1
What I'm wanting to do:
I would like to have a hard drive designated to share my media over my wifi. I have room mates that might want/need some media that I have on my hard drive at any given time so I want to make it freely available to them.
I want to note that I want this only accessible to the people in my apartment, not to the outside world.
What I've looked into thus far:
Not knowing much about networking or what I should be looking for, I briefly google some terms that seem like they would have something to do with what I'm wanting to do.
I stumbled across:
My Computer Information:
I currently have a Dell XPS laptop running Windows 7 with a Linsys router (I would have to check the box for a model number). I currently have an external hard drive, but I can also pick up a 3.5 sata if necessary for the project.
My Question:
What do I need to do to make this happen? I would like to know what my options are to set up something like this, approximate costs, and ultimately the best way to go about this.
If you have set up something like this, can you tell me if you ran into any issues?
Any and all help and explanations are appreciated. If you prefer to direct me to articles, I have no problem reading and learning.
1Shopping recommendations are off topic as per the [faq]. Also, your question is a little to broad in its current state. – Dennis – 2013-03-05T18:02:47.143
NAS – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-03-05T18:13:49.393
@Dennis I'm not looking for specific products, I'm looking for what type of hardware I would need. Once I know the hardware, I guess I can read reviews on Amazon or on tech review sites :) – Quick-Qs – 2013-03-05T18:15:32.880
1Specific products or not, cost effective way and approximate costs are clear indicators of a shopping recommendation. – Dennis – 2013-03-05T18:17:10.507
To clear it up, I'm not asking for what products to buy. I'm asking what way is cheaper and better to do such a task (which is why I posted the links -- is option A a better way than option B). Also what are the downsides of doing it the cheaper way. If my Amazon link is the issue, I can remove it and place a google link instead. – Quick-Qs – 2013-03-05T18:18:38.257
I would actually close this as
Not Constructive
. There's a boatload of home media server articles out there and you say you have no problem reading. Feel free to post when you have a more specific problem we can solve, rather than handing out sample designs for you. – Tanner Faulkner – 2013-03-05T18:28:32.3871
Some links to get you started: http://lifehacker.com/5936546/how-i-built-the-media-center-of-my-dreams-for-under-500 http://www.havetheknowhow.com/ http://www.pcworld.com/article/188532/article.html http://hothardware.com/cs/blogs/ta/archive/2009/02/22/high-capacity-low-cost-300-budget-media-server.aspx http://producerism.com/blog/building-the-perfect-htpc-media-server/ http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/362299-31-building-home-media-server (Haven't actually read through these but they don't look awful so...)
– Tanner Faulkner – 2013-03-05T18:30:42.837@Tanner Thanks for the links, I'll begin reading them. Also, 3 other members have left helpful responses as they are helping me understand the typical setup for this situation...no need to be high and mighty because you understand a topic that is slightly over my head.. – Quick-Qs – 2013-03-05T18:33:28.003
Also if you manage to grab 20 rep, hop on over to Root Access so we can discuss at length without worrying about the rules which guide questions. http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/118/root-access
– Tanner Faulkner – 2013-03-05T18:35:10.270