Hi gents, I'm quite an experienced gaming pc builder and have decided that it's time to create a centralised storage device that will keep myself and the gf happy.
I want to build my nas/server because i want
1. power efficiency
2. ability to upgrade
3. power (speed)
4. It seems like a central server with specialised terminals (ps3 and iphones) is better than a single HTPC
5. building is more fun
I will split this into 2 sections as I need quite a lot of questions answered (I have spent a long time trawling threads here).
Section A - "What I have now and what I want from my NAS":
I currently have a gaming pc and the gf has a laptop. We both have iphones. I am about to get a new tv (not decided yet) and I already have a ps3 (fat version).
1. I want to be able to put all my music on the nas so I can just put my iphone on an iphone dock and stream the music when i have parties. would prefer to do via the iphone's Itunes as I already have a big itunes library on my gaming rig. Not sure if Sonos would give something extra too. Essentially want to access my music anywhere
2. I want to be able to stream content (1080p or sd) to my new tv - it will probably have some DNLA capability but I presume via the ps3 is the best way to go. I may also get an Apple tv2.
3. When we're in bed I'd like to be able to stream my movies/shows to the gf's laptop
4. Thinking of getting an ipad2 so would also like to be able to stream my movies/shows to it when on the couch.
5. Want to store all my photos and work/essays on the nas - I will also back up to an external drive.
6. Not sure if this is possible but would love it if we could, before going to work, put whatever music/media we wanted on our iphones for that day, straight from the nas.
7. remote access would be great but am worried about how secure it is if I have all my personal stuff on the nas. do not want to expose it , not sure if there are ways that you can tighten security on these things?
8. later down the line will perhaps look to add ip cameras so i can monitor my home on my iphone - that would be so cool and very Bond-like
B) Hardware:
I'm more comfortable with this part - The actual layout/design of my network I can worry about later, after ascertaining if I can do all of the above out of one box. Can decide on wireless v wired later (will probably have a mixture of both)
The box building I am very comfortable with although I do need to know - Will an Atom be enough for all of the above (I plan to either leave on 24/7 or just when I'm at home)?
I will probably build a silent rig with a few HDDs to start with. Don't have a problem with RAID (although never done it before) if that will make my server faster but would like to avoid if poss so I don't have too many Hdds draining electricity.
C) Conclusion:
1. Please let me know if/how I can do all of A)
2. I need to decide between WHS 2011 or Freenas, I'll go with whatever lets me do A) but I must say that WHS11 looks very cool and the upcoming iphone app for it (
http://www.whsphone.com/) looks very Bond-esque. Please help me with that.
3. say I installed freenas, did Raid0 and the usb drive with freenas on dies - would that mean I lose all my data on the RAID array?
Thanks so much for the help with this