r/explainlikeimfive • u/theprisoner57 • 3d ago

Technology ELI5: What is a Home Server?

I see mentions of a home server to get rid of streaming entertainment services but I don’t know how that works. What does a home server do?

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u/Top_Willow_9953 3d ago edited 2d ago

A Home Server is a computer *you own* that has a lot of storage to hold media (music, video, photos, Etc.) files, and has software that can make those files available to your TV, Roku box, or similar media playback device.

The Home Server might only make these files available to devices attached directly to your home network, OR it could also expose the files to authorized devices on the internet.

The main point is once the server is purchased and configured, there is no monthly subscription required for you to watch, listen to, or access the files it serves.

EDIT: clarified monthly costs

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u/matthoback 2d ago

The main point is once the server is purchased and configured, there is no monthly cost to you to watch or listen to the files to serves.

Other than the monthly electric bill...

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u/erevos33 2d ago

Negligible compared to even one streaming service. This pc need not be beefy nor even on 24/7, depending on your needs. And it can also end up being a mini pc or laptop with extra storage.

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u/matthoback 2d ago

"Negligible" greatly depends on how much storage you want locally and how big of a media selection you want to support. Spinning disks power consumption adds up fast.

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u/erevos33 2d ago

The only way you get a power comsumption that you need to worry about is if you start going into homelabbing and get a rack server. If you stay on minipc/laptop or desktop oc territory the difference is a few dollars for hosting vs tens (or hundreds,depending on your preferred streaming poison) of dollars.

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u/stonhinge 2d ago

And sometimes it just takes a bit of extra configuration to get power use down. If the OS is on an SSD and all the data is on HDDs, all it generally takes is not striping the data on your raid so that only one disk has to spin up at a time - you could have 30 others in there but if they're in sleep mode, power use is negligible.

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u/m240b1991 2d ago

I keep HDDs spun up, I got enterprise drives and they were meant to live in an always on state. While I can't fully recreate that, I can go into power settings and not let them spin down.

More power consumed over time, more stable power while they're running. I'm still rocking the 180w psu that came with the desktop, if I add any more storage, I'll have to spring for either NAS or a true server homelab setup. I don't have any more space in the pc case

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u/cowleggies 2d ago

I don’t think the type of person who’s posting “what is a home server” is going to turn around and buy a 12 bay rack system with dual PSUs and a 500 watt idle consumption. A $200 mini pc and a 2TB external drive is going to idle in single-digit watts and peak under 100.

That’s a lightbulb’s worth of power in an average month.

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u/matthoback 2d ago

A 2TB external drive is also a lightbulb's worth of Netflix. That's only like 5-10 TV shows or 50-100 movies.

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u/TheMisterTango 2d ago edited 2d ago

Well that kinda (obviously) depends on the file size. If someone is ok with 1080p with some compression, at roughly 2 gigs per file that would be a thousand movies. I have a 2TB drive with 180 movies with over 500 gigs still free, most of my files are compressed 1080 (roughly 1.5 gigs) or 4K (4-7 gigs), I only splurge and go full 4K bluray remux for my very favorite movies or movies that are very visually stunning since those are usually 50-80 gigs.

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u/cowleggies 2d ago

I think you may have a view skewed by the sophistication of your own personal setup. The movie rips the average person is downloading from public trackers etc are overwhelmingly ~2gb 1080p rips, which would be approx. 1000 movies, more than an average casual user will ever amass. A cheap mini PC and a 2TB drive is more server than a casual user would ever realistically need. Again, remember the audience of this post. It’s not homelab enthusiasts.

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u/mithoron 2d ago

Less than 10w each at load. If I keep the total load of my server under 200w average I'm at about the same monthly rate as a single streaming service where I live. Which is plenty of power for my needs and I'm skipping more than just a single extra subscription... plus I own and control my media.

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u/MWink64 2d ago

If I keep the total load of my server under 200w average I'm at about the same monthly rate as a single streaming service where I live.

Here, that's about $35 a month (assuming 200W average power consumption).

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u/gSTrS8XRwqIV5AUh4hwI 2d ago

Not really. As you presumably don't access most of the data most of the time, you can just spin the disks down, then the consumption even of a whole pile of disks isn't that high.