How to make a home server?

[CyberBlade]

I want to make a home server and connect to with my router(wifi). Through which I want to directly stream movies, musics, images, documents, etc. wirelessly without internet through router on any device connected to the router. These files will be stored in the storage of server. I don't want to cast the screen of the server and stream. Only want to see the files stored in the server and watch them directly with a special software. Please help how can I do so?

 

[kanewolf]

A commercial NAS unit will be the fastest setup. If you have an existing motherboard/CPU that can support 8GB RAM, then you could build a FreeNAS box.

Wireless video streaming might work for one device, but trying to stream video wirelessly to multiple devices is usually a bad idea.

 

[CyberBlade]

Actually I don't know anything about it. Even I don't know what is NAS or FreeNAS box. To make a home server suddenly stuck in my mind that if it's possible for me to watch a movie from it and my sister is watching another movie on her phone.

Yes I have some old parts like:--

GIGABYTE H61M-S motherboard
Intel G2030 3 GHz
A stick of 2 GB and 8 GB RAM
500GB HDD
an old case.

Can you guide me how to make it.

 

[kanewolf]

A commercial NAS would be something like this -- https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS216 It is a pre-built appliance that you put disks into and share it on your network. Very quick and easy.

FreeNAS is an O/S that is intended for network storage. You create a desktop PC but instead of installing Windows you install FreeNAS as the OS.

 

[CyberBlade]

So for setting up freeNAS. I will have to do the same as I am building a PC. But after installing it what should I do. How can I access the files wirelessly from other devices.

 

[kanewolf]

You create logins to the server, and setup folders that those users can access. To access media off a server you need to have software running on it like plex or similar. Here is an article on things to do with FreeNAS -- http://www.freenas.org/blog/5-fun-things-to-do-with-freenas/

 

[CyberBlade]

Thank you so much for helping. Just say one thing why it's a bad idea to stream on multiple devices simultaneously? And is there any complete tutorial how to setup and getting started with freeNAS?

 

[boosted1g]

I dont think anyone said it was bad to stream to multiple devices simultanously. they only said that your NAS/server should not be wireless.

FreeNAS is a little more tailored to that setup but you can stream media via windows just fine as well.
You simply need an operating system, hard drives to store your media, and then other devices can either access it through normal file shares or by having a media server software on PC and media client software on each device.
The built in windows media player can even create DLNA media sharing that most devices can see and access

 

[CyberBlade]

I actually want to stream movies on my Android phone. How can I do this?

 

[kanewolf]

I actually want to stream movies on my Android phone. How can I do this?

You can do that with either a commercial NAS or a FreeNAS server or even a Windows PC. The problem with streaming via WIFI is that you may not have enough bandwidth. 5Ghz WIFI is better for streaming. 2.4Ghz can have trouble streaming 1080p.

 

[boosted1g]

I actually want to stream movies on my Android phone. How can I do this?

There is a 1001 ways to stream a movie from a home server/NAS to android phone.
you can use file explorer to browse network shares, plex server/client software, kodi on android, use windows media player or other DLNA/UPnP software on widnows and then UPnP software on android, etc, etc.

Now how big of movie do you plan on streaming? If you want to stream a full uncompressed blu-ray movie (so 35-50GB) then yoru wifi connection my be insufficnet.. If you want to stream a good quality h264 compressed film (so 12-18GB) then you will need a higher end android phone with at least 2gb memory and a good wifi chip in it.

 

[CyberBlade]

I will stream 360p, 480p and 720p (the maximum). And the maximum size of the movie will be 2GB. And I have a Samsung J5 Prime it has a 2GB RAM. Can you suggest a better process to do so?