Technobabble

Home Server

Posted by on Jan 8, 2007 | 4 Comments

While Bill Gates was in Las Vegas yesterday, singing the praises of the new Microsoft home server (video), I was wandering around our local CompUSA, looking to cobble together a home server on the cheap. Now I’m not going to invoke the GMTA statute, but a home server or network attached storage device (NAS) has been on my mind for ages. I found a fantastic ($100 or so) in-store deal on 320 GB external AcomData Firewire drives that might be the ticket to build a bargain home server setup.

Rancho Indebto will never be within 3000 miles of the bleeding edge of Bill’s spread (even though it sounds like his home entertainment network is overdue for an upgrade), I’ll be the one scraping my knuckles on an install, wrestling with the RAID setup, and squeezing the dollars from my wallet.

Hey, Bill’s got people. And I’ll bet he reads Lockergnome.

I wanted to walk up to the register with that TB or so of storage, but my wallet had other ideas. The deal on the AcomData drives runs through this week, as long as in-store supply lasts.

There was a special on Slingboxes, too … but that’s another story (and another few hundred dollars) …

.
[tags]microsoft home server, network attached storage, NAS, firewire drive[/tags]

  • http://www.freenas.org/ Mike Weiler

    This is the ONLY way to go…..all you need is a basic ability to read some documents to do a basic configuration. Who of us wants to spend 300+ dollars on a PC that will basically hold drives. Freenas is so incredible it will do raid software or support every current and old raid hardware. it is linux and really can be installed off of a thumb drive if you desire (less that 30 megs of space is used on the HD if you choose to install direct). I currently have a pentium III 450 with a gigabit network setup (I have not seen any purchaseable NAS that have gigabit network abilities and even if they do the prices would just sore). The machine is a server class machine that was being thrown away at work (0$). I have purchased three hard drives for it and now have a total of 1.2 TB of useable space in this PC. (Cost for drives about 280$ watching for deals and 20$ for a gigabit NIC with an SATA controller built in) It is true you can build a better mouse trap if you want to!! Why pay for all the overhead needed for anything MS to run just a basic server class machine? Anything else you could need can be done right from linux anyways…FREE!

  • http://www.revs.org Matt Williams

    I’ve been thinking about running a server at home for a while, partly because I can get my hands on a copy of Sharepoint, and partly because I think it will be good for the kids to learn what it’s like being on a pseudo-corporate network.

  • Gavin

    I am going to wait until the release of Microsofts Windows Home Server before planning my new home server setup. Its not just a file share on the network it also has a power backup system that backs up every pc in my house. And when the plugins start coming out you will see more things added. So far I’ve only run across a flickr plugin and a wake on lan plug in. It also allows me to remote control all my computers from everywhere. Unlike RAID you can also add and remove drives easily to expand your storage space.

    Its definitely worth considering.

  • http://livecdlist.com SeniorFixer

    My high reliability home network design consists of an IPCOP box firewall at the internet entry, into my FreeNAS network server, with a separate ethernet card for my webpage server (the Amber eth .

    The very small Linux server distro (30 Mb), connects from the “GREEN” ethernet card out to the inexpensive switch hub that connects all my computers (Macs, Mepis Linux PCs, and one lowly Compaq Presario 1.1Ghz XP test box).

    Many are Compaq, Dell, and Gateway towers, from garage sales, curbside and dumpster donations. Linux is ‘green’, recycles hardware, and lets these systems run reliably and fast!