Building a File Server

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pooua

Every year, I create about 10 thousand still photographs and several
hours of miniDV movies. I would like to store all of this information
on a server in my home. I do not have any plans to make my server
accessible to the general public; it is for my use, only. I am looking
for ideas of what kind of server I should build, and I would appreciate
suggestions.

I suppose that I could get a large case, outfit it with some number of
the largest hard drives available (300 GB is just becoming available)
and attach a UPS and networking equipment, but I want to avoid things
that would compromise my system, such as heat or hackers.

Would a 64-bit processor be of practical benefit? I doubt that
multi-processors would help me very much in this application? What kind
of OS would be best? What motherboards handle this work best?

I am also going want to make a mobile server for my car or pickup
truck, but it would auxiliary to my home server. It would have its own
set of challenges, but I intend it to perform the same central task as
my home server.

Thank you.
 
Every year, I create about 10 thousand still photographs and several
hours of miniDV movies. I would like to store all of this information
on a server in my home. I do not have any plans to make my server
accessible to the general public; it is for my use, only. I am looking
for ideas of what kind of server I should build, and I would appreciate
suggestions.

I suppose that I could get a large case, outfit it with some number of
the largest hard drives available (300 GB is just becoming available)
and attach a UPS and networking equipment, but I want to avoid things
that would compromise my system, such as heat or hackers.
Click to expand...

heat is simple, build using cool-running CPU & video and put
fans on the HDDs' intake. Hackers are probably more
interested in your personal-use PC, the one you'd use to
make online purchases with a credit-card. Just keep your
lan secure from the outside.
Would a 64-bit processor be of practical benefit?
Click to expand...

No, nor would any modern 32 bit CPU. Personal fireserving
has very low performance requirements. A Pentium 200 with a
PCI controller card would be sufficient for 100Mb. A 1GHz+
is better suited to GbE.
I doubt that
multi-processors would help me very much in this application?
Click to expand...

There are two things that will matter most:

1) The lan speed.
2) IF the lan speed is GbE, the HDD speed and bus the GbE
controller is used on. IE- for best GbE, don't use a 32
bit, 33MHz PCI bus based card. Then again, for the
described uses it's probably overkill to spend any extra
time or $$ on anything high-end.
What kind
of OS would be best? What motherboards handle this work best?
Click to expand...

Doesn't necessarily matter, whatever OS you're comfortable
with. Is it going to be FTP or Windows filesharing or
something else?

A linux derivative might be tailored to the task, but Win2k,
XP, would do ok too. Simple fileserving for a limited
number of client systems is something any of the popular OS
can do.
 
Dont forget the good old raid set up

Unless you wanna say bye bye to your data go for 1 or a 0+1 setup might cost
more but saves the pain later on. 2 250gb's for 1 or 4 200's 0+1 my
recommendation
 
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