Is it possible to turn an old laptop into some kind of network storage?

[thebeastman]

Hey guys, pretty much what the title asks. I know next no nothing when it comes to network storage, but I stumbled across an old laptop when cleaning up my place, installed Windows 10 and know I want to use it as storage for stuff I don't need in my main PC. Is it possible to turn it into some kind of NAS or server and what would I need to do it?

 

Laptop specs:

- i5 2410m

- 4GB Ram

- 600GB HD

 

Thanks in advance!

[Oshino Shinobu]

You can set up SMB shares natively in Windows 10, and you can create a DLNA server by enabling media streaming. All you need is the base W10 operating system, no need for any extra software. 

 

I used to use my main PC as a DLNA and storage server for my laptop and phone, but I'm in the process of moving all of that over to a NAS that is a bit easier to control. For sharing between a couple of Windows based machines and Windows/Android phones, SMB shares and media streaming through W10 is fine. It can also work if Macs need to access the shares, but setting up permissions doesn't work as well for Macs, so you'd need to create new accounts. 

[themctipers]

I'll take the laptop lol 

[komar]

dude just make a home network and share folder/s on the laptop to everybody (read/write) - NAS done for 5 minutes

[thebeastman]

5 minutes ago, komar said:

dude just make a home network and share folder/s on the laptop to everybody (read/write) - NAS done for 5 minutes

And how do I do that?

[thebeastman]

15 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

You can set up SMB shares natively in Windows 10, and you can create a DLNA server by enabling media streaming. All you need is the base W10 operating system, no need for any extra software. 

 

I used to use my main PC as a DLNA and storage server for my laptop and phone, but I'm in the process of moving all of that over to a NAS that is a bit easier to control. For sharing between a couple of Windows based machines and Windows/Android phones, SMB shares and media streaming through W10 is fine. It can also work if Macs need to access the shares, but setting up permissions doesn't work as well for Macs, so you'd need to create new accounts. 

Is doing that similar to what this article describes? http://www.howtogeek.com/190835/how-to-turn-an-old-pc-into-a-home-file-server/

[komar]

1 minute ago, thebeastman said:

And how do I do that?

easy (btw this wont get you crazy speeds i hope you understand)

1 everytime you connect a pc to a network it asks you what type of network is this - home buisness or public - here  you chose home group

2 once you do 1 it will most likely asks you do you want to make or join a homegroup if theres 1 already on the same network - simple process just clicking next next and when you get to the password screen (better take a photo of it..)

3 no matter on witch machine you did 1 and 2 now you go to the another one. since now you have a homegroup now you search for join a homegroup and again next next 0 only difference is that now you type in the password

4 with the 2 machines in the homegroup you go to the laptop and make a folder with whatever you like name  (for example NAS). once created right click on it > share with > homegroup (write/read)

THATS IT

NO STUPID shares and all of that crap - ofc the speeds suck but for me its enough for 1080p movies across the 120 m2 house

[ssfdre38]

i have a laptop that i am using as a server (windows server 2016) and it works just fine and it can do NAS