6d ago

First file server

I would like to start and create my first file server at home. I've never done this before and I'm a beginner. I would like to know how to create one, how to maintain it for years to come, and what costs are entailed with a direct or indirect costs. Thanks everyone.

Edit

Added the below for clarity.

What I am looking for is a way to storing my personal files at home. I am not looking for internet connected device that I can access remotely.

It will be mainly used to store my personal photos and videos, and not used to stream movies to a device.

Should be accessible by devices such as android, windows, and iOS.

12 comments

First you need to specify a bit more on what you mean by file server. Are you looking for a network attached storage for home use, or remote use as well? Or are you talking something like a seed box for torrenting Etc. What general software environment will you be working with and what others are you comfortable with.
- Thanks for replying.
  What I am looking for is a way to storing my personal files at home. I am not looking for internet connected device that I can access remotely.
  It will be mainly used to store my personal photos and videos, and not used to stream movies to a device.
  Should be accessible by devices such as android, windows, and iOS.
  Hope this helps.
  
  Then you're going to be limited to SMB generally because of windows. If you didn't need Windows NFS is always the superior choice. But only the pro version of Windows has any NFS support.
  Just getting started pretty much any hardware will do. One of the best most accessible ways of doing it is something like a cheap Raspberry Pi computer even two gigabytes of memory is enough to get started. You won't necessarily need the bigger ones. But generally more tends to be better. Combined with some of the more purpose built OS images for things like open media vault or own cloud. It's a pretty easy and low bar for entry.
  After that it really just depends on your interest, needs, and comfort levels. You could just as easily go into eBay and buy a used $100 E-Waste business Tower. It will give you a bit more swap ability and upgradability where you can add things like 2.5 or 10 gigabit networking if you absolutely need faster. A better method of organizing and mounting storage physically. And a few other amenities. As well as some more options software wise. But if you are really new to this. And you really want to do something a bit more DIY that you control as opposed to something like a Synology Nas. It's hard to go wrong starting with something like a Raspberry Pi.
  Just make sure to keep up on your three two one. Three different copies of your data, on two different types of media, with at least one of them stored off site.

I think that's a great way to start. It is surprisingly easy to add remote access at a later date.
The dead simple way is to set up a shared folder with Syncthing, although you will end up with all of the files copied onto every device.
If you want the files to live on your home server to be accessed as needed, then you will want something like Nextcloud or OwnCloud. Personally I found ownCloud easier to set up, but it has far fewer features.
If the focus is on pictures and videos, then you should probably start with immich. It is very simple and incredibly powerful. You can more or less set it up once, and not think about it too much other than running an update from time to time. It supports multiple users, etc. Note that if you are adding photos from a Google Takeout, you will want to run a one time script to rescue the metadata (date, etc.)
Any of these are accessible on any device.

The question is how motivated are you to learn what you need to manage a device?
If you want to dive in and get your hands dirty then I'd recommend a little mini PC off Amazon and Fedora Server which comes out of the box with Cockpit which will help you administer your server. If it's something you're not that into and just need storage for your stuff, I'd say pick up a NAS from someone like Synology or Ugreen. They'll generally take care of themselves.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? What problem are you trying to solve? There are dozens of kinds of file server, but we can't recommend one that'll meet your needs without knowing them.
- Added an edit to my post. Hope this helps.

Do you have a computer that you can spare? If so, just a basic windows comp with PhotoSync companion and PhotoSync app on both iOS and Android. The apps can be scheduled to do nightly backup to your comp. PhotoSync has a one time payment plan and it has been working great for me. You can only view the photos and videos as files not as photo albums like on immich but for simple backup it is great

The answers for this will vary widely, but the thing I think many people overlook when planning out expenses is a plan to back up the data. Having the file server is great, but start planning now for what to do when it breaks. Where will backup copies of your data live and how will you restore it?
As to the server itself, the hardware completely depends on your desires. Some like second hand enterprise gear; others prefer purpose-made home NAS devices or a DIY rig. On the software side my thought is keep it simple if you’re starting up. There are good readymade options (TrueNAS, XigmaNAS, openmediavault, unraid, etc). They’re all great and they help get up and running quickly. They also have a lot of tempting knobs to turn that can cause unexpected problems if you don’t fully understand them.
To my mind file servers have to be reliable above all else, so I’d avoid running anything besides file sharing on your server until it’s running like a top and then only add more layers one at a time.
Sorry for all the philosophy, but I really do think this is a common stumbling block for people getting started.

The answer also depends on your level of experience and how much you want to learn doing this. You mentioned you haven't done this before, but are you otherwise comfortable using computers and figuring things out? Are you familiar with Linux and/or the command line? In addition, are you hoping to tinker around and learn a lot from this, or are you more concerned with just setting it up so you can use it?
There are options for all levels of expertise and technical interest, but I recommend starting with any hardware you already have or can aquire for cheap/free (especially if you're hoping to tinker and learn more). As another commenter suggested, finding an old desktop or laptop and putting a NAS operating system on it would be a great starting project. Then once you play around with it, you'll know if/where you want to spend some cash on something better. If you don't have old PCs laying around, check on whatever you use for local buy & sell listings, you can probably pick up something for pretty cheap.
If you're mostly looking to play around and you don't have any extra hardware, you can also try things out in a virtual machine (download VirtualBox), which will let you learn without any monetary investment.

Bit broad question but Sounds like a nas can be a way to go. Read up on raid and think about your backup strategy first.
(I use a synology nas with 4Tb disk at home that backups to an offsite readynas with 4x 4tb disks in raid config and encryption)

There are a ton of options, depending on what you have. In essence, a file server is really simple, you just need a computer with network access with sufficient storage. Here are options, from simplest to fanciest:
drive plugged into your router - simplest and most ghetto
drive that supports network access - slightly less ghetto
buy a NAS - more money and less freedom, but much simpler than DIY
old computer (laptop, Raspberry Pi, etc) that you have laying around with something like TrueNAS, NAS4Free or OpenMediaVault running on it
4, but with a general purpose OS on it (Debian, Fedora, etc) running some kind of file hosting software (samba, Nextcloud, Seafile, OpenCloud, etc)
4 or 5, but with new hardware
The costs can vary from free to thousands of dollars, depending on storage and compute needs and how far down the fancy scale you go (note: 3 is more expensive than 4, and comparable to 5).

12 comments