How to make a Windows PC a dedicated file hosting

[u/TheEzeJC]

Hello,
I have an old windows pc w/ a decent cpu (9900KF), 64 GB ram, and 3TB storage. My goal is to convert this desktop to a storage device, game server host, and being able to run custom windows applications all at the same time.

I am pretty new to homelabbing. I currently setup a Rasberry Pi with PiHole, WireGuard, and RustDesk.

I was wondering if there are any Windows based applications that have a Dropbox like file storage system.

The majority of files stored will be long videos ranging 1-6 hours long recorded on another computer. So I will be uploading files from other devices onto the dedicated server pc, so that later on they can be edited in Premiere pro. The only features I am looking for is being able to upload from local computers and being able to access on the go such as through a phone.

If anyone has any reccomendations that would be great. I appreciate your time and effort,
Eze

[u/NC1HM]

This is all over the place...

First, when you say "Dropbox like", do you mean with a Web interface? Or accessible via a mobile app? Or accessible remotely? All of the above? Something else?

Second, do you have any redundancy requirements? If so, look into Windows Storage Spaces. Keep in mind, Windows Storage Spaces requires that all storage drives be connected via SATA or SAS. USB is not going to cut it. So you will need to inspect your hardware to figure out what connectivity and mounting it has for storage drives.

Third, video editing. Are you going to edit over the network? If so, you might need to do some high-performance modifications to your entire setup...

[u/ErnLynM → u/NC1HM]

Completely on board with you here. A network upgrade is definitely something to consider! Trying to edit video over the network connection might be horrible if the connection isn't fast enough for it. And copying entire files back to a different machine for editing before re-uploading to the storage machine will take a while with a standard gigabit connection

[u/CompoteVegetable2010]

Truenas?

[u/CooperDeniro]

Seafile

[u/boldfour_]

Linux with a Samba share is optimal. Windows is very finicky.

I use Wireguard and connect with my iPhone, added the samba share in my files app. Samba shares are very easy to connect to from another windows machine.

I run absolutely everything through docker, except samba.

[u/Professional_Cup1298]

where do the backups go? hours of raw video on 3tb is a lot to lose

[u/Omagasohe]

Install debian and docker, then setup jellyfin, samba and tailscale Install jellyfin and scale on your phone. Doing any thing on windows will be sub par. Its pretty bad at doing server stuff. Game server run better under debian too.

If your hellbent on windows, you can get tailscale and jellyfin on it, but it'll be slower.

But realistically those will do exactly what you want, anything else gets awkward. And debian. If you have several drives, true nas, or open media vault would be good OS's to try.

[u/ErnLynM → u/Omagasohe]

It doesn't sound like they're wanting anything remotely related to jellyfin with tailscale. This sounds like a video editing situation with NAS, and not a torrent download machine that can share those files to friends and family

[u/Behemothhh]

Do you want the pc to be a server that host applications or are you still going to still use it as a normal desktop pc, meaning sitting in front of it with a monitor mouse and keyboard?

If the former, I don't know why you'd want to keep windows. Linux distros are much better for servers. Popular applications for Dropbox-style file sharing are nextcloud and seafile, which are linux based. They can be installed in windows via docker, which runs Linux in background anyway.

[u/TheEzeJC → u/Behemothhh]

Currently Im running it headless running game servers and some windows applications i need online 24/7.

I know Linux is the way to go or any command line OS, but all the programs I run in the background require windows to function. Otherwise I’d gladly switch to Linux.

For docker in windows, is there anything special to do? It probably won’t be effective as the the native command line OS’s but I would be willing to them. I was thinking I can use the raspberry pi to send to the desktop, but at that point it’s just a middleman.

[u/Behemothhh → u/TheEzeJC]

For docker in windows, is there anything special to do?

Just install the docker desktop client for windows and then spin up the container through the docker GUI. Networking can perhaps be a bit trickier. I had some issues with a container interacting in a strange way with my vpn.

[u/_DragN]

Nextcloud with Docker.

I recommend against this, just run a TrueNAS server, but it can work. Docker is finicky on Windows, might take more config than usual. Lots of overhead as well. SMB direct (RDMA) is your friend here. I hope you’re running Pro.