How to set up central shared server at home?

[ChimpMaster]

hey all

We have 3 computers, 2 iphones, an iPad and now a Wifi enabled 60" TV.

I'd like to have a central server - a 1Tb disk let's say - to store all media and possibly other files and to have all above devices access it wirelessly to stream data.

Can you advise how best to do this?

[doomage]

hey all

We have 3 computers, 2 iphones, an iPad and now a Wifi enabled 60" TV.

I'd like to have a central server - a 1Tb disk let's say - to store all media and possibly other files and to have all above devices access it wirelessly to stream data.

Can you advise how best to do this?

I am in the process of looking at this, after getting home last night to find my home built server's motherboard fried.

Anyway, for hardware I have ordered one of these hp microserver on eBay which is £150 after cashback so pretty tidy. Only 250GB but very easy to add drives.

Software is trickier. I have a Microsoft Action Pack subscription which has Windows Home Server 2008; this has been pretty good for all the things you've described and is a doddle to set up if you are already Windows based.

Just found out that the action pack will not have Home Server 2011 "Vail" but does have Storage Server which is the same product but can have 25 computers and be added to a domain. So I'm going to give it a go when my box arrives.

There are plenty of linux options. As usual linux is free if your time is cheap.

Streaming media usually requires something 3rd party like Plex or Tversity. Not done too much with this, just usually run things on the TV via a pc connected to the home server. The thing to look for is DLNA compatibility, should be able to stream to any device on your network.

HTH

[Graham]

I'm using Windows Home Server 2011, nice and easy to configure, running on one of these...
HP ProLiant Turion II N40L MicroServer - £100.. | Ebuyer.com

[Joeman]

You really want the cost of a new server and the power it consumes??

i have an iOmega Cloud Edition Media server. its low power and shows up as a media server to my smart TV.

[chef]

get a NAS server, I have a Synology 411j with a wireless dongle, looks ugly as feck but that makes no difference as it's hidden away in a cupboard. streams media, has RAID, ideal

[TheFaQQer]

I use a PopcornHour, connected by ethernet cable to the router, and HDMI cable to the TV. Originally came without drive, then I used a 1TB drive, which has now been replaced with a 2TB drive. Since it's got 1.6TB of TV / films on it, I don't use it for music, though.

Since it's a Samba drive, it can then be accessed by any of the machines on the network (not tried connecting my Android phone to it, though).

I also have a NAS drive which everything connects to - I can stream over the network to the TV via the PopcornHour box as well.

[Joeman]

get a NAS server, I have a Synology 411j with a wireless dongle, looks ugly as feck but that makes no difference as it's hidden away in a cupboard. streams media, has RAID, ideal

WHS

[SimonMac]

I have a ReadyNas Duo with 2 x 2tb HDD in a raid configuration, ugly & noise but bullet proof reliability.

[northernladuk]

I use a PopcornHour, connected by ethernet cable to the router, and HDMI cable to the TV. Originally came without drive, then I used a 1TB drive, which has now been replaced with a 2TB drive. Since it's got 1.6TB of TV / films on it, I don't use it for music, though.

Since it's a Samba drive, it can then be accessed by any of the machines on the network (not tried connecting my Android phone to it, though).

I also have a NAS drive which everything connects to - I can stream over the network to the TV via the PopcornHour box as well.

Can someone translate this in to English for me I push pens about so this means absolutely f all to me!

[stek]

I have a QNAP TS412 that does all that, trouble is with it is it just disappears off the network after time. It's Linux you see. Connectivity kinda essential for a NAS though....

Wish I'd gone with plan A, which was to install either OpenSolaris or the new Solaris 11 onto the old Ultra 45, with the four 2TB SATA disks which are now in the NAS, ZFS and data-dedup and no dropping off the network because it's ProperOS. All the other tulipe will run on it too, possible not the surveillance camera stuff tho. I was seduced by the QNAP's low power consumption....