Home media server solutions

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Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

Alright, the only other thread I found dealing with this sort of thing is almost two years old so I felt perhaps a fresh start would be in order.

I'm looking to set up a small media/data storage server in my house. Something that I can store DVD/Blu-ray rips on for easy access across my home network as well as a place to dump raw footage from my gopro camera.

I don't need some nutty 30 TB solution either... I'm thinking something with 4-6 TB with a wee bit of expandibility should be more than sufficient.

I'm reasonably good with technology (can build a computer from individual components and troubleshoot it if it has problems) but I have never used RAID assemblies or some of the other raid-like solutions I've been reading about. What is the best bang for buck for something like this? A prebuilt system? A homebuilt system? I'm totally lost and overwhelmed with the staggering amount of choice I've come across and I'm wondering if there is some expertise here willing to be shared.

Thanks.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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Until recently I would have recommended windows home server because of drive pooling. But they removed drive pooling from it. I dunno what's with MS and all the bad decisions its been making lately - drive pooling was really the ONLY reason to get WHS instead of just running an open share on a cheap XP box.

One of the (very few) nice things about Windows 8, I suppose, is that it also includes a rudimentary replacement for Drive Extender (the WHS drive pooling).

There are other 3rd party solutions available too, I suppose. What I do at home though is I have a separate USB 1 or 1.5 tb drive for each type of media... one for movies, one for TV shows, one for software, all on an XP share on my home network. It has yet to steer me wrong and is simple and familiar.
 
Necronic

Necronic

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Really depends what you need it for. If its just storage that your computers/laptops can access just get a NAS drive. If your TV already runs through your main computer then there's no need for anything complicated, just mount the NAS drive on some letter and guide your media server software (XBMC/TV-somethingorother) to the drive.
 
Gared

Gared

GasBandit said:
Until recently I would have recommended windows home server because of drive pooling. But they removed drive pooling from it. I dunno what's with MS and all the bad decisions its been making lately - drive pooling was really the ONLY reason to get WHS instead of just running an open share on a cheap XP box.
Click to expand...
What do you expect from a company that, under the most recently started fiscal year's budget, decided to completely defund the department that serviced and maintained our reporting servers? I mean, it's not like the ENTIRE FUCKING DIVISION needs access to these reports on a daily basis or anything!
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

GasBandit said:
Until recently I would have recommended windows home server because of drive pooling. But they removed drive pooling from it. I dunno what's with MS and all the bad decisions its been making lately - drive pooling was really the ONLY reason to get WHS instead of just running an open share on a cheap XP box.

One of the (very few) nice things about Windows 8, I suppose, is that it also includes a rudimentary replacement for Drive Extender (the WHS drive pooling).

There are other 3rd party solutions available too, I suppose. What I do at home though is I have a separate USB 1 or 1.5 tb drive for each type of media... one for movies, one for TV shows, one for software, all on an XP share on my home network. It has yet to steer me wrong and is simple and familiar.
Click to expand...

Will just a basic Home version of Windows XP handle the larger drives? I think I still have a serviceable older computer that is XP vintange that I might be able to try out. I guess it's going to depend on the drive connections too... I have to look into that. Does XP networking play nice with Windows 7?

Necronic said:
Really depends what you need it for. If its just storage that your computers/laptops can access just get a NAS drive. If your TV already runs through your main computer then there's no need for anything complicated, just mount the NAS drive on some letter and guide your media server software (XBMC/TV-somethingorother) to the drive.
Click to expand...

It really should be mostly for storage and streaming of DVD/blu-ray rips as well as storing raw video footage from my video tinkering for use later. I also want to archive all my digital photos here as well. I will not be running any applications from it. I may leave video footage on it and do non-destructive video editing from it. Not sure what kind of bandwidth I need for that. Worst case I can always copy the footage onto my working drive.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Azurephoenix said:
Will just a basic Home version of Windows XP handle the larger drives?
Click to expand...
No, it will not.

XP (32-bit) does not like any of the new "advanced format" (AF) or "4k sector" drives. It will also have trouble with any drive larger than 2TB. It will still work with AF drives 2TB and smaller, but they will not have anywhere near the performance of a drive with 512B sectors (that would be most drives made pre-2011).

I'm kind of with Necronic on this one. If you just need a place to stick stuff, get a NAS. If you get a NAS that is DLNA-compatible, then your other devices should be able to stream music/videos from it.

If you want something meaty and don't mind getting your hands really dirty, check out the FreeNAS project, which will do everything you ever want it to do, but requires some assembly.

--Patrick
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

PatrThom said:
No, it will not.

XP (32-bit) does not like any of the new "advanced format" (AF) or "4k sector" drives. It will also have trouble with any drive larger than 2TB. It will still work with AF drives 2TB and smaller, but they will not have anywhere near the performance of a drive with 512B sectors (that would be most drives made pre-2011).

I'm kind of with Necronic on this one. If you just need a place to stick stuff, get a NAS. If you get a NAS that is DLNA-compatible, then your other devices should be able to stream music/videos from it.

If you want something meaty and don't mind getting your hands really dirty, check out the FreeNAS project, which will do everything you ever want it to do, but requires some assembly.

--Patrick
Click to expand...

Some good answers as usual. Looks like I'm most likely going to get a NAS with four drive bays so I'll have about 8TB to play with. Should be more than enough for me.

FreeNAS looks awesome PatrThom... but the info level is intimidating as hell lol.
 
Necronic

Necronic

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I remember looking at them when I bought my NAS. I don't remember much about them to be honest. I went the super lazy route and jus bought a Black Armor NAS. No OS or anything to speak of really so it has to run through my computer for processing, but it included the HDDs. This one could theorhetically plug straight into your tv which is nice, but I'm not sure how since it doesn't have any video outs on it.
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

My NAS server would basically be sitting in my basement connected directly into my home network which is hardwired throughout the whole house. I could deliver media to the TV a number of different ways (I think the TV can actually pull content straight across the network on its own). Apple TV, our laptop, one of my backup computers. I'm pretty sure I can deliver the content somehow.
 
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