Home NAS: repurposing old pc for nas usage

[chris_gpvd]

Hello everybody! I've been watching the linustechtips community for a while now and decided to join and make my first post, seeking your expert advice!

 

Let me cut to the chase: I am going to upgrade to a new rig, since my old one is over 8 years old(!), and decided to move away from console gaming, returning once again to pc gaming. The new rig is where I got things covered, so I was wondering if I could use my old pc as a dedicated nas, since my media collection is quite huge (about 3tb). 

 

The outdated pc has the following specs:

amd athlon 64 x2 4400+

2gb ddr2-800

msi k9n sli platinum

tagan 500w psu

nvidia 7900gtx by gigabyte (now toast, replaced by a cheap amd card 2 years back, don't remember which one right now, maybe hd 5550).

 

I know, pretty old, right? It's been sitting in storage for about 2 years now. The thing is, I thought about just reformatting and chucking in 8TBs of hdds in it in a raid 10 config (4x4TB), but my mb supports only SATA 2. 

The burning question:

What are my options here? Just to clarify, not looking for a build/setup guide or anything, just advice on what to do. Should I look for a pci express sata3 controller, or is SATA 2 enough, for WD reds? Also, is a SSD and/or more ram going to help out?

 

Any help and/or insights would be helpful, because I cannot afford to buy many more components, since I blew a significant amount on my new rig, which I do not want to use as a server.

 

Is it worth using windows or freenas?

[Altecice]

Use Ubuntu, set up SAMBA as a quick and easy NAS server and limit it to your local subnet (assume 192.168.1.0?) What I do and it works perfectly... also using linux allows me to have other services like FTP/VNC/VPN running.

[chris_gpvd]

Use Ubuntu, set up SAMBA as a quick and easy NAS server and limit it to your local subnet (assume 192.168.1.0?) What I do and it works perfectly... also using linux allows me to have other services like FTP/VNC/VPN running.

 

That did cross my mind, since ubuntu (and linux in general) is perfect for slower systems, imho.

 

Couple of follow-ups:

Is sata 2 enough?

Are there upnp media servers for ubuntu? That would be a nice addition...

Are 2GB of ram enough or should I add more? Sure, the more the better, but for simple storage and local network streaming is it necessary? 

 

Thanks for the help!

[wpirobotbuilder]

That did cross my mind, since ubuntu (and linux in general) is perfect for slower systems, imho.

 

Couple of follow-ups:

Is sata 2 enough?

Are there upnp media servers for ubuntu? That would be a nice addition...

Are 2GB of ram enough or should I add more? Sure, the more the better, but for simple storage and local network streaming is it necessary? 

 

Thanks for the help!

Yeah, SATA II will be more than enough for mechanical storage. 2 GB of RAM should also be fine -- Ubuntu doesn't need much if you only install the basics.

 

I would do a Plex server, it's well-documented and has nice integration with a web browser and other devices (roku, smartphones, etc).

[chris_gpvd]

Yeah, SATA II will be more than enough for mechanical storage. 2 GB of RAM should also be fine -- Ubuntu doesn't need much if you only install the basics.

 

I would do a Plex server, it's well-documented and has nice integration with a web browser and other devices (roku, smartphones, etc).

 

 

Oh, I didn't even know plex did a ubuntu version! Sweet! 

And thanks for your answer!