Old PC to Home Server

[CaelB]

Budget (including currency): 1200 dollars

 

Country: Brazil

 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: File sharing, video and music stream and backup.

 

Other details

Hello to all, I have an old pc and want to turn it on a home server.

My old pc config is:

Motherboard: ASUS P8H61-M LE/BR (2x DIMM DDR3 1333/1066MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered, max 16GB RAM // 4x SATA II 3.0 Gbps // 1x PCI Express 2.0 x16, 2x PCI Express 2.0 1x, 1x PCI // max 10x USB)

CPU: i5-2500 3.30GHz

GPU: EVGA GTX 750ti 2GB

RAM: 8GB (2x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz)

Storage: 1x SSD 250GB Kingston SUV400S37/240G; 1x HDD 1TB Seagate ST1000DM003

Power Supply: EVGA 500 80plus

 

I´m not the most tech-savvy guy, so I came here to get a little help. I’m reading other topics as well, so maybe some of the questions i'll leve strikethrough when i find the answer.

 

The server is aimed to have my family dvd/bluray and cd collection, family photos and videos and some text files, as well for Backup. Being able to stream for my tv and tablets and accessing it from my PC is a must. I'll not be gaming from it.

 

The only thing that i know that needs to be replaced is the HDD, I believe that I should take out the SSD as well to enable 4x Sata HDDs.

 

Does the CPU and the RAM handles this library well? I could get more RAM, 2x 8GB DDR3 1333MHz, but that would take out budget from the storage.

 

I need the GPU for anything? In another post i´ve seen a discussion between someone saying that it´s better to have it for video streams and someone else saying that the cpu handles quite well 4K 60fps videos.

 

In the Storage I imagined that I could use 3x 6TB (IronWolf or WD Red) NAS for file management and 1x 6TB for Backup. I can´t afford to have everything on backup, so I believe that 6TB is more than enough space to my absolute necessary files. If i lose the others, well, that's life. Should i get all NAS or could I be off with the Barracuda series instead? Since my main goal is to create and access a library, I wont be changing most of the content, and the Barracuda series is 30% cheaper.

 

Can I install the OS in the HDD that I'll be using to read/write information or I need another one just to have Linux?

 

Last but not least, how i protect it from others from accessing it?

 

Thank you all for the support

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, CaelB said:

Does the CPU and the RAM handles this library well? I could get more RAM, 2x 8GB DDR3 1333MHz, but that would take out budget from the storage.

 

are you using plex or just as a file server?

 

If plex, you might need transcoding and that needs cpu power, other wise this cpu is more than enough

8gb of ram should be fine

 

7 minutes ago, CaelB said:

Can I install the OS in the HDD that I'll be using to read/write information or I need another one just to have Linux?

 

You can, but its best practice to have a seprate boot drive. Id keep that ssd in there for boot if you can.

4 minutes ago, CaelB said:

In the Storage I imagined that I could use 3x 6TB (IronWolf or WD Red) NAS for file management and 1x 6TB for Backup. I can´t afford to have everything on backup, so I believe that 6TB is more than enough space to my absolute necessary files. If i lose the others, well, that's life. Should i get all NAS or could I be off with the Barracuda series instead? Since my main goal is to create and access a library, I wont be changing most of the content, and the Barracuda series is 30% cheaper.

Id get a external hdd as backup, don't want the backup to be internal.

 

Id get bigger hdds if you can.

 

Barracuda is probably fine, or external hdds if you want to save money. For a home movie nas it probably won't be used that hard anyways

 

5 minutes ago, CaelB said:

Last but not least, how i protect it from others from accessing it?

 

Unless you allow it, only ohters on the local network can access it. ANd plex has a username/password, same with most file sharing protocols

 

5 minutes ago, CaelB said:

need the GPU for anything? In another post i´ve seen a discussion between someone saying that it´s better to have it for video streams and someone else saying that the cpu handles quite well 4K 60fps videos.

 

gpu probably won't be used,so id take it out to save power

 

 

[Demogorgon]

19 minutes ago, CaelB said:

Should i get all NAS or could I be off with the Barracuda series instead? Since my main goal is to create and access a library, I wont be changing most of the content, and the Barracuda series is 30% cheaper.

 

 

If you plan on storing very sensitive and important data, where losing it is a nightmare for you, I would suggest going with ironwolf or wd red for that data alone, please note that having the data in a RAID configuration (other than RAID 0) of baracuda hdds is safer, implement it if your budget allows for it.

 

 

If the data is not of very high importance, just get regular hdds.

 

Will your NAS be always powered ON?

How many hours will you use it on a daily basis?

[CaelB]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

are you using plex or just as a file server?

 

If plex, you might need transcoding and that needs cpu power, other wise this cpu is more than enough

8gb of ram should be fine

I don't use plex - yet. Definitely goin to use some media player/organizer software,probably plex.

Thanks for the full answer!

 

1 hour ago, Demogorgon said:

Will your NAS be always powered ON?

How many hours will you use it on a daily basis?

Well, i thought turning it on when I - or someone - wake up or needs it and turning it off when its not going to be used in a long time (a day). But maybe its better to stay always on? Just to save energy and to try to save a little bit of hardware usage, or I'm just being crazy? I imagine that if 24/7 I should go NAS and off/on would go with regular.

[Demogorgon]

8 hours ago, CaelB said:

I imagine that if 24/7 I should go NAS and off/on would go with regular.

Yes, kind of. Turning it on/off doesn't matter as much as how much time it stays on and how much time you use it. Typically in a NAS more drives will spinning in close proximity to one another leading to increased vibrations and some interference in magnetic field(I'm not sure of the second one though). So, the longer you run it, the more is your probability of drive failure. If you plan on using it for many hours a day, get a NAS drive.

Moreover , you will be better off with a RAID 1 configuration for the important data alone provided your budget allows it.

Get NAS drives only if having a RAID configuration is not possible at all.

[CaelB]

Hey you all, I'm back!

 

I got 2x 4TB seagate barracuda HDD, maintaining the 1TB seagate barracuda HDD and the 250GB Kingston SSD

 

Now i'm going to finally install Linux to have my home serve!

 

I'm planning to follow this steps:

 

- intalling Ubuntu Desktop v. 20.04.1 LTS

- unblock the screen (yes, this is the first time i'm setting a linux machine)

- use Synaptic to clean the OS and installing Samba

- Configure Samba

- Install ProFTPD and set it up

- Set up the SSH

- Install Plex or other media streamer

 

I'm following a 2013 guide, if you guys have any suggestions on it I'll appreciate a lot.

 

Thank you all!