Fileserver OS?

massahwahl

massahwahl

VIP Member
I wiped my Compaq R4000 laptop clean last night and want to use it was a file server for our home network. I already reinstalled XP, but was curious if a version of linux may have been the better choice... Are there any benefits or drawbacks to running linux or xp if im only using it as a fileserver? Also, will it slow down my internet service any leaving it on all the time? Can is there anything I can do to make file transfers faster?

EDIT: Also! Are there any programs that will let me control whats happening on the laptop from my desktop? Remote Desktop or something that would be fast and efficient and let me switch easily between the two?
 
Yep. Check out Free NAS and Openfiler. I ran free NAS before, but I couldn't get it working. I think I did something wrong. Some people may disagree with me, but I find Linux to work as a better server then windows. Actually, come to think of it I think Free NAS is based on Unix. It probably won't slow down your internet. What you need is a router and Ethernet cords. Good Luck!

Free NAS:http://www.freenas.org/
Openfiler:http://www.openfiler.com/
 
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Well everything is already networked, I have the computers and fileserver on the same workgroup. What exactly was difficult about getting the two you mentioned to work and what are the differences?
 
I am not that experienced in servers. But I am OK. I had difficulty with getting the machine to access the hard drive. But, I think next time I attempt I will make sure to attach an external hard drive. Also, I could access the server interface from any LAN I had connected to my network. But, For some reason it would not let me connect.
 
I would recommend windows server 2003.
Or
Windows home server 2008.
You dont want anything special.
 
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