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Ok,
I have been reading about the best way to do this. This is where I am at and would appreciate some feedback.
I was planning to build a small computer for CQC and to store all my movies music etc.
I been leaning towards using sage, I have two dish network PVR's and do not think i will be using the sage recorder but maybe you guys can talk me into that
Anyhow, the question is what operating system should I use? Windows Home Server or Windows 7? Please correct me, but if I have sage then there is no need for the features in Home Server correct?
How many expansion slots should I get? I would like to build something Energy efficient since it will be running 24 x 7. Should I use a server box to build the system or should I shoot for a mini pc? I will not need a raid as I am planning on backing everything in my WD 4tb NAS.
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although you don't currently need a RAID, the nice thing about WHS is that you can create an array larger than 2TB. At some point, 4TB will be too small, and that point might be sooner than you think.
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IVB Wrote:although you don't currently need a RAID, the nice thing about WHS is that you can create an array larger than 2TB. At some point, 4TB will be too small, and that point might be sooner than you think.
I am a little confused, are you saying that with windows 7, I cannot have more than 2tb on the machine? I guess my only concern with WHS is future programs or hardware that might not work with it? I have never had WHS so I do not know enough about it.
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sorry, space-cadet'ed there, thought you said WHS vs XP or Vista.
I have a W7 machine, the only thought about that is current programs may not work with it. That's a collapsing issue, but you may want to confirm that.
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I use WHS and really appreciate it because of its backup features, the sage tv add in, expandable storage, and built in dyndns for remote access. What exactly are you going to be asking the server to do?
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I want the server to host my movies and audio files and probably serve them via sage. I want to run CQC, I think that about sums it up. So maybe I should be looking into WHS.
Thanks for the feedback!
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Study up a little on WHS. It's main advantage for you would be the expandable storage. How much storage do you need? I have a little over 6 TB storing dvd's and blu ray rips and see this continuing to grow as I rip more movies and I have begun moving tv recordings from windows media center over to the server automatically.
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If you are going to play audio like TTS from the server then WHS is not a good idea since it does not support audio/TTS. I think there are still some issues with W7 on that front too but they will likely be cleared up soon. If you already have a NAS I would really go the W7 route myself.
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crap, to show how unfamiliar I was, I thought windows home server and windows media center was the same.
Thanks for the feedback
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Of any XP actually works the best, but hopefully Dean can get the TTS problems fixed in Windows 7. Personally, I'd stick with 32-bit Win 7 if I went that route. TTS is even more funky in 64-bit Windows 7. I've used them both, 64-bit is no faster but 64-bit drivers are occasionally problematic.
