File Server

[MrDravenX]

A while back I got help for building my first PC which was a file server. It has 6 500GB HDD in it with XP Pro. This is pretty decent but I will be running out of room sooner or later. Now I currently live in an apartment with not much space but when I buy a house I want to be able to have a much better storage soluation. I have been looking at dell servers for a while.

6 500GB HDD seem too much for some but I put a lot of stuff on them. Music videos, tv shows take up most of it. Does anyone here have anything relating to this setup?

[EzyStvy]

My small comany uses a P3 667MHz machine with 512megs of ram as a file server and it works fine. I'm sure no one at the office would notice anything if we replaced it with a faster machine..

Do you "run" the videos off your server?

For grins - you might want to consider the OS-> Windows Home Server. Besides being able to host videos etc - it'll make and store images of all of your other machines.

[MrDravenX]

Yeah I run the videos from the server on my new desktop that I just built a few months ago and my notebooks. I also want to learn and get more active running a server. It might be just for my home and personal use but I might go beyond that one day.

I have a shortcut on my desktop for my machines to go to the file server. It has each drive listed and I go the drive I want with the videos on it and play them with Windows Media Player.

[glc]

Why not just put bigger drives in what you already have?

[MrDravenX]

Originally Posted by glc Why not just put bigger drives in what you already have?

I thought about that. Isnt there a HDD space limit? Right now I have XP Pro 32-bit. I could put 6 bigger HDD in it. Maybe 6 1TB HDDs if it's possible if not bigger. I think I've seen 2TB HDDs out. I can't do anything until November though because I'm overseas. So maybe something will be out by than. I will go with another OS if I have to.

[glc]

XP 32 has a 2 TB "container size" limit. Keep all the drives separate and you won't have a problem.

2 TB drives are out, but quite expensive.

[MrDravenX]

Yeah I looked on newegg. The cheapest 2TB HDD I saw on newegg is $229.99. That would be $1379.94 for 6 of them. Might go with a 1.5TB drive. A lot more space than what I have now. This could serve as a temp solution until I buy a house or rent a house and will have the room to house a decent server with more space.