Easiest way to convert an old netbook into NAS?

[Battousai01]

Hi guys, just want to ask for some advise on how to easily convert an old netbook into a NAS. I have been reading some guides I found on Google, but so far non of the articles I read work.

First of all, my old netbook has a dual core atom processor, 2gb ram and 320GB of hard disk space (has two partitions, one partition is where I store my data files like pictures and video files)

The first set-up I tried is to install Ubuntu desktop version and then installed "Samba" then after installing Samba I set to share a sample folder. Now when I tested it and tried accessing the folder on my smartphone, it did not work it says something like "permission problem"

Now I tried to read some other article and stumbled upon a guide that tells me to use Ubuntu Server, however, the instruction seems to be for experienced I.T. guys, here is the link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFw1YnH9s-1Y9M4VPLgPOOjm1iH6PJOHefg5NhGC4oA/edit?pli=1

What I want to achieve initially is to be able to securely share the data partition of my netbook across all devices at home and over the internet whenever I am out of the house. And since I do not have a static IP, maybe I will just keep my modem turned on to avoid changing the IP.

So is there an easy way to achieve this, I don't have any plans on buying a dedicated NAS hardware.

 

[TuSpockShakur]

FreeNAS

Install and boot to a flash drive and use the internal drive as your network storage.

 

[Battousai01]

@TuSpockShakur, thanks for the reply, yes I considered FreeNAS however, according to their site the minimum hardware requirement is 64-bit processor, 8gb ram. The old version that supports 32-bit has no updates anymore.

I am thinking of going to the Ubuntu Server route and see if I can set it up.

 

[avos]

If you have the Ubuntu desktop installed you should be able to right click the folder you want to share and select "Share this folder" or in the folder preferences there should be a tab with share settings. There should be a checkbox on if you want to allow guest sharing. If Samba isn't already installed I believe it will install it for you.
Start with a folder in your /home/public location. That should already have access to everyone and be easier to troubleshoot if you can't connect.

You might want to try out http://www.openmediavault.org/. I prefer FreeNAS myself, but Openmediavault probably has better device support being based on Debian.

I'd warn against this being the sole location of anything important. Especially if it is an older netbook with a spinning hard drive. The mobile nature of the devices meant short lifespans for the hard drives in them.

 

[TuSpockShakur]

If you are running UFS and not ZFS, you can get by with 2GB of RAM. I could anyway with version 9.2. As far as updates for older versions; that would not concern me if the NAS was solely for home file storage. You can always restrict it to LAN only.