How to make a file server ( all file formats )

[intelamdallthemisnice]

Hello, I have an old PC with athlon 64 X2 5200+ and 2GB of ram. I was wondering what program/OS do I need to install. I have a 40GB 7200RPM boot drive and a 160Gb 5400RPM drive for the server. Please reccomend something.

[aggie113]

While that CPU/RAM combo isn't gonna break any speed records, I wouldn't depend on either of those drives for "reliable" performance.  I don't even want to think how old that 40GB drive is for that to be sold in the marketplace.  I understand if funds are low but unless they are non-existent, try at least buying a refurbished hard drive on eBay that was manufactured in the last 6 years. 

[intelamdallthemisnice]

4 minutes ago, aggie113 said:

While that CPU/RAM combo isn't gonna break any speed records, I wouldn't depend on either of those drives for "reliable" performance.  I don't even want to think how old that 40GB drive is for that to be sold in the marketplace.  I understand if funds are low but unless they are non-existent, try at least buying a refurbished hard drive on eBay that was manufactured in the last 6 years. 

Heh, both worked 22100 hours not even in me. I just want something. I don't need reliability. I have a 10000 hour drive that's in worse condition. This PC i had with a sempron 3200+ so invested enouhg in the system. What OS should I install? Also what GPU would you reccomend just for Youtube?

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, intelamdallthemisnice said:

What OS should I install?

A very lightweight linux. That CPU is coming up on 20 years old. Nothing remotely modern will work well on it.

[Kilrah]

AntiX linux is a pretty good choice for old stuff. Set up samba and you've got your network shares, can probably do light browsing with a tab or 2 or office work on it. Youtube will be a stretch.

[intelamdallthemisnice]

29 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

A very lightweight linux. That CPU is coming up on 20 years old. Nothing remotely modern will work well on it.

I agree,

[intelamdallthemisnice]

Do you think with a GPU I'll be able to watch Youtube

[Kilrah]

Possibly... getting GPU video acceleration to work in browsers can be a pain on linux though.

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, intelamdallthemisnice said:

Do you think with a GPU I'll be able to watch Youtube

What motherboard is in the system? What GPU are you going to try and use?

[intelamdallthemisnice]

22 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

What motherboard is in the system? What GPU are you going to try and use?

Asus M2V-MX. I don't know the first PCI-e x16  card for dirt cheap and 1GB of RAM. 400W psu and the GPU that i think to buy is a Palit GTS 450. The server was till I got it.

[Needfuldoer]

What kind of budget are you working with? Personally, I don't think it's worth the electric cost to run that PC as a NAS if you've "only" got 160 gigs of non-redundant storage. It would be better as a retro XP machine, if you stick an SSD into it.

 

It will host SMB file shares without issues, but if you try to use it as a desktop you're going to have a bad time. 

[intelamdallthemisnice]

On 2/22/2024 at 12:17 PM, Needfuldoer said:

What kind of budget are you working with? Personally, I don't think it's worth the electric cost to run that PC as a NAS if you've "only" got 160 gigs of non-redundant storage. It would be better as a retro XP machine, if you stick an SSD into it.

 

It will host SMB file shares without issues, but if you try to use it as a desktop you're going to have a bad time. 

super late reply, ordered a Nvidia Quadro NVS 310 1GB. Will install windows 7 x64 when it comes until i get a gaming pc from a secondhand store. Don't really care that much, thought why not do this, but it's a fail I guess. After  I get a new PC to use instead of my lenovo 11th gen i3 laptop, I will put back the 500GB Seagate I have windows XP 64-bit.