I use plex and xbmc quite a lot but mainly plex. question is would i be better making my own server rather than buying a hp microserver I would only be using it for sd/hd movies and tv shows nothing else I dont need no file backup etc, id use my current rig but would prefer the low cost to have it running the majority of the time or just turn it on when i fancy watching media
looking to make a server for home media
- Thread starter tonyt3rry
- Start date
Any old computer can be used for simply serving up media, and running other useful stuff like MySQL (for centralised XBMC database), and various other server-type applications.
My best recommendation isn't hardware - but software. Having a way to easily extend your storage, or upgrade older disks, will be the biggest difference between having something that makes your life easy, or complicated.
I personally use Windows Home Server 2011 (for the in-built automated backup of all the computers in my house), and then on top of that, I use StableBit DrivePool
This allows you to add one or more hard drives, of any type, any size, and any connectivity method, to a single "storage pool". This means that I have a single "folder" which contains all of my server's storage - and I don't have to worry about which folders go on which drive, and moving stuff around if a folder gets too large. I can also swap out a small disk for a larger one with only a few clicks of the mouse.
It doesn't matter that my largest physical drive is 3TB, but I have a folder which is 4TB in size - when I'm browsing that folder, I see everything within that folder - they may be physically stored on 3 separate drives, but I don't need to go hunting for it.
My best recommendation isn't hardware - but software. Having a way to easily extend your storage, or upgrade older disks, will be the biggest difference between having something that makes your life easy, or complicated.
I personally use Windows Home Server 2011 (for the in-built automated backup of all the computers in my house), and then on top of that, I use StableBit DrivePool
This allows you to add one or more hard drives, of any type, any size, and any connectivity method, to a single "storage pool". This means that I have a single "folder" which contains all of my server's storage - and I don't have to worry about which folders go on which drive, and moving stuff around if a folder gets too large. I can also swap out a small disk for a larger one with only a few clicks of the mouse.
It doesn't matter that my largest physical drive is 3TB, but I have a folder which is 4TB in size - when I'm browsing that folder, I see everything within that folder - they may be physically stored on 3 separate drives, but I don't need to go hunting for it.