LAN / www FileServer ||| HTPC ||| software advice

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:24 am

I'm building a new PC, should be placing the order next week. (details in sig). now the question is.... what to do with the old system?

old system is allready almost completely silent, just need to order the passive VGA cooler together with the new PC. loudest component in both new and old system is the 250 gig seagate sata. now i was figuring i could put the old comp to a double use by a) using it as a HTPC, and more importantly b) reducing the storage capacity of the new pc to a 40gig 2.5" samsung and put all my big storage in the old comp in the basement.

my goal would be to stream music and videos directly off the basement comp with a click of the mouse, just as simple as it would be on the same HDD.

however i have next to no networking know-how, so i was wondering.... what sort of software do i use to do this?? i know of the OS server 03, but i have absolutely no idea whatit actually does. would that work, or do i have to use some kinda thingamajig?

i'd like the system to also run itself, as in while sitting next to it, and not just via ftp.

i'm probably not making much sence, since i don't know what i'm talking about right here, but i hope i've been able to get the idea across, so someone can make a suggestion.

OR, is this whole idea riddiculous, would i be better of (from a logistical standpoint) to throw the big drives into the new rig, and bear with em?

Ducky · Post by **Ducky** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:02 am

I assume, from your questions, that you are already running Windows of some type on the old system. If it's anything above Windows 3.1, I think, from your requirements, you just need to enable file sharing of the whole hard disk.

More explicitly, it'd be:

1. Make sure the two computers are in the same workgroup.
2. Make sure the two computers have different computer names.
3. Enable file sharing of the data drive(s) on the old computer.

Step by step, for Windows XP:

For both the new and old computer:
1. Right click "My Computer"
2. Select properties.
3. Click on the "Computer Names" tab.

Look at "Full Computer Name" and "Workgroup Name"

Make sure "Full Computer Name" is different, and "Workgroup Name" is the same. If not, Click on the "Change" button and change approiately.

After that, on the old computer:

1. Double click on "My Computer"
2. Right click on a drive you want to share
3. Select "Sharing and Security"
4. Check "Share this folder on the network" and "Allow Network Users to change my files"

Then, you can just click over to network neighborhood on the new computer and browse the old one like before.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:00 am

The above assumes you've run cat5 to the basement and have a LAN connection

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:32 am

well, yeah, i know that much

we have our whole house wired as it is, but i wanna swap to WLAN...

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:40 am

WLAN is a whole 'nuther can of worms adding a layer of complexity, but really not that painful to do.

Unless you want to broadcast your network to your neighborhood, remember to set your wireless router to stealth mode and to enable strong encryption. Your wireless router instructions can walk you through this.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:06 am

oh, i'm not that much of a networking noob, it's more the filesharing aspect i'm clueless about, since our LAN as of now consists of my winXP machine and my dad's linux machine. so it's a big enough pain in the butt to send one file.

but other than that i have a bit of an idea what i'm doing

thanks for the help though!