

I consider my self quite "techy" but I've never really ventured into Linux, what distribution would you recommend? any pointers? would it play nice with Vista already being on my PC? Will I have to create myself another partition to install it too?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but if you could answer/point in the right direction - I'd be very grateful.
 
Hi All,

I've recently, finally, got round to shrinking a partition in Vista, and downloading the Ubuntu Live CD.

I've followed this guide. But it appears that Ubuntu can't "see" my Vista installation.

It says in the guide...
"In the summary under Migrate Assistant, it should say "Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)". This means that regardless of whether Ubuntu found any user account to migrate, it certainly knows that Windows Vista is installed on the other partition and is aware of it"

When I run the install process it doesn't even load the migration screen. My best guess is it's because Vista is on a separate physical HDD.

So my question at the moment (before I install Ubuntu) is can I either "force" Linux to see Vista, or can I make sure Vista is added to the boot up list some how after Linux is installed?

My primary concern is not being able to boot back into windows easily.

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I didn't want to start a new thread just for this.

Many thanks for any help.

(As a side question, my USB keyboard doesn't work during Boot up, I have to disconnect a PS2 keyboard from another PC in the house, is there a way to use my USB keyboard during Boot up? I can't see an option for it in my BIOS settings)
 
For home use you don't need a "server" operating system, Windows XP or Ubuntu with shared folders will work just fine. Or if you have a NAS you don't need a server- it depends on much space you need, a dual bay 1TB x 2 drives will give you 2TB of storage. Or you could buy a server (the one in your OP is still fine btw) have a large case like the Lian Li 2000+ and stack up on drives.

You just need a stable OS. XP is fine if it's just sitting there. Vista might have LAN slow down issues, so do a network LAN test. Ubuntu will be fine also.

My HTPC acts as a server for the Squeezebox's, but can easily use it for mass storage to the other computers on the lan (and vice versa) or use my nas.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your reply,

Yeh I realised after a bit of research that Ubuntu was probably the best way for me to go, but I don't want to install it if it's going to break Vista (as per my previous post).

Eventually, I'll build myself a low power/low heat machine that I can just stick HDDs into, but I want to "play" with Ubuntu on my PC first to get the hang of it a bit.
 
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