Best approach to meet file serving, backup and streaming needs.

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yariman

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Oct 16, 2008
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Wasnt sure whether to put this in networking, media devices or home theatre so settled for general hardware.

Im looking to solve three problems and wondering what the best approach to solving them would be.

I have a dual boot vista / linux desktop, linux laptop and soon a mac book pro.

1) Id like to centralise all my data (mp3, video etc) in one place so they have access to it all. Id also like it so that any data i create locally on a machine (say a word doc created on my laptop whilst out) will automatically be copied to the centralised location when back on the home network.

2) Id like a back up plan for that data as well. Something that is fire safe. Something I can forget about i.e. automatic and incremental perhaps daily, weekly and monthly.

3) Finally I want to be able to watch dvd rips on my tv in my living room from the centralised storage. The problem is the living room cannot be accessed with a lan cable (well it could if I could be bothered to run 30m of cable NEATLY around the corners of the walls). I'm thinking streaming the media via wifi though my router. I dont have a client such as an xbox 360 to play the content.

So far I thought of making a cheap nas located in the pc room. Id need a back up for this though. Another NAS? Wouldnt solve the fire issue though? Perhaps give my friend a harddrive with a full back up on and do monthly rotation?

Then the tv issue. Hmm one of those acer revos or just a second hand xbox.

I did think about just making one server next to the tv but then my pcs would have to access data via wifi and that would probably be slow.

What are your opinions on this? Anything ive overlooked? Is there a more cost effective solution to all of this?
 
It's getting late here and I really should be getting to bed but wanted to touch upon a few points:

- There are a few ways to backup and sync a Linux, Windows, and MacOSX system. But not 100% sure if those solutions work well. With that said, check out Dropbox, rync, and Synkron.

- Yes, always always always have the server connected via ethernet, never wifi.

- A few questions:
What's the most you're willing to spend total to solve all three problems? Can't recommend if we don't know what your limit is.
How much storage do you think you'll need initially?
How much storage do you think you'll need eventually?
What's the probability of you watching or getting HD content on your TV? This questions also applies to Blu-ray as well.
 
Hi guys thanks very much for the info.

Here some more details

#3 The movie playing solution is not needed now. In fact probably wont need part 3 of teh equation solved untill about 3-4 months. But i dont want to spend money now to ONLY sove 1 and 2 then have to lay more for 3 when theres a solution that solves them all for less cash.



I think my current data needs is less than 1TB. I have two 1tb caviar green drives lying around that Id like to use to save cash.

Im not looking for an uber rig with 50tb space, I reckon if it can go to 4tb im convered easily but i think 2tb is adequate (for data only not for the backup side).

Current Data size - < 1TB
Future Data size < 2TB
Size - as small as possible but not so the price rockets
Quiet - yes please
Low Power - yes but if i can have the thing start / stop automatically when i turn on / off a networked device then not so important.
Performance - the bare minimum to serve files and if needs be stream a movie to my tv client.
BitTorrent - No
PRice - as cheap as possible but dont want to be sacrificing quality.

The cloud backup looks tempting as if i do move back to the uk (not for 4 years) i wont have to carry hte backup hardware with me.
 
The Acer WHS server that lt_shiro lined to fits most of those needs pretty well. However a little fuzzy myself how to sync files with a Linux PC using WHS.

The way things look, you're gonna have to get a seperate device in order to play back content on your TV,.
 
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