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Thread: Linux Media Server - Home Build

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    Default Linux Media Server - Home Build

    Without Bombing Isemmans thread.

    I too have little experience with Linux, but would like to build a Home Media Server with the old PC's i have laying around.
    I have read some How To guides, looks like a fun project.

    This being one:

    I do have some questions right off the bat before i start though;
    1. All my media is on Fat32 or NTFS Drives or Portable Drives, is this a problem with Linux?
    2. Should i just try making a server with Windows first (as its already on the machines) or is Linux that much more stable when it comes to media sharing, streaming, jogging forward and back through files over the LAN?
    (Windows and Mac seem to break when i do this too often, i'm not sure if its the Server or Host, but they end up just losing connection)
    3. I'd like to buy an off the shelf solution, like a Synergy 4 Bay, but they are both $$$ and i seem to have a lot of hardware here going to waste.
    4. I wont be doing much or any general computing on the Linux Server, it will purely be a 24/7 Media Storing and Serving solution.

    Thanks for any help or suggestions
    Last edited by ol' boy; 23-09-14 at 07:21 AM.



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    Junior Member Crootie's Avatar
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    Maybe have a look at

    I will be doing the same thing sometime soon.

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    ol' boy (24-09-14)

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    Openmediavault if you want a custom solution, synology nas if you want a turnkey solution

    I have been using openmediavault for quite a while now and love it. BTW OMV is made by the original coder of freenas


    Migrate your data from your fat32 and NTFS HDDs to ext4 (or whatever Linux fs you choose)

    It will also open you up to the world of automation of media downloading ;-)
    Last edited by irwazza; 23-09-14 at 10:52 AM.

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    Senior Member Dave001's Avatar
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    If you don't have much Linux experience, take a look at Unraid.



    It's pretty simple to set up, runs headless, there is a free version so you can see if you like it first, has parity protection which will save you from a single drive failure, has plenty of plugins/addons.

    Only downside is, you'd have to reformat your drives, copy your data back over. But as long as you can free up one drive to start, you can copy data from drive 2 to drive 1, format drive 2, copy data from drive 3 to drive 2, format drive 3, and so on.

    I have reasonable Linux knowledge, I've setup several Linux servers over the years for media/card sharing, and I still went with Unraid for my 16TB media server. It's definitely worth a look.

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    ol' boy (24-09-14)

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    No problem to run Linux as a server. Have Ubuntu 10.04 running on old optima celeron 2.8 ghz 2.5 gb ram and 40 gb hd. Have 750 gb drive as well with video files. Machine. Acts as server to wd live and Tvix both work no problems. You can use Samba or NFS shares I am using NFS. Reads and writes to Fat 32and NTFS drives fine have had no problems to date been running this system for a couple of years now. Also use as torrent machine at the same time as server. Easy to set up and manage. Only glitch I have had was when I let the 40 gb drive get too full. Set this up because it was all free machine came out of a skip and Ubuntu is free no brainer!

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    ol' boy (24-09-14)

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    LSemmens
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    I agree with all of the above. If all you are doing is nothing too esoteric, Linux will work a treat, my issues are only because I want something slightly different. That is the advantage of the Open Source system. Generally, someone has had the same idea and developed a solution for it, except in my case.......

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    +1 for UnRAID

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    ol' boy (24-09-14)

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    Thanks fellas, i have been under the pump time wise, but have had a brief read, appreciate the links and advice.
    Looking forward to the project now and reading through you posts properly.

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