Help me turn my office PC into a file server...

dmw16

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
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I recently bought a MacBook (which I spend most of my time on) and I already have a HTPC and a windows laptop. So now my office PC is sitting there acting as a half-assed file server. I would like to turn my office PC into a better thought-out file server.

Here is what I already have:

Dell P4 2.8Ghz PC w/ 1GB RAM
Windows 2000
1x 80GB SATA Drive
1x 250GB SATA Drive
1x 320GB External USB 2.0 Drive
Note: I think the PC can only support 2 SATA drives (or at least only has 2 connectors and I think it's 1 drive per connector, right?). So do I need a SATA PCI card? Maybe one with RAID support?

What I want to do:
1. I want to be able to serve media files to my HTPC
2. I want to be able to access data and mp3s from my laptops
3. I want to be able to run scheduled backups from the enternal drives to my USB drive.

I have given myself a budget of about $100 to make the computer into a decent file server. That money can just be spent on another hard drive or 2, or a few drives and a SATA RAID controller. I don't mind product suggestions that involve mail-in rebates. So suggest away.

Thanks in advance.
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
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You don't say anything about how much space you need, if ~300GB is enough then you have everything you need.
 

dmw16

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
7,608
0
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I don't really know how much space I need I guess. My current drives are getting pretty full, but is it worth having 500GB+ if i can only backup 320GB onto my USB drive?