I'm looking to sort out a home media server for me and the Mrs. We have a lot of media on external HDDs and our computers and it's a pain always having to use these and USB sticks to transfer everything around when we want to watch something.

The setup I'm planning on is something like; Have the server with all our Movies, TV shows and music on. All the computers on the network will be able to see these and play the items on it like they were in the HDD of the computer being used. Is there a way so that when you're connected to the wireless internet you are connected to the server as well? We currently have 2 laptops and a desktop, but I'm thinking of getting a HTPC with xbmc and an ipad within the next 6 months so could I make it compatible with these too? Could it stream to multiple devices at once? What if it were 1080p content?

What kind of thing am I looking for? How much would this sort of thing set me back? Anyone done anything like this? What other advantages are there to a home media server that I'm not thinking of?

an HP home server with Home Server 2011 installed should do the job.

you would be able to stream to mulitple devices and believe you can connect the Ipad to it.

also WHS 2011 comes with a web portal so you can stream your music / videos anywhere across the internet too.

i would suggest it is plugged in via Ethernet not wireless as with a few devices streaming it will need alot more bandwidth.

other funky feature is you can add a client to your windows machines and they can then automatically backup to the server

In my limited experience, I would say that wireless is entirely inadequate for the job.

Something like this?: http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-prolian ... ver&src=16

Is this considered a standard price?



I'm guessing that isn't a typo and I should look into some homeplugs?

yeah that seems about right.,

the other option is to build a cheap PC as it will have better space to add disks to boost storage as the WHS software is only £40 for the media and a licence from amazon.

this is what I have done.

That's £170 (after cash back) and can take 4 drives. Am I right to be tempted, or am I missing something?

its right to be tempted they are brilliant !! you wont regret it !!

Build your own.

_________________

New master race build guide | Budget HTPC build

Whats the advantages to building my own? How much would it cost, would one I build myself be able to do more than, for example, the HP I posted above?

the bonus to building your own is that you can get a case with alot of drive bars.

but as this has space there is no really need to do that. also home server tend to be low prices like this one so it would probably work out about the same to build one.

If I were to build my own what type of components would I need? What sort of spec you looking at? How different would it be to "just a PC"?

you want decent processor (dual core or higher) RAM is a must, as its a server one of the most important factors is drive speed, the faster the better.

From what I can see just a case if going to cost me £70 or over, left alone a mobo, cpu, ram and hdd. I'm thinking I might go for the HP while the rebate offer is on, unless it's a really stupid idea (I can get more RAM for it, but is the processor going to hold me back? Why do you need so much processing power for a server?).

Surely a NAS would be a cheaper option, like this or this

_________________

the problem with NAS's are that when they are full you have to get another and you end up having data across multiple devices, with a server its all in one place its accessed faster due to indexing and you get additional benefits like remote access, backing up client machines and you can set backups to run on the server rather than a device handling it for all the devices.

Well thats turd.

Just get a NAS with plenty of slots, fill it with what you want drive wise and then expand as you go.

_________________

New master race build guide | Budget HTPC build

you can get ones with more slots but a home server is just plain better, you get so much more with it than having just a NAS.

Im sure you have some sort of Home Server pushing agenda since you got yourself one. Are you getting royalties?

_________________

New master race build guide | Budget HTPC build

hahaha no i dont sadly.

but it one of the few things that you dont realise how good it is till you have one.

Ive used a real enterprise server and network for many years at home.

_________________

New master race build guide | Budget HTPC build