Using an old PC vs Network Attached Storage

[Boxerz]

I bought a Synology DS212j NAS but I've been contemplating on selling it and using my current PC as my 'old' PC and building a new system.

Besides power consumption, are there limitations for PCs as servers versus NAS which is built specifically for servers. I never worked with Linux before but the software seems to be Linux based. I have been having issues trying to configure it to work with things like my XBOX360 which is quite a problem and Synology doesn't really support that.

The reason why I thought of using this or an older PC is because I already use it as my main sharing device. I stream movies on my laptop from my desktop PC and can easily read/write on this PC from another PC. I can remote login etc. I don't know if it's just my lack of Linux experience or Synology's software but the main thing it's good at is just backing up my files.

 

[Eickst]

The PC will probably transfer files faster.

Other than power consumption, the other advantages to a small all-in-one unit - more reliable, don't need av or os updates, quieter.

I just use my main PC to house everything. i get tired of waiting for files to move back and forth, so I just add storage to my desktop and share it out. I don't spend money on PC stuff to wait. Other people in my house can wait for stuff but I'm not going to.