I am looking to build a HD Media Server. My current PC can play hd/blu ray films, but due to running out of hd space i am looking at building a media server. Just wondering what sort of spec should i look at for the server. Will be on a wired network. Would need 1+ TB of space In some form of raid.

Russ

I would consider a Windows Home server build.

Myself and others in these forums have a WHS being used as a server of soem form.

Do a search for WHS for a start

Adrian

WHS looks like the way forward. Most site which have it for sale also 10 Clients with it, is this the total number of computer that can connect to it? Still to do some research on it but what version on windows can connect to the sever, run both xp pro and vista, or does the server software come with a new version of windows for the other computers?

Cheers

Russ

Evening Russ,

you are quite correct in assuming that WHS comes with a 10 cleint bundle, which you install on the respective PCs.

Currently, as far as I am aware, WHS works on all version of XP and all 32 bit versions of Vista.

The connect software for Vista 64 bit is due in May/june as far as I am aware.

Basically you build or buy your WHS system, and connect it to your nextwork. Then you can map to your server and installl the connecting software or use the CD that comes supplied.

The only down side is that during December, a data protection bug was found in WHS systems.

There are several good sites, of which I have already posted within these forums, one thread was started biy Azzin if I recall corectly.

But please feel free to post any futher questions

Adrian

Do you really need WHS? I was looking at a Linux + MediaTomb solution with the benefits of being able to stream to PS3 as well as PCs.

Problem with unix, what ever favour is that it is more command line based, and as such less friendly for novices...

Adrian

100% disagree it you try Ubuntu or something along them lines it just as simple as Windows and a lot simpler than Vista!

Dont get me wrong im also a linux novice i hardly know it at all but i do know that when i have try'd linux it just worked straight out of the box.

then I stand corrected..

I use unix at work (Sun and silicon graphiccs based servers)

It is all command line stuff...

But I hav enot used more modern linux stuff so I am glad to stand corrected.

I was oking the other day that the only Os my media box doesn thave is a unix based......

Slightly off topic here but just wondering about DVI, most motherboards seem to be coming with DVI and i am wondering if where would be much difference between going for a board with DVI or HDMI.

Cheers

Russell

DVI outputs can be adapted to either HDMI or VGA as far as I understand.

My WHS runs semi headless...

Semi becasue it is located in the study where our 'office' PC is located, headed by a gucci Dell 20 inch WS monitor.

This monitor has several inputs so if I need log on directly, I just change the input on the main monitor.

So depends where youare going to locate your server, and how you intend to view the media stored within

Hope this helps

Adrian

Do you want to use the Server for anything other than serving files?

If not then look at unRaid. I just built an unRaid server using 6 drives (5 data + 1 parity) and it was extremely simple.

unRaid boots from a USB stick, so no OS needed.

unRaid is extremely flexible, you can mix sata, pata usb etc.. all into your RAID 5 (without striping).

Gets a big thumbs up from me

Purly a file server. Will need to be able to upload to server from other computers on the network. Before i go downthe RAID route want to make sure i fully understand what will happen if a drve fails. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RAID_5.svg From this picture if drive 3 fails, then replaced, all the data that was on the drive that failed can be recovered from the other 3 drives.

Cheers

Russ

Yes thats correct for a traditional Raid 5 setup. Traditional raid 5 involves striping too, so the data is striped across the disks. This means you need a raid card and equal size/type disks which are all constantly working. Not good if you are energy concious.

unRaid (http://lime-technology.com) works differently..

1) You dont need a raid card, this is software raid
2) data is not striped across the disks, meaning individual disks can be spun down when not in use
3) you can mix sata,pata,usb disks even into your array
4) no OS, so no disk partition dedicated to your OS

By default each disk in your array is automatically shared so you can access from any other pc, however you can customise access using 'user' shares too.

Needless to say, I'm impressed by the product and is cheaper than buying a raid card, plus I can re-use any disks i have lying around