Homemade file server?

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spyrojyros_tail

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Hey guys, im reaching my limit when it comes to space on my harddrive, ive about 300GB of data that I would like to keep and ive been toying about with the idea of making a homemade file server. Basically it will just be a desktop with a load of memory in it and an network card. I have an external harddrive but I dont really want to get another one, that would mean another usb cable and another socket used up (sockets are rare in my room, lol). If I made up a small stripped down desktop with extra harddrive bays it would seem the best idea, im just wondering if anyone on here has done the same and what was their experience with it. Borde got me all paranoid with his experience with his computer crashing, and it could happen to all of us...  :|
 
My home contains about two computers and two laptops (me and my brother both have PCs - my mom has a laptop she uses here sometimes and my sister has a laptop and uses it whenever she's home). We networked them all together - wirelessly, apart from my PC, which has the main modem and wireless gateway, so it gets a hard line.

Since we have so many hard drives, I just put copies of my super, ultra important files on each computer. That's what you said you were going to do and should do. To add to that, buy a backup program. When I got my new PC, it came with a backup program service, and I've used it, and it lets you restore your old hard drive. Very useful. Sure, it costs money, but it's way useful.

That should keep your "important files" safe :wink:.
 
I would add that if you happen to have a DVD burner, it's not a bad idea to burn off copies of important files. Plus you can also burn off UNimportant/rarely-used files and remove them to free up the space on your HDD. Just make sure you have some sort of system so you remember (or at least have a good idea of  :wink: ) what is on them.

If nothing else, you could always buy a new HDD, back up the nessesary files to the new, and disconnect the old drive (make sure you store it in a safe place).

Just remember, if you almost never use a program, and you have the CDs for it, it can't really hurt to remove it.
 
i got hold of an compaq ipaq pc for like £250 and because it is small and quiet I stuck it under mydesk.
I installed ubuntu and shared out the shares on it over the network - of course password protected access
works really well for a P4 with 128MB ram, I am thinking of sticking apache sql and php on there and making it a web and ftp server also...
 
Well at the minute im still in the process of hooking up my old computer to my laptop, but its not going too well, I cant seem to ping anything off the old comp.... But anyway after some searching I came across "freeNAS" http://www.freenas.org/ ive been trying to get it to work but there has been some problems. It looks pretty cool tho, I hope it works! lol
 
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