Need new OS for better access?

[daphatgrant]

Hello [H], I'm not sure where to put this so here it goes. I need some help from you fine folks. A couple years ago I built a file/media server to store my photos, videos, files, etc. I think it's still a pretty decent system minus the OS?

Norco 4020 case modified with (6) 120mm fans
Supermicro X8SI6-F-O ATX motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182207
8GB ECC registered RAM 1333mhz ddr3
i3-540 cpu
(8) 1tb WD black drives (32mb cache)
(2) 2tb WD black drives (32mb cache)
(1) 160gb WD blue drive (OS)
PCP&C 750 Watt PSU
Windows Home Server (original) w/duplication on

What I'm looking to get out of this system is a place to store all my files, raid 10 support, plex support, Dropbox support and ease of use. If I'm right in my thinking, an OS update or change could make this happen. I'm pretty out of the loop lately and am wondering what your thoughts are on making this happen. I've currently got about 4.5TBs of files on the system which can be temporarily relocated if I need to start from scratch with a new OS. I typically access this server in it's current form just on my home network by 3 PCs.

I truly appreciate the help, I feel that I have a good system that is being stymied by an outdated OS, I know that I'm "losing" 4GB RAM right of the bat with the current OS being 32 bit.

 

[daphatgrant]

Hey all, I see I have over 130 views and no comments, am I in the wrong sub forum? Is my question too vague or not clear enough? Thanks for any help.

 

[drescherjm]

How comfortable are you with using linux?

 

[daphatgrant]

How comfortable are you with using linux?

Not extremely but I'd be willing to give it a try.

 

[kenned3]

If you are willing to try linux, perhaps head over to freenas and take a look (its BSD based but similar to linux).

You can run plex as a plugin and it works reasonably well.

It is 64 bit and you can do raidz-2 or raidz-3 to protect your data (raid is not a backup.... bla bla).

 

[stooleywood]

freenas, although i don't believe there is a dropbox plugin for it.

 

[MysticRyuujin]

Windows 8.1 Pro or Server 2012

#1. You'll get SMB 3.0 Multipath, awesome if you can take advantage of it.

#2. Your "raid support" is on the motherboard. If you don't like that you'll get Storage Spaces where you can setup de-duplication and you could even install an SSD for Tiered Storage.

#3. Meets your needs...

 

[Jaxon]

Second interested party here as I recently moved from WHS to WS2012R2 Std. If OP doesn't mind, I'd like more info about how to take advantage of the highlighted part of #2 below.

Windows 8.1 Pro or Server 2012

#1. You'll get SMB 3.0 Multipath, awesome if you can take advantage of it.

#2. Your "raid support" is on the motherboard. If you don't like that you'll get Storage Spaces where you can setup de-duplication and you could even install an SSD for Tiered Storage.

#3. Meets your needs...