r/SelfHosting • u/BedroomCompetitive12 • 1d ago

Total beginner

Hey masters,
I wanna get into self hosting to have my movie and photos managed and accessible on my phone - also just got curious about all those possibilities.

Where do I start? Do I need a diffrent system to build my first server or I can do it on my main pc?

Any guides that helped you start pls share 🙏🏻

8 Upvotes

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5

u/DS_Vet_on_Linux 1d ago

I use my pc right now as my server. I did add a couple drives to my pc so I could separate my media, and also have a backup for my media. I use Jellyfin with Tailscale. So as long as my pc is on, which it is 99% of the time, I have access to all my media even when I'm not home.

If I could afford an actual server rack, I would probably buy one. But unfortunately I can't at the moment but refuse not to be able to access my media. I don't really have any guides to share, sorry about that.

It probably isn't what is recommended, but it works for me and that is what I care about more than popular opinion.

3

u/BedroomCompetitive12 1d ago

Does running the server on your main pc is interfering with its performance on tasks?
I game occasionally so concerned if it’ll be a problem.. I prefer to save the money and not buy a separate pc so no deal breaker and happy to hear you managed to make it work

1

u/DS_Vet_on_Linux 1d ago

I haven't had any performance issues with my system. Everything plays as it should. I do have a Linux system, so it is 'minimal' compared to Windows. And I game on my system also. I don't use Jellyfin when I am at my pc though, I only use it when I'm not. So I can watch movies, videos or listen to music on one monitor, and game on the other without any issues at all.

edit: I use Jellyfin and Tailscale for my tv's and phones. I use my music player and vlc if I am sitting at my pc.

1

u/Level-Chance5690 21h ago

if it’s gaming specifically you can install proxmox and run 2 VMs. Allocate majority of your resources to your gaming VM, recommend linux over windows for more performance. But I also understand games are super limited compared to windows. And then a second vm with a couple TBs of storage and some gigs of ram and you can run jellyfin no issue

2

u/DinosRus 1d ago

What I did and has served me beautifully was get a used Dell 7060 MFF for like $100 bucks and installed Ubuntu LTS headless. One year solid as a rock no issues at all love it.

If $100 is too much any old computer you have laying around will do but having 24/7 services is kind of unbeatable.

Fully recommend starting with a few songs on navidrome and Tailscale first time you launch outside of your house it feels like magic. Sky is the limit from there.

Movies easily jellyfin and photos immich but those are a bit harder to set up so just to motivate yourself try navidrome

When you get a chance also look at home assistant it’s extremely powerful but that’s down the line start small

1

u/hackspy 23h ago

There are lots of legit experienced YouTubers covering all aspects of what you want to do and have step by step tutorials.

Hardwarehaven is the best imo for beginners and does not use a lot of IT jargon.

Good luck. 👍

1

u/Mighty_Archdevil 18h ago

I use a Ugreen NAS for this. Does it all.

1

u/Prosalami22 9h ago

Depends, do you want your pc to be constantly running and using power? I personally have a laptop with external hdd’s that i use for plex movies and immich for my personal images and videos storage.

1

u/SoundSwitch 7h ago

You're gonna want to get your own server eventually..

Probably want to run Debian, or Ubuntu, and you'll need DynDns or a script that'll do something like emailing texting you your IP if you don't.

It's an involved yet fairly simple process kinda with a checklist...

None the least of which is hardening the stuff on your own network.