raid 1 Need to create a server on a budget

[OMIII]

I have this old dell optiplex gx260 that i personally used from 2008 to 2014, I've switched to a dell lattitude d630 laptop until last year, I've had alot of family photos and vids that i really can't afford to lose, I've decided to turn that old pc to a sever (raid 1), and since I'm a bit of a newbie i don't have the "know how" to go through it, i do realize that i don't have much to work with but I'm on a tight budget, i have a combined 250gb scattered around 3 hdds, can anyone walk me through the process or at least give me an advice on how to build this server (i can use the motherboard of the d630)

[Dutch_Master]

These drives aren't any good unless you mount them in the optiplex, so that's your first assignment. That includes connecting them up to power and the mainboard. (IDE or SATA, whatever they require). Having said that, 250GB isn't a lot of drive space these days, so consider purchasing a refurbished 1TB disk from Aliexpress or source locally if that's cheaper for you. Better yet, if you have the space (both in the optiplex and your budget), get 2 disks, it's easier for the next steps.

 

Now, assuming you've managed to obtain at least one 1TB disk and managed to mount this in the optiplex, get the smallest of your other drives and install that in the old PC as well. Next, install FreeNAS and set up a network share so you can access the drive space from your current PC. FreeNAS probably complains about only having one drive for storage. That's fine, you can always add another one later. Make sure you read the FreeNAS release notes/install guide first before actually installing it! Link!

 

HTH!