MaxwellFarrell

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Hi, first post on Tom's Hardware
I wondered if anyone could help in this setup, i need a home PC that can:
1. be used as a NAS for the other users on my network
2. Be hooked up to a TV to play video files (no need for a TV tuner)
3. Be able to access my files when out of the home network, i.e over the internet at my parents house
4. Be low power, ideally intel atom based

I really want to know if this is possible or even feasible! I don't mind using a Linux distro or any hard work for the setup, i've built PCs before but the networking is new to me.
Any help is really appreciated
Max
 
Solution
The best way to do server is to have a SEPARATE hdd for os and another for data. I learned my mistake. I'm using the same TB drive for everything. When I'm copying files, updating server slows to a crawl. That's the most important thing. The others are not as important. You can let Ubuntu partition the drives for you. I suggest manual partitioning:

HDD1
/ 490GB jfs
swap 10GB

HDD2
/hdd2 1TB jfs

It's Journaled File System by IBM. I haven't had any data loss for months even though I screwed up the paritions a bit. The Ubuntu Desktop live CD has a tool to fix this. I do have 2 TB drives. They have 2 copies of everything. Yep, I know I could use RAID 1, but I'm risking nothing. Lose 1 drive, buy a new one, plug it in and start copying...

p55ibexpeak

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Yes, it's feasible. Atom is quite capable for servers. Sounds like you're using the server as desktop when you're home? Then you might want dual-core atom. They're better than HD playback. Also, you don't want any of the old 945GC chipset as it's garbage for HD. Choppy. Ion is capable of HD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000446&Description=atom&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE

What's your budget? Do you have a gigabit router?

For OS, I'd use Ubuntu Server and apt-get the rest. Are you ok with command lines? If not, look at Ubuntu Desktop or Kubuntu. I'm aware of a freenas, but it's headless. No video. Just web admin.
 

MaxwellFarrell

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Thanks for the reply
My budget is about £350 about $500 i already have a gigabit router and was looking at ion boards.
On the software front, Ubuntu Server and the command line doesn't bother me. Would it be possible to have Boxee as a front end for the TV and have the hard drives in the machine appear as drives on the network pcs (both Windows and Mac).
What would be the best way to access the machine when i was out of the local network
Thanks a lot, you've already helped!
 

p55ibexpeak

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The best way to do server is to have a SEPARATE hdd for os and another for data. I learned my mistake. I'm using the same TB drive for everything. When I'm copying files, updating server slows to a crawl. That's the most important thing. The others are not as important. You can let Ubuntu partition the drives for you. I suggest manual partitioning:

HDD1
/ 490GB jfs
swap 10GB

HDD2
/hdd2 1TB jfs

It's Journaled File System by IBM. I haven't had any data loss for months even though I screwed up the paritions a bit. The Ubuntu Desktop live CD has a tool to fix this. I do have 2 TB drives. They have 2 copies of everything. Yep, I know I could use RAID 1, but I'm risking nothing. Lose 1 drive, buy a new one, plug it in and start copying again. :) Software RAID isn't as reliable as hardward RAID ($300+ US).

It's just a matter of picking out the mobo, ddr2 & harddisks. Stick with Atom as it's been out for ages and has better support in terms of hardware & software & community. This is a good example:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173797

FWIW, my server-to-Vista copying speed is over 100MB/s tops and ~40MB/s average. I'm not even using RAID.

Sorry I missed your video playback req. So you'd need a desktop OS. Ubuntu Desktop 9.10 it is. And yes, I have just up one on a friend's AMD matx HTPC server. It's hooked to a 40" HDTV thru HDMI and wired to a gigabit router with CAT 6E for file sharing with Windows.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

You'd use ftp for remote file sharing with any ftp clients or web browsers and samba for local file sharing with Windows (must enable MS file sharing). After OS install, punch these lines in a terminal or just copy & paste. The middle mouse button is paste. Or right-click in terminal.

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/serverguide/C/ftp-server.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/serverguide/C/samba-fileserver.html

Also, you could manage the server remotely with SSH:

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/serverguide/C/openssh-server.html

For video playback:

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/index.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD

You might want to search ubunut forum for H264 which is high def video codec.
 
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