Need guidance on setting up a file server

[teddymines]

Hi. I'm looking for advice on setting up a file server for my home. It will be used to serve up all data we use: itunes folders, other music, pictures, data files like Word and Excel from other networked machines, movies to serve up to an xbox, etc.

I bought a 4U server case on craigslist, and just finished getting it up and running. The motherboard supports only IDE, so I have a 60 GB boot disk and a DVD hanging off IDE0. I'd like to expand this so it can store at least 1 TB initially.

I was thinking of filling IDE1 with 2 large drives, but even used IDE hard drives are still expensive, probably due to demand. I have a couple USB ports on the back of the motherboard, so I imagine I can hang some externals drives off there.

Any advice/guidance on this? Thanks.

 

[abekl]

File servers are all about drive and drive port speed. For your purpose the usb ports are useless. My advice is to get the fastest drives you can for IDE1 and hope that it meets your file serving speed needs.

 

[memadmax]

Like abekl said, only I would go SATA by getting a SATA PCI Expansion card, and go from there.