Using a PowerMac as a server

gazfocus

gazfocus

gazfocus

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I'm looking to buy a 2nd hand Power Mac (either G4 or G5) to use as a server to use as a central storage for my files and printers (on both a mac and a pc).

Do I need to purchase OSX Server or will I be able to just use the normal version of Mac OSX?

Thanks
 
You can use the normal version of OS X. In system preferences enable Windows and Personal file sharing. Heck, turn on the FTP and HTTP servers and have a file server party. :p
 
How much are PowerMacs going for? All I'm thinking is if you're dropping a few hundred quid you might want to look at the more modern Macs.
 
theheyes said:
How much are PowerMacs going for? All I'm thinking is if you're dropping a few hundred quid you might want to look at the more modern Macs.
Click to expand...

G4's are selling for between £70 and £200 obviously depending on the cost. I've also seen a G5 power mac for £440+Vat but I think that'd be too high a spec for what I want to use it for.
 
The G4s have lots of room inside for hard disks. You won't get that out of a newer Mac except for the Mac Pro which is approximately eleventy billion times too much computer for this job. ;)

I got a dual 1 Ghz G4 PM with 1.5 GiB RAM for a bit less than $175 a few months back. Sold it for the same.
 
£70-£200 region you should be alright. If you were paying a lot more I was going to suggest a Mac Mini + external hard drive. Reason being they would be a lot more economical to be left on 24/7, more than powerful enough for a personal fileserver, and will have a better re-sale value and chance.

For less than £200 though, no chance. :D
 
BillytheImpaler said:
The G4s have lots of room inside for hard disks. You won't get that out of a newer Mac except for the Mac Pro which is approximately eleventy billion times too much computer for this job. ;)

I got a dual 1 Ghz G4 PM with 1.5 GiB RAM for a bit less than $175 a few months back. Sold it for the same.
Click to expand...

Wow, wish they were that cheap in the UK :)
 
theheyes said:
£70-£200 region you should be alright. If you were paying a lot more I was going to suggest a Mac Mini + external hard drive. Reason being they would be a lot more economical to be left on 24/7, more than powerful enough for a personal fileserver, and will have a better re-sale value and chance.

For less than £200 though, no chance. :D
Click to expand...

I had looked at the G4 Mac Mini's (i used to own one when they first came out), but the Power Macs have more expandability and the option to get a SATA card and use SATA Hard drives. Also looked into using a Windows File Server but the Mac is more appealing :)
 
^^

Just letting you know before the mods eat you, your sig is 25 pixels too tall and has 3 lines of text too many.

Rules

You don't want to be Zefenated! ;)
 
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Yeah I got Zefan'd for being like 3 bits over.

gazfocus said:
I had looked at the G4 Mac Mini's (i used to own one when they first came out), but the Power Macs have more expandability and the option to get a SATA card and use SATA Hard drives. Also looked into using a Windows File Server but the Mac is more appealing :)
Click to expand...

Yeah if you want an all in one solution with lots of disk space then the PowerMac is a good choice, especially for that price. The electricity bill will be a bit higher but this is offset by a cheap starting price.
 
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