File Server Out of an Old PC
From Hak5
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How to create a Music and/or file Server out of a old PC.
Contents |
This tutorial assumes
- 1. That you have a Windows machine (95, 98, 2000, or XP)
- 2. You have a basic understanding of computing logic
The principles demonstrated in this tutorial can be applied to many operating systems. See #Alternatives.
Items you will need
- 1. At least a PII 300mhz with a 10 gig hard drive.
- 2. A router. Common brands are DLink, Linksys, or Netgear.
- 3. A network card for your fileserver.
Directions
Step 1-- Rename your computer to File Server for easy identification on the network.
Step 2-- Put all of your files in a folder. (For easy access put, it on you desktop.) Name it whatever you'd like.
Step 3-- Click on the folder you created in Step 2 and go to the sharing tab. Setup File and Printing sharing(you may have to run the sharing wizard the first time).
Step 4-- on the fileserver computer click Start >> Run >> and type "cmd"(in xp) or 'command", in 95-98. then type "ipconfig" (or "winipcfg" for 95-98) in the dos prompt to see what your IP address is, write this down for futher reference. It will look like 192.168.0.100, depending on which router you are using. * you will have to repeat step 4 for every folder you might want to set up.
Step 5-- Now go to your regular computer and open up, windows explorer, and click Tool >> Map Network Drive >> choose a drive letter something like (w) or (z) >> under folder type type IP address of the fileserver and name the folder like this (\\192.168.0.100\Music\ use what ever you got in the dos prompt earlier, then click finsh. Now all your files are accessible on the network as your w or z drive, or what ever you picked earlier.
- You will have to repeat step 5 for each computer you want to access the fileserver.)
Credits
I got the info to do this from Call For Help Tv.
Alternatives
FreeNAS - Dedicated FreeBSD-based operating system, created to convert an old computer to a network attached storage. Has very low system requirements, simple to setup, nice web interface. Can share to CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, RSYNC protocols, supports software RAID.
'nix/BSD - Most 'nix and BSD distros have support for both SAMBA (The Windows file sharing protocol) clients, and servers. While not as easy to setup as the Windows Folder Sharing, has lower system requirements, among other benefits
OpenBSD Encrypted File Server - For paranoid people! Full tutorial on setting up an extremely secure fileserver (Although remeber encryption is only useful when the drives are not mounted, if they are mounted anyone can access data like you could)