[boognish43]

Its time for me to build a server.. I have been putting this off for way too long and now that im running out of storage space again its time to upgrade!

For the last few years i have been using my main htpc as the central storage center. I have about 5 computers all win7 hooked up to the local network that all ready off the main htpc. I have run out of room to put more drives in the case though and really want to get a new case meant to hold alot of hard drives.

I want to access the files from all 5 computers as well as have a vpn setup to let friends download/upload to the server. I use subsonic(music server) to stream at work and on our smartphones.

The area I dont know much about is proper server OS/software.
Is windows home server 2011 what im looking for to run all of these requirements?

any opinions, tips before I start looking for hardware?

thanks in advance everyone!

[kizer]

I've said it once and I'll say it again. I'd personally go with unRAID.
You build it yourself and there is a HUGE following and support on their forum.
http://lime-technology.com/technology

Other than that I'm sure others will have suggestions.

[toymachine2009]

Tons and tons of info on this exact topic on this forum. Including exact guides on what exact parts to use and why they selected them and what OS to run. And all your questions and more are answered. Read in this section and look up eskros guides..

[boognish43]

awesome im going to start looking into unraid as the following is huge and im sure i can get help along the way!

thanks guys my research has just started