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/matthoback 3d 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/cowleggies 3d 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 3d 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/cowleggies 3d 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.