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How Do I Setup A Home File Server?

M

msutiny

Junior Member
Hello all,

I tried searching but I didn't see any posts on how to setup a file server.

I am building a new PC and want to setup my old pc as a central file server (the old pc has 5 IDE drives with a total of ~1TB of storage).

I have never setup a file server before so I have no idea where to start.

Basically, I will have my new pc and a laptop that I would like to connect to it to be able to store / access data centrally.

Can anyone tell me what OS would work best for this or point me to a link that explains setting up a file server?

Thanks!

MSU
 
As noted by dclive, WHS seems to be a near-ideal solution for most people desiring a general home server. Its backup system (for Windows XP and Vista client PCs) is very kewl, as are the redundancy and web site features.

There IS a problem with WHS and data corruption in certain (very specific) circumstances. It doesn't affect the backup feature, and wouldn't affect most home users. But it puts a shadow on the use of WHS as a file server and it needs a solution. But it's pretty likely that Microsoft will have a solution 'Real Soon Now'.
 
FreeNAS

It is free. It works very well. It will do exactly what you want it to do.

I've been using this at home for several years, very easy to install and set up. I used WHS for about a month and decided it was not for me, FreeNAS has all I need and none of the stuff I don't need.
 
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
As noted by dclive, WHS seems to be a near-ideal solution for most people desiring a general home server. Its backup system (for Windows XP and Vista client PCs) is very kewl, as are the redundancy and web site features.

There IS a problem with WHS and data corruption in certain (very specific) circumstances. It doesn't affect the backup feature, and wouldn't affect most home users. But it puts a shadow on the use of WHS as a file server and it needs a solution. But it's pretty likely that Microsoft will have a solution 'Real Soon Now'.
Click to expand...


Does WHS support Win2k systems?
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Does WHS support Win2k systems?
Click to expand...

Well Win2K should be able to map the shares just fine, but I don't know if the automated backup software is supported or not.
Click to expand...
Right, 2000 can access shares, but backup won't work since 2000 doesn't have VSS support.
 
You need to install an operating system that supports networking such as Windows XP. I use the pro version of XP because it has IIS and Remote Desktop in addition to some other network friendly components that the home version does not. I haven't used vista so I can't comment on what Vista has over XP Pro.

Once you have your computer running, set up a home or small business network, enable file sharing, and add the drive path mapping to your outside computer. You'll probably want to set a static network IP and do some port forwarding from your router to your network computer. I also use IIS as a home web server to access stuff from the web, and remote desktop for remote access to my system.
 
I ordered the 120-day eval kit from MS for WHS and can't wait to put it through its paces.
 
I would suggest Windows Home Server. I haven't tried it myself yet, but that is the route I am going when I build my fileserver.
 
Originally posted by: msutiny
I am building a new PC and want to setup my old pc as a central file server (the old pc has 5 IDE drives with a total of ~1TB of storage).
Click to expand...

Do you have 1 TB of data or empty storage capacity? If it's data, then that limits the choices of OS somewhat -- e.g. WHS likes to wipe all drives on installation, and *nix doesn't like to work with Windows file systems. You can work around these limitations, but why bother? I'd probably stick with the existing Windows OS, put in a gigabit NIC and a gigabit switch, a "file server" sticker, and call it a day.

 
Originally posted by: Madwand1
Do you have 1 TB of data or empty storage capacity? If it's data, then that limits the choices of OS somewhat -- e.g. WHS likes to wipe all drives on installation, and *nix doesn't like to work with Windows file systems.
Click to expand...
Well, if somebody decides to use the data redundancy feature of WHS, they may need more drive space anyway, since 1/2 the existing (non-RAID) capacity will be lost. But if they're running 1TB of data without anyplace to make backups, it's likely a good time to buy some more drives anyway, for backup.
 
A 1 TB external drive could solve the backup problem for the time being. Further expansion be cheaper down the road.
 
If you have a system it will install on and a good flash drive, try Lime Tech unRAID. Once I realized my sucky PNY 4GB flash didn't work (it said the OS wasn't found and dumped me at a boot prompt) and used a Sandisk Cruzer, I easily had it set up in about 30min. You can try the 3disk setup download for free. It looks ok so far, but I only installed it and set it up last night, a 300GB parity, 80GB storage disk. I'll rework it with decent drives soon. It is using Slackware and Samba, and I personally feel Linux is more stable/secure than Microsoft products. Don't be scared to give it a try on an old PC even if you are not an Linux user. 8>)

http://www.lime-technology.com/

More review info. Note that drives of different sizes can be used.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30247/75/

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=573986



 
Something worth mentioning, though, is none of these other solutions give the full power of WHS. None can handle SIS/Shadow Copy backups of your home XP/2003/etc. systems.... every night all my systems are backed up, and then if lose a hard drive, I slap a new one in, boot from the supplied CD, and everything is put back in place (with no need to reload Windows) in 20-30 minutes. The person 'reloading' the OS can choose from any of a stream of 'dates' to go back to --- can't get much easier than that.

WHS is much more than just a file share device!

Imagine 10 XP systems in your home, and you back them all up, and they're all pretty similar, and they're 15GB each.

Instead of that taking 15GB x 10 PCs = 150GB of disk space, WHS uses SingleInstanceStore to only take one copy of all of the data - so if the data really is the same between all the servers, you'll only use 15GB of storage space on the WHS server (plus some additional amount of space for record-keeping and such).
 
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