[Hotoverhere]

I have one computer to spare, with 3 others to act as clients, depending on where my wife wants to watch.

Someone suggested on this forum to used a shared settings folder from the server, as long as only 1 computer is writing to that folder at a time. Shouldn't be a problem, only she will be using it. That would solve the XBMC part of it.

But since Unraid appears to need a computer all by itself, do you use another raid option or just share folders & add drives as you go? Or Flexraid?

Thanks.

[Hotoverhere]

Read up some more...how about WHS + xmbc running 24/7 on a server box?

[jhsrennie]

I use a dedicated Windows 2003 server kept in the cupboard under the stairs where it's out of sight and out of earshot, but then I also use it to run my mail server and to run BitTorrent overnight. If you just want shared folders during the day then having a dedicated server may be overkill, and remember it's not a trivial cost to run a server 24x7.

You don't say how much disk space you need. If it's only 1 or 2TB you could get away without RAID as 2TB disks are reasonable cheap now. Having said that, I'd feel nervous about having my prized media collection on a non-RAID disk. Have you considered getting a RAID NAS system like a QNAP?

JR

[Hotoverhere]

Have 7 drives, about 10tb all together. Ideally, I want XMBC, Sabnzbd to run on the same machine. Only thing I can think of is Ubuntu or WHS.

Actually I don't think I'd need a raid option since I have all my dvd's on hand. I would prefer the JBOD idea...one folder for movies, one for tv and that's it.