Home Server OS

[nik96]

I recently bought a HP Microserver N40L to make a home NAS/Server.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/sm/WF06b/15351-15351-4237916-4237917-4237917-4248009-5163345.html?dnr=1

I am planning to install 2 x 1tb Western Digital Green Hard drives(WD10EARS) and a 1 x 2tb Western Digital Green Hard Drive (WD20EARX).

I am awaiting delivery for the server, and i am having a hard time evaluating which OS will be most suitable to me, either FreeNas or Windows Server 2012 Essentials. I have 1 desktop and 2 laptops which will connect to the server. The server will be backing up all computers running windows 7/8 as well as serving media to PS3 and constantly downloading through bittorrent.

I do like windows server's storage spaces feature however upon researching, I have found out the FreeNas support ZFS which is apparently more superior.

Thank You in advance

[fabiango86]

i would use FreeNas because it don't need a verry fast pc and it is easy to use. i am not familiar with windows server 2012 but i think if you only do backups from windows that it wil work perfectly with the client pc's.

[BathroomSecurity]

The words "Windows" and "Home Server" should never be in the same sentence unless it starts with "It's not a"

[TechReid]

Go for FreeNAS because it's free, it's based on server software, it's easy to configure and it's much better than Windows home server. You get ZFS and UFS with it too, which are software RAID. It has a WEB GUI to interface with it all too, so you don't need a monitor and keyboard plugged into the server all the time. You can also control it via SSH!