Use Old Desktop With 5-6 Drives for Network File Storage

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dargo72

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Mar 27, 2009
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I have an older computer that was a beast in its day. It has an i7 processor, at least 16mb of ram, etc.

I had it setup with 5 or 6 drives in RAID 5. I also had a RAID Controller card in there with a battery backup.

Now it's sitting unused.

I would like to utilize it for storage for all the other computers in the house. I would like to be able to connect it via LAN to my router and just have it so my family can save files to it. Right now, most of us have a 2nd drive in our laptops performing this task, but I like to do away with them to help with battery life, noise, and heat.

My questions include, how hard is this to do and does it make sense to keep Win7 (I think that computer has Win7) on the old one, or is it safer/better to use another OS for this task?

Thank you,
 
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dargo72

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Mar 27, 2009
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Thank you for the reply. So, I guess I'd like to reformat the drives, re install WIN7 and then maybe just make folders for each person... correct? Could I then make it so each person could only access there folder? Of course, I would want/need access to all the folders.......
 
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VincentP

Splendid
Oct 18, 2013
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There is no particular reason to format the machine or reinstall Windows.
It's likely Windows is installed on it's own drive anyway, as installing to a drive or array bigger than 2TB is a hassle.
Windows 7 should play nicely with Windows 7 or later. Accessing it from Windows XP can be a pain.

For each laptop user, create a matching account on the file server machine with the same password.
Share folders for each user. This way they can access the shares without typing a username and password.
You can share all these folders to your laptop user as well.
For administration you may find it best to access the machine using remote desktop.
 
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ss202sl

Glorious
May 23, 2012
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I'd create a partition for windows, and then another one for the share(just the share(or shares). Then you can save anything you want to it.

I'd then get 2 external drives and create a backup of that partition on a regular basis. The second external drive allows you to keep one backup plugged into the server and the other one goes off-site(possibly to work). Just make sure they get rotated regularly.
 
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dargo72

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Mar 27, 2009
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Thank you for all the answers..... I'm going to inventory exactly what I have this weekend and start getting it rolling...... I'm sure I'll be back with more questions then :)

Thanks Again,
 
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