Buying a Media Center Server or build one, if so how?

[Greenhoe]

Hi,
I'm very interested in purchasing the HP Mediasmart server simply for the reason that I need a raid 5 to secure my data as I have a lot of data that I cannot lose and if I use a raid 5 I'll be able to handle a HD failure and replace it with a new HD from which I understand.

Although I was wondering i have a lot of old Pentium 4 computers laying around and would it be cheaper just to add Windows Server to one of those PCs and then raid 4 HDs in there and setup that PC as a home server?

I don't know how to setup a raid configuration, i'm under the impression that I need a raid card? Does anyone know a good resource guide that teaches you how to setup a raid config in a PC as I am good at learning how to do things and would like to actually build the server if it will save me money. Thanks

 

[VPrime]

Hi,
I'm very interested in purchasing the HP Mediasmart server simply for the reason that I need a raid 5 to secure my data as I have a lot of data that I cannot lose and if I use a raid 5 I'll be able to handle a HD failure and replace it with a new HD from which I understand.

Although I was wondering i have a lot of old Pentium 4 computers laying around and would it be cheaper just to add Windows Server to one of those PCs and then raid 4 HDs in there and setup that PC as a home server?

I don't know how to setup a raid configuration, i'm under the impression that I need a raid card? Does anyone know a good resource guide that teaches you how to setup a raid config in a PC as I am good at learning how to do things and would like to actually build the server if it will save me money. Thanks

Build one/use old P4.. Just go buy a raid card and install that in the computer. Setting up the raid shouldnt be too hard depending on the card you purchase. Usually you can just set it up inside of windows with a simple GUI.

As for the OS, you really dont need windows server.. You can use XP, or vista. If it has the latest media player it has the media server capabilities built in. You could also go with ubuntu or some thing.. But that is probably more effort than it is worth.

 

[jaw04005]

I'm very interested in purchasing the HP Mediasmart server simply for the reason that I need a raid 5 to secure my data as I have a lot of data that I cannot lose and if I use a raid 5 I'll be able to handle a HD failure and replace it with a new HD from which I understand.

I suggest you read up on Windows Home Server. It's not RAID. There are already tons of threads devoted to the HP MediaSmart Server. Here are a few I participated in:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/624228/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/651596/