simple server help

[RobTi]

HI i am lookiing for a bit of help i had grand ideas about storing all my cd's and dvd's on file then being able to access them from round the house.
So i built a simple server 2 x 200gb drives to hold the files a 10Gb drive for the os(winxp pro)
the thing is do i need to install a cd rom and gfx card to do the install and then remove them or is there a better way to set this up?
Thanks
Robert

[chrestomanci]

You need a graphics card to boot windows, so if I where you I would use an integrated motherboard, or an old GForce2 card you have arround. (or you can beg from a mate).

It is possible to get linux to boot without a graphics card, but it will be very hard, and franky not worth the bother.

As for the CDRom drive, there will be no problem removing it once the system is built.

[RobTi]

Thanks for the help i didn't know that about windows i have an old card that i can use
Thanks again
Robert

[Atomic]

Maybe worth looking at http://www.freenas.org/ as itll be better than XP in the long run (no awful windows updates and restarts)

[Moby-Dick]

Freenas sounds good for a home system and certinly save you a bit of cash when it comes to putting an OS on your server box.

you might also want to consider getting a linksys NLSU-2 and a couple of USB drives..

[Nat101]

Loading XP Pro onto a simple file sharing server is simply a waste of resources.

The most efficient way to setup a simple, headless file server is to use something like Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux or FreeNAS with Samba (www.samba.org) support. Puppy, DSL and FreeNAS can run in memory on old hardware, so that your HDDs can spin down when they aren't in use, thus saving electricity.

If you take out the graphics card after installing the OS, make sure your mobo will pass the POST without it.

[badass]

Maybe worth looking at http://www.freenas.org/ as itll be better than XP in the long run (no awful windows updates and restarts)

That looks interesting and usefull.
/me looks to see if it can be secured so that only one host can access it

[Atomic]

I run freenas off a USB Stick! No OS on my HDD, only 100% storage

[killie99]

I run freenas off a USB Stick! No OS on my HDD, only 100% storage

What size of USB stick did you manage to get away with? I presume teh motherboard you used had teh facility to boot off USB...that might be my downfall if I try and go down that route.

[Atomic]

I used a 256MB one as that was what I had spare...

Im you could use a smaller one as the OS is only about 16MB.

[chrestomanci]

If you have a spare CF card then it is possible to get an adaptor to plug it into an IDE socket on your motherboard and boot of that.

CF cards can talk IDE protocol, so with the correct adaptor (that is just two sockets and a ribbon cable to join them) any motherboard will see them as plain old (slow) IDE hard drives.