I have just received an old laptop:
HP Compaq 6715b
This laptop has no hard drive and I need to buy one. The HDD I buy will depend on the answers I can get here on setting up a NAS.
ATM I have a home PC upstairs connected to the netowrk with home plugs. I have the router downstairs which is directly connected to a PS3. I stream from the PC upstairs using PS3 Media server, although some larger 3GB video files tend to stutter when streaming and often I just copy them to a memory stick to play in the PS3.
I am wondering what the advantages of using a NAS would be (installing FreeNas to the laptop)?
1. A 500-750GB harddrive would be big enough for all my photos/videos etc, would any HDD do? I read that older laptops (with older chipsets) might not be able to handle bigger hard drives?
2. How would this laptop perform at streaming/serving 1080p/720p video files? Any ideas?
3. I was considering just plugging the laptop directly into the router if using as a NAS. Would this be feasible?
4. Any way to setup VPN access so I can access my data from elsewhere?
5. Anything else I should consider? Any other uses for NAS or laptop?
If I don't decide to go for the NAS - I will just buy a cheap 80GB HDD and put Ubuntu on it and use it for surfing etc.
Thanks for helping me work this out..
HP Compaq 6715b
This laptop has no hard drive and I need to buy one. The HDD I buy will depend on the answers I can get here on setting up a NAS.
ATM I have a home PC upstairs connected to the netowrk with home plugs. I have the router downstairs which is directly connected to a PS3. I stream from the PC upstairs using PS3 Media server, although some larger 3GB video files tend to stutter when streaming and often I just copy them to a memory stick to play in the PS3.
I am wondering what the advantages of using a NAS would be (installing FreeNas to the laptop)?
1. A 500-750GB harddrive would be big enough for all my photos/videos etc, would any HDD do? I read that older laptops (with older chipsets) might not be able to handle bigger hard drives?
2. How would this laptop perform at streaming/serving 1080p/720p video files? Any ideas?
3. I was considering just plugging the laptop directly into the router if using as a NAS. Would this be feasible?
4. Any way to setup VPN access so I can access my data from elsewhere?
5. Anything else I should consider? Any other uses for NAS or laptop?
If I don't decide to go for the NAS - I will just buy a cheap 80GB HDD and put Ubuntu on it and use it for surfing etc.
Thanks for helping me work this out..