[Yori96]

I've read up on WHS and FreeNAS and want to know which would work best for what i'm looking for or if I should just do a clean install of like W7 or a linux distro to do what i'm after...

I have movies and music that I want to stream and be able to play off my reciever as well as t.v. (for movies & music) as well as I want to be able to drag and drop things to my server seamlessly so that I don't bog up my main PC with garbage but I can download what I want/need to here ect... I currently have a spare box with a Q6600/decent video card ect that would be perfect for this purpose but I want to know what would serve this purpose best, thank you for your time.

[Bunto Skiffler]

Second episode of T-Rigs rolling soon

[Yori96]

That's really nice and all but I only have two computers. I would love to be able to do that but that's another 1500$ + investment.

[Dougie Fresh]

If you want something you just install and it works out-of-the-box then Windows Home Server 2011 is a good choice, especially at under $50. If you want something more flexible with more buttons and knobs then FreeNAS is worth looking at. So it Amahi. WHS + FlexRAID is also a good combination.

[Yori96]

Eh, I think i'll invest in to an actual HTPC and setup my old Q6600 as a data server... Little over the top but I think that's what's best.

[Dougie Fresh]

A little over the top -- but it's already paid for . You could also just but a video card in your Q6600, say an HD6570, and you'd have a very good HTPC.

[Yori96]

Can a HTPC be a media server as well as a storage server and an HTPC all in one?

[wjbeckett]

It certainly can!
I have a setup at the moment that is my HTPC, Storage Server and CP,SB and utorrent machine.

I am running windows 8 (for the "Storage Spaces" feature) and have CP,SB and UT running as services with XBMC booting as shell instead of windows.

[Yori96]

Well that could definitly make things a lot cheaper... I have access to the software but would you happen to have a guide as to the setup seeing as you seem to understand what I'm after?

[lagledavid]

+1

[Yori96]

Still looking for this info.

[simphyjones]

The video says it all..For this i need to cash on my brother..


Yolanda Young

[GortWillSaveUs]

Have you considered unRaid by Lime Technologies?

From the 2 choices you listed,...I'd probably pick WHS,...if I couldn't pick unRaid.

[Dougie Fresh]

If you wanted an all-in-one HTPC/server then W7 + FlexRAID or when W8 comes out, the Storage Spaces feature.

[onyx00]

Have you considered unRaid by Lime Technologies?

From the 2 choices you listed,...I'd probably pick WHS,...if I couldn't pick unRaid.

I couldn't second this post more. I've had WHS and honestly it was fine, no big issues, but when the new version came out I decided to jump ship. Limetech's unRAID had all the things I wish WHS had (especially when the new version ditched some of the data storage features).

I went to unRAID, and simply amazing. From a data standpoint, I like that I can throw in more drives any time I need, and data is natively readable on the drives.. This means if all else fails - you can simply pull the drives out of the unRAID computer and read the data from them. This to me is a big deal since a normal RAID card setup could fail, and it usually leaves you with data on hard drives that cannot be read unless you set everything back up again. This scares me, and is far to complicated for the typical home user. Oh, and the unRAID forums are AMAZING - tons of help and an active community to help you.

In short, my setup at home now includes an unRAID server, and an XBMC HTPC. It has all worked perfectly. Honestly, I am not sure why no company has gone and bought Limetech...they have a great product.