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Western Digital playing kinda loose with your privacy

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tranglos:
So I'm all into the DIY thing now.  I don't care if it's more expensive, or more work, or whatever.
-superboyac (September 23, 2012, 09:07 PM)
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I totally understand your approach, though myself, as I get older, I seem to be going in the opposite direction: no tinkering for me, just let me buy and use the packaged thing that works. (Though I still do and will continue to build my own computers from parts.)

Plus, could you DIY your way to a NAS drive? I really like/need (not sure which :-) having access to all my files from any computer at home, and my phone or laptop when I'm away, plus a media player in the room with the TV, which happens to be the room with no computer in it. I like it better than any cloud service that could replace the NAS, anyway.

superboyac:
Plus, could you DIY your way to a NAS drive?
-tranglos (September 23, 2012, 10:19 PM)
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This has actually been something I've been working on for a couple of years.  I think it's very possible, but all the methods I know of are more of a hassle than what it's worth (to most people, not me).  First, it's totally possible with standard equipment.  The main complication is getting a box that can hold an abnormal amount of hard drives, like more than 6.  And that's only if you have a large movie collection or something like that.  Otherwise 1-2TB is plenty for most people.

Now, getting the flexible connectivity you mention is a little finicky.  Most of the tools out there to help with this are of the "corporate" variety and are terribly expensive.  I had a WingFTP license donated to me, which helped me find a solution that works with a simple installer right out of the box.  It gives me access to all my files through any method: web access, ftp, sftp, ftps, android/iphone, etc.  very slick.  I wrote a review here:
http://aram.dcmembers.com/professional/software/wing-ftp-server/

Now, the problem with wingftp and anything like that is that you will be limited to your isp upload speed, which is usually pretty abysmal unless you have FIOS or a commercial account.  So if you need that sort of speed, you'd need a legit cloud server, but then you lose control and privacy, which is the whole point of all this.

One of the main reasons I'd want fast upload speeds is to be able to stream or copy a huge video from a remote location.  But that's not hugely important right now, although it would be awesome (and mean independence from netlfix, etc.).  I don't see this being an option for normal citizens any time soon.  So I'll give that one up.  But i can still get all my docs and everything, and not worry about the 2GB dropbox limit or something.

As for home network use, it's beautiful.  You're only limited by your wifi speed, which is (supposedly) plenty for streaming 1080p.  But I haven't tried that yet.  And there's a new Linux distro out that is specifically for setting up a very easy and powerful file server exactly for streaming media and sharing files.

So I'm in the middle of all this now.  But before I begin experimenting, i need to build this hard drive box first.  And I've been working on that for several months.  I hope to start purchasing the parts in a month or two.

Shades:
FreeNAS would be a proper solution for either superboyac and Tranglos. There are several people here that have implemented such a server and as far as I can tell they all are (very) happy with it. It's free, based on Linux and runs nicely on practically any old PC that you have lying around.

Renegade:
FreeNAS would be a proper solution for either superboyac and Tranglos. There are several people here that have implemented such a server and as far as I can tell they all are (very) happy with it. It's free, based on Linux and runs nicely on practically any old PC that you have lying around.
-Shades (September 24, 2012, 10:20 AM)
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I'm running FreeNAS now, and it's fantastic! +1 there

superboyac:
FreeNAS would be a proper solution for either superboyac and Tranglos. There are several people here that have implemented such a server and as far as I can tell they all are (very) happy with it. It's free, based on Linux and runs nicely on practically any old PC that you have lying around.
-Shades (September 24, 2012, 10:20 AM)
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I'm running FreeNAS now, and it's fantastic! +1 there
-Renegade (September 24, 2012, 10:21 AM)
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thanks guys.  I'll have to check this out over VM.  also planning on trying out centos, windows server, and this on cloudos thing i need to find.  The key for me will be drive pooling capabilities.

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