If you happen to have an old computer at home, then you can create a home storage server since a server is a computer.
Most people tend to already have a network installed at home since many use broadband Internet with a router, so it may make sense to make use of an old computer to create a centrally located storage server.
While the old desktop may not become a high performance file server, it can easily be converted to storing your file to help you backup your data.
On top of that, you can also share the data stored on your home file storage server with any computer connected to the network.
Create one or more backup file servers is easy to do, and I’ll touch on how you can go about doing it in this post.
A Server is a Computer Than Can Store Data
As mentioned earlier, the old desktop that you have lying around probably won’t be a high performance file server, but it can easily be more than what you need it to be for simply storing your files.
If you have more than one desktop, then you can also create multiple backup file servers, however; there is a cost to running multiple desktops as servers.
Before you setup an old desktop as a home storage server, there are a few things that you will need. The items are outlined below.
A Server is a Computer That Requires Some Setup
While most desktops will already contain the following items, you may want to go over the list to ensure you have everything.
- Large enough hard drive(s) to store your data. While a server is a computer, it is also a computer that has multiple hard drives running with RAID. In the case of your old desktop, you may want to ensure that you have at least one hard drive installed that is large enough to store your data files. A faster hard drive may help provide a more high performance file server than a slower hard drive.
- Network adapter card. All computers sold today have network adapters installed, so unless you are using a computer that is more than 10-15 years old, there should already be a network adapter card installed. You may also want to upgrade to a gigabit ethernet card if your network supports it for faster transfer rates.
- An Operating System. I had to throw this one in here, even though you probably already have an OS installed. You will need to determine what operating system you will be running and ensure it is installed. If you are familiar with Linux, then install that OS, likewise with Windows and Mac.
The above list provides the basics that you will need installed to create your backup file server. The items below will outline the principals that are needed to setup a computer to act as a server.
A Sever is a Computer that Needs User Permissions
The server will need to be connected to the network in order to be used as a backup file server. This will require some knowledge of both network security and operating systems.
If you are familiar with both, then you can ensure that the following is performed:
- Connect the server to the network. Plugging the server into a router or switch that is connected to your home network will connect the server to your home network. You may even want to assign a static IP address to ensure the IP of the server will always be the same.
- Create the file shares. In order to share data, you should create shares on the server to limit access to specific directories on the server. You can create many shares, with different access levels so you can create different configurations.
- Set up user access levels. Once the shares are setup on the server, the next step is to assign specific user permissions to the shares. You can create users on the server, and then assign those users to groups to help control the access. When someone connects to a share, they can then provide the user ID and password to connect to the share.
- Allow connection to the server. Firewalls and security software may block access to and from the server, so you must ensure that your security software has been opened to allow connections. This part may be complex, especially if you have several, different security software and hardware installed on the network.
By look using the above ideas to create your home backup server, you can help to keep your data safe and be able to share it among other computers that are connected to your network.
A server is a computer that you may have lying around, and while it may not be a high performance file server, it can be created easily and cheaply.