I have my father’s old work PC (one of those Fujitsu Siemens models) from yesteryears. It features:

  • OS: Ubuntu 23.04
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 (I forgot the clock speed in GHz).
  • RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1600MHz (Single Channel).
  • Storage: 128 GB SSD (installed in 2020) & 1 TB HDD (also installed in 2020).
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 (or was it GTX?).

I am considering using it as a file server since my laptop only has a 256 GB SSD, and I need more space to store my files on the old PC. But the question is, do I need a home server? When is a home server necessary?

Any sources or information on how to set up a file server with a PC would be greatly appreciated.

Vocabulary and Grammatical Errors were improved and fixed by ChatGPT because English is my 2nd Language

  • Lucky
    81·
    11 months ago

    Don’t let lack of knowledge ever be the reason to stop trying something in homelabs! Honestly for a beginner resource ChatGPT is where I’d go for these kinds of questions. It does a great job explaining what all the terms mean and you can drill down into topics as needed such as permissions and different terminal commands you’ll need

    Anyways, this link has a decent description of samba:

    https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-and-configure-samba#1-overview

    A Samba file server enables file sharing across different operating systems over a network. It lets you access your desktop files from a laptop and share files with Windows and macOS users.

    So as long as a computer is on the network it could access files stored on this hard drive. It is super useful as a first homelab project

    • EamonnMR@lemmy.sdf.org
      4·
      11 months ago

      It’s what I use for my home server and it’s great. You can even use VLC to stream music and stuff via samba.