File/print server for home network?

In My Humble Opinion
1

What’s the best/cheapest/easiest way to get a file and print server for my home network?

For the first time in my life, I have something befitting the name “home network.” (Wireless LAN, Cable Modem, 2 Desktops, 2 laptops, TiVo). I’d like to have a little file server on the network to store music, pictures, and other files in one place that everyone can get to. It would be nice if it could handle the printer too (an hp psc 750), and easy backups would be a plus.

Right now, I’ve got the printer hooked to one of the desktops and shared, and scattered shared directories on the computers for files. I could just buy a big harddrive for the computer with the printer attached, leave it on all the time and call it done. But the fan is loud, and it probably soaks power to leave it on all the time, and that computer is about 6 years old (PIII-500Mhz, 128MB RAM, Win98) so it may not be that quick at serving files.

Alternately, I could build/buy a new PC to be the server, but that seems wasteful, money-wise, and has the same noise/power problems.

I’ve seen the cute little SimpleTech Drive here:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/SimpleTech-Office-Storage-Server-STI-NAS-160-/sem/rpsm/oid/134824/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

No fan, compact, sits right on the ethernet, and I assume is optimized for file serving in ways I really don’t want to dig into to replicate myself. But it doesn’t seem to do printer serving, being just a hard-drive, and it seems a bit pricey. (although it might make up for it in the long run on power consumption.) Any other company make a smaller one? or one that does printers too? (or is there an easy way to do a similar thing with my printer and plug it straight onto the network rather than to a PC via USB?)

What do other people do? thanks…

2

No responses? One bump… then I’ll let it drop…

3

OK, I’ll bite.

Whatever you choose for storage, make sure you have mirrorred or RAID 3 or RAID 5 disks.

And making a server isn’t a waste of money. It can be educational and cheap. Get yourself an old PC, stick in a RAID controller and two (or more) HDDs. Add Linux, Samba, and you’re set. Stick the box somewhere out of the way where any noise won’t matter, or replace the fans with quieter ones.

As for the printer, I forget where I read it, but this sort of device isn’t really supposed to be shared. If all you want is a shared printer, then perhaps a dedicated shared printer might be in order? Like a HP1320N? (But see my thread in the Pit)

4

There’s this, but it’s pricey too.

5

Most of the “all in one” printers are not directly sharable, but can be shared as something generic. Mine’s on my home net as an HP DeskJet 820C, for example.

6

This is definitely the best way to go. However, if you’re not comfortable with the idea of setting up a linux file server from scratch (possibly a daunting prospect), then consider the excellent SME Server open-source software.

It’s linux-based but setup is simple and straight forward, requiring no knowledge of *nix and it’s easily configured through your web browser. We use it in our small office as a gateway, firewall and file/print server.

7

If you want it to be a print server, I wouldn’t go with Linux myself. I’ve had a linux box for years, and have one right now serving ~1/3 TB of disk, being a firewall, webserver, and even have two webcams hooked to it for fun, but making it a print server was a total PITA.
It was running my discount Brother laser printer through CUPS for many months with no problem, but one day all it would do was use all my CPU and print an error message, and no amount of upgrading or re-configuration would help.

There do exist some standalone solutions you can hook a USB HD and printer to - perhaps one of those would fulfill your requirements?

8

yoyodyne’s link looks like exactly what I want, but Yowsah! That’s steep.

That’s pretty much what I want. Who makes them? What do they call them? I’m having trouble finding the right search terms.

In my younger days, I might have been intrigued by building a server from scratch, and I do want to play with linux at some point, but I’m leaning toward something drop-in due to time constraints…

9

Froogle might help - my search terms were mostly for usb print server, though all the ones I can find have a HD built in already (though many are under 300$, which might work for you).

10

Cheap, Easy, Good Lookin’

Pick two.

I’ve got a linux server serving files in the basement. It’s loud, but dependable. The Barebones case, MB, RAM, proc cost $150 after rebates. I’d purchased the drives seperately and used a video card I had lying about.

I’ve got an XP box in my home office the printers hang off of. Honestly, for the number of times my family needs to print, I should just power it off. I’m waiting for one of the printers to die to decide what to do there. (Money isn’t near as available as it used to be.)

A printer to ethernet/wifi adapter will cost in the neighborhood of $100. More than I want to spend, considering a color laser with ethernet interface is $400, and I paid $100 for the inkjet, and the B&W printer is, golly(!), nearly ten years old.

How often do you print?

11

I realize it does nothing as far as setting up a server, but Dell’s got a metric crapload of refurbished 3100cn color lasers on their outlet site for $239 each ($499 new). Ethernet is built in, they’re said to play will with XP and OSX, and at this price, buy two as that’s about half the price of a full set of replacement toner cartridges.

I never thought we’d see the age of disposable color laser printers!

12

But be warned, the thing weighs 72 lb!

As for network storage, NetGear SC101 seems to be the cheapest solution: ~$120 plus the cost of a standard hard drive. But as far as I can tell, it doesn’t act as a standard file server. You need to install device drivers on each PC to access this device, and drivers only support Windows 2000 and XP. And if you add the cost of a stand-alone print server you’re getting up to $200. Personally, I’d rather get a new or refurbished Windows PC to use as a server. A new Dell Dimension B110 with 160GB HDD and no monitor is $389, and you can add a second hard drive if necessary.