General Questions About Home File Server

[crazysteve138]

Ok, I plan on building a PC to serve as a file server is a bit, but I have some stuff that I've been wondering about and hoping some of you could clear up.

First off let me say, I will probably not use RAID, just do backups either via seperate HDD's or Bluray or HDDVD if that is an option. I won't be using it for anything besides a server and it will sit in my cool basement were noise and heat won't be a problem. There will probably never be more than 2 things accessing it at any time. I plan on building it no sooner than a year but possibly up to 2 years from now, so I don't expect specific product advice, just general answers to my questions.

As for video, would it be better to get onboard or a cheap PCI VC? Mainly would the power draw of the on board video be a significant, and would the MB be crapier because of the onboard video?

Also as for the ethernet, would it be better to have a seperate card or would a onboard ethernet be good enough.

 

[Geomagick]

What you are more likely to be after is Network Attached Storage. This is a far more cost effective method for adding storage to a home or business network.
If you intend to go down the full on server route integrated everything is perfectly acceptable. In fact most server level motherboards have integrated LAN and Video.

 

[Texun]

Yes....... consider a NAS system. I dumped a wad of money in my backup rig before NAS was even heard of and if I had to do it over again I would go with NAS in a second. I have dumped $700 in mine over the past few years and only have about 2/3 the space of this NAS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822155306

 

[networkman]

Something to keep an eye open for though in the fine print for each NAS' info: Look to see if you need to install any proprietary software on each client PC.

I'd been looking for a NAS that I could just hook up to my home network, so that when friends came over for LAN parties, they could connect and download patches and maps. Unfortunately, every NAS I looked at required an install of their client software before you could access the device. :frown: I ended up just building a Windows 98 PC with a couple 80 Gig drives and sharing those out - problem solved.

 

[robphelan]

Originally posted by: networkman
Something to keep an eye open for though in the fine print for each NAS' info: Look to see if you need to install any proprietary software on each client PC.

I'd been looking for a NAS that I could just hook up to my home network, so that when friends came over for LAN parties, they could connect and download patches and maps. Unfortunately, every NAS I looked at required an install of their client software before you could access the device. :frown: I ended up just building a Windows 98 PC with a couple 80 Gig drives and sharing those out - problem solved.

i wanted to go with NAS, but i need my modded xbox to access the stored vid files - you can't install those NAS files on it, so i built a cheap vid server instead.