[waarten]

hi,

i would like to build a energy efficient home server, but I don't know what kind of hardware I need. Can someone help me?

I'm going to use the server:
- as a media server for 3 pc's (720p) with xbmc
- as a file/backup server
- to play lan games (that are on the file server)
- as a ftp server

Which os do you recommend, and why? And what kind of hardware?

Thanks in advance for answering.

[Mick1152]

I'd recommend checking out eskro's unRaid server build guide, even if you go with something other than unRaid, it's still a good guide for the hardware. For running additional addons, you may need more RAM or possibly a more powerful processor although I don't know how much. ProFTPD is an available addon for unRaid though so it would do everything you're looking for:

eskro's unRaid guide

[live4ever]

WHS 2011 works well with PCs for the backup - along with its SMB sharing for media.

Need your budget and total storage requirements though.

[waarten]

I'd recommend checking out eskro's unRaid server build guide, even if you go with something other than unRaid, it's still a good guide for the hardware. For running additional addons, you may need more RAM or possibly a more powerful processor although I don't know how much. ProFTPD is an available addon for unRaid though so it would do everything you're looking for:

eskro's unRaid guide

Forgot to mention i realy like the sickbeard / sabnzbd combination and running XAMPP on the lan (developing websites). Does it work with unRAID? And is there a good alternative for unRAID?

WHS 2011 works well with PCs for the backup - along with its SMB sharing for media.

Need your budget and total storage requirements though.

Budget: $200-$250 (with no hdd)
Total storage: 4TB is a good beginning i think (I already have a 2TB which is slowly getting filled)