I have my father’s old work PC (one of those Fujitsu Siemens models) from yesteryears. It features:

  • OS: Ubuntu 23.04
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 (I forgot the clock speed in GHz).
  • RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1600MHz (Single Channel).
  • Storage: 128 GB SSD (installed in 2020) & 1 TB HDD (also installed in 2020).
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 (or was it GTX?).

I am considering using it as a file server since my laptop only has a 256 GB SSD, and I need more space to store my files on the old PC. But the question is, do I need a home server? When is a home server necessary?

Any sources or information on how to set up a file server with a PC would be greatly appreciated.

Vocabulary and Grammatical Errors were improved and fixed by ChatGPT because English is my 2nd Language

  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
    5·
    2 years ago

    I’d just use a low-wattage and inexpensive Raspbery Pi to set up a home network. But, if you have the spare computer and don’t really stress about energy usage, go for it. It’s kind of fun and not too difficult. Install linux. Install Samba. Voilà!

    • MrOzwaldMan@lemmy.mlOP
      3·
      2 years ago

      What’s Samba? Even searching the internet, the definition is confusing. Maybe, it’s because I am a newbie, and I shouldn’t set up a home file server.

      • Lucky@lemmy.ml
        61·
        2 years ago

        Don’t let lack of knowledge ever be the reason to stop trying something in homelabs! Honestly for a beginner resource ChatGPT is where I’d go for these kinds of questions. It does a great job explaining what all the terms mean and you can drill down into topics as needed such as permissions and different terminal commands you’ll need

        Anyways, this link has a decent description of samba:

        https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-and-configure-samba#1-overview

        A Samba file server enables file sharing across different operating systems over a network. It lets you access your desktop files from a laptop and share files with Windows and macOS users.

        So as long as a computer is on the network it could access files stored on this hard drive. It is super useful as a first homelab project

  • BCsven@lemmy.ca
    2·
    2 years ago

    I have a pi with drive attached, it is low watt consumption. But its fun to set up a server on a machine like you have. If you aren’t comfortable setting something up from scratch then something like OoenMediaVault is great. It also comes with docker and portainer so you can easily add docker containers for other uses. i.e. I have OMV for the samba shares, with daap addin for music, and in the dockers it runs kanboard, homeassistant, trillium notes, airprint cups server and syncthing. syncrhing is a great way to sync pc files to other PCs or to a phone folder, so you never have to worry about manually copying files.

    • MrOzwaldMan@lemmy.mlOP
      1·
      2 years ago

      I have OMV for the samba shares, with daap addin for music, and in the dockers it runs kanboard, homeassistant, trillium notes, airprint cups server and syncthing. syncrhing is a great way to sync pc files to other PCs or to a phone folder, so you never have to worry about manually copying files. I only need for backup, but phone syncing sounds useful, does that come with OMV or something I have to setup myself

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
        2·
        2 years ago

        Syncthing is available to download to any pc, phone or via docker container… It doesn’t come witj OMV but you can add it via docker command line or Portainer GUI. you assign which folder you want sync’d , it gives it a unique hash ID, on other devices you enter the ID, or search for synthing host. It then connects and will prompt on host to allow/ disaaloe sync to certain devices. Any new files on either end are replicated. You can see rules on if one is read only, and what you want to do with version changes. i.e. on my PI it acts a master (which is not the correct term) and if changes via other devices populating to the PI then it folderizes old versions of files so that a mistake change that was saved on my phone and replicated to the PI doesn’t remove the original totally. (Good backups periodically could also solve this)

  • BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca
    2·
    2 years ago

    A home server is great, my rig is built with focus on power consumption, and it still uses 50-100w depending on how many cooling fans is on.

    Edit: I can add that the CPU board is coming to 10 years, so you can easily go lower than that.

      • BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca
        2·
        2 years ago

        I checked it’s from 2013

        • Celeron G465 chosen because it’s TDP is 35w
        • ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP chosen because it has 8 SATA connectors
        • 4gb RAM
        • 530w Thermaltake PSU
        • 8 x 12cm fans connected to a USB relay for cooling

        And then some big disks in pairs using btrfs