Home networking

[mshawnl]

Hi guys want to set up a central file server for my home to download *legal* items and share files to relatives in the house. Whats the easiest way for this?

 

[Davdi]

Use a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box. Put all your stuff on there and share it around your network.

 

[SUroot]

Yes a NAS would be the obvious choice. You can buy a NAS appliance, or stick hard drives in an old desktop. You can even just share the hard drive in windows. So many options...

All depends in budget, space and whats laying around....

 

[Speed Daemon]

Lots of people think of a server as some kind of machine chugging away somewhere. But in the IT field, "server" really means a process that can be running just about anywhere, that provides a service.

So you can turn practically any working computer into a server simply by adding the software. You can do this to any computer that you keep running all the time. And because you will want it on all the time, a laptop is usually less than optimal for the job. You can do it, but since laptops are meant to be taken with you, everyone else is out of luck if you need to take your laptop somewhere else.

Taking an old PC and repurposing it into a dedicated server machine is a great way of recycling. OTOH older computers can use a lot of power, so if someone in the house is hounding you about the electric bill, a NAS appliance is a good low-power alternative. The downside is that you have to pay for all the new hardware.

If you have a bunch of Windows computers, it might be as simple as making sure that every computer is in the same workgroup, and setting up a share on a machine that has plenty of storage, and is on 24x7.