Building a file server for my home network need suggestions.

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an0nym0us

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alright here's the deal guys, i'm wanting to build a file server that i can use to share media over my network. i've already got some parts and am looking into doing something really nice for this application. here's what i've got so far....
Intel 820 Pentium D 2.8
Intel D945PSN motherboard
2 gb of samsung PC4200 (4x512)

and here's what i'd like to setup. i can get 3 80gb WD SATA drives for $105 from my company's supplier, and a 300gb SATA drive as a storage drive. i'd like to run RAID 5 with the 80's and install windows server 2003 enterprise edition and use the 300gb HD for the media. do you guys think that this is a practical setup for what i want to use it for? the total build cost will be really cost friendly. my brother gave me the board/processor and i got the RAM for 75 bucks, all i'd need is a case, hard drives and a cheap video card (prob a 6200 PCIe.)
 
Looks like your off to a good start although that CPU is far more powerfull than what you need for a file server.(my server only has a Pentium 3 800mhz and runs fine with 5 comps on it.)Unless your using fiber.If you have 100mbps lan a 300mhz CPU will do fine. Any way sence it was given to you it's not like you overpaid for that excess power and eventualy network speeds may make a CPU like that necessary so you shouldn't have to upgrade for a while. I personally recomend Linux over windows for a server due to the increased stability and security.I also recomend a tape drive for backing up your data.
 
Why not just use a shared folder? Will cost a lot less... IF you need to backup files I recomend a portable hard drive (see link in my signature)

Good luck anyways

Regards,

Korrupt
 
over wan or just lan ????
over wan you got a nice server started can handle gaming easy
don't forget the gig net card no sense in stopping now
if you use for other than server keep cpu as workstation
W2K server will give you lots of connections
just don't use the server mmc use apache
if just for files filezilla ftp server is free
xp can allow 4 client connection I think
 
If it is literally just a file server then you have a bit of overkill going there - but that never hurt anyone :) Just get as much storage as you can and I would also recommend going with linux for the OS. My current fileserver at home is a dual 933 with 1 gig of PC800 running RHE3. It's been so reliable the last couple of years that I decided not to upgrade it to RHE4. It hosts files for all the machines in my house (about 10-12 powered on at any given moment) and I am constantly pulling something from it. I have a couple hundred gigs of flac and quite a bit of video and emulation stuff on it so it's always going.
 
I too would recommend Linux for the OS, many of the distros come with the ability to use the OS specifically for a webserve, i personally use Fedora and think its excellent choice for people who are new to Linux (which is why i chose it myself), i couldnt believe the options and abilitys that it offered, just for the fun of it I experimented with it and found it was quite easy to use. I dont have a home filesharing server, however i may turn my old computer into one for backup puroses, and I am definately going to be using Fedora Core5 as my OS on it. :)
 
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