[ozkhan1]

I have a big library of movies, music and videos on a PC, which I have shared on the network. The media files stream to ATV2 and another HTPC connected to a TV. I am happy with the performance but I have recently been thinking about decomissioning my file server and using a NAS instead to house my library.

But I am wondering if that would be a better solution. How is a PC sharing files over the network different from a NAS or unRAID server? Is there any other type of setup that can provide better performance and perhaps lower energy consumption?

Thanks for your input.

[mr.sparkle]

decomissioning my file server and using a NAS instead

what's the difference?

[ozkhan1]

decomissioning my file server and using a NAS instead

what's the difference?

Well that is what I want to know

Planning to give the PC to my brother. It is old and only serves the purpose of file sharing. If there is no difference between a PC acting as a file server and a NAS or unraid (in terms of performance and electricity consumption) I might end up getting a new low powered PC with large storage capacity.

Just wanted to check with the experts first.

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[Vertigo]

Well that is what I want to know

Planning to give the PC to my brother. It is old and only serves the purpose of file sharing. If there is no difference between a PC acting as a file server and a NAS or unraid (in terms of performance and electricity consumption) I might end up getting a new low powered PC with large storage capacity.

Just wanted to check with the experts first.

A NAS is indeed basically a purpose built "PC" that acts as file server. Raid, unraid etc are ways to implement that, you might want to read up on that, as it does offer important functionality that you may or may not desire.

[Dougie Fresh]

To be technical, NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. It could be something you buy off the shelf or something you build but it's essentially an appliance that just serves files. Then there's kinda of a gray area between that and a full-blown server. A lot of off-the-shelf NAS appliances have firmware that has full-blown server features and some servers like mine might as well be a NAS since all I do is use them to store files. What's a NAS has certainly evolved.

So, NAS, server, whatever -- it's what you want it to be. You can buy one already made or build one. It all depends on what features you want, how much you want to spend, etc. like any other thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage

[thethirdnut]

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------------------> what he said.

NAS is really a horrible term...doesn't really mean anything...sharing files on a network is about the only label that accurately describes what a 'NAS' would do with or without hardware redundancy or any other features for that matter.

[mr.sparkle]

Hence my first post. Take your PC, share a folder and put a sticker on the case that says NAS. Guess what? You now have a NAS.

[RaggSokk3n]

Is there any other type of setup that can provide better performance and perhaps lower energy consumption?

Well if you relay think you need that then take a look at my server, if you change your network to be cat 6a compliant it will do about 200MB/s r/w (change the disks for some ssd and you'll get around 1,2GB/s) - and the thing eats less power than a standard light-bulb

[Beer40oz]

NAS the rapper...