Home network servery doo dad

[Chickenz]

Werd bummers.

Just wondering if any of you lot have any home networks with dedicated media drives/servers? If so what do you use?

Reason I ask is that my PC will be down stairs connected by Ethernet to the router which is connected by cable to a 360 and wirelessly to a second PC upstairs. The idea is to be able to drag and drop files from my pc and then be able to play them on the other machines. I was planning on using an older PC but space in the hall next to the router is at a premium and we'd prefer to keep the noise and power usage down.

Would like it to have at least 500gb of space but preferably 1tb and would rather it was ntfs for moving large folders and files. Can go upto about £150 quid but less cost would be better.


Cheers peeps.

[buzzmong]

You want a NAS then?

[Dr. kitteny berk]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... subcat=707

[Stoat]

Network Attached Storage, for clarity.

I've got one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freecom-Externa ... 453&sr=8-1
but as the reviews say, it's a bit slow over the network and only supports FAT. For other brands, YMMV.

You could build a light PC and attach a fucktonne of storage and install FreeNAS. It worked with my old Shuttle until it went SATA-blind.

[spoodie]

It might be worth reading up on this: http://www.excito.com/

The 1TB is about £200 but it does more than just filesharing. If I didn't have a media PC under the TV I'd probably get one of the latest ones.

[Joose]

Worth noting is that a lot of NAS drives dont work with the 360's built in media streaming stuff. There are some that do, but I don't know which ones, and I hear they can be a pita to get working.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Worth noting is that a lot of NAS drives dont work with the 360's built in media streaming stuff. There are some that do, but I don't know which ones, and I hear they can be a pita to get working.

I thought (oddly enough) that was an NTFS problem with the 360, Heard a bit of FAT32 cleared it up nicely.

Either way, there's a fair few reviews that say the mybook is fine, but obviously, no personal experience.

[FatherJack]

The one berk linked says it does 360 and PS3. However there is some question about which file types it will share, based on MioNet the WD Anywhere Access reportedly blocks sharing of AVI and MP3 files. Also, the MioNet client is required to put files on it and it doesn't support 64-bit windows.

Edit: Seems there's a beta 64-bit client available.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I thought all the MioNet stuff was just for web based sharing?

[FatherJack]

I thought all the MioNet stuff was just for web based sharing?

Ah yes, it uses a Twonky media server for LAN sharing. Which is fine for 360/PS3.

[Joose]

I thought (oddly enough) that was an NTFS problem with the 360, Heard a bit of FAT32 cleared it up nicely.

Either way, there's a fair few reviews that say the mybook is fine, but obviously, no personal experience.

Quite possibly, its been a while since ive tried it. Theres two different ways of streaming to the 360, through the file browsing bit or through media center. The file browsing bit might work on a NAS, but I doubt the media center would. Unfortunately, the media center is a far better way of streaming, as its faster and handles more file types, including a lot of the high def stuff.

Like I say, its been a good year or so since I last looked into it, so things may have changed.

[mrbobbins]

I used to have a PC in a cupboard as a media server and play media files to the telly on a chipped xbox.

I've switched to this which is a NAS box with bells on, bells like a torrent client and a HDMI port (not that I have a HDTV!)

Bit much though if you just need networked storage

[FatherJack]

The cheapest option if you don't mind leaving an existing PC on is just to buy some disk. Next cheapest is probably network storage with inbuilt media sharing. A quiet atom-based mini-PC would cost a little more, but give you additional flexibility. Next up would be a shuttle-based PC, then we're into hardcore RAID-capable NAS disk enclosures. Probably increments of £50 each time.