File Server & Linux
 

My pc just died on me and its currently formatting as it refused to boot, think the C drive is dead :(

this brings me to my other hard drives, i have 4 in total on my main pc totaling about 850 gig. which i don't really want to lose (again) so i thought about putting them in to an old p3 machine that will just be used to host the files on my home network..

Being a windows type of guy I know windows will just be slow and i'll get pissed off with it soo linux poped in to my head!

Anyone recommend a Linux package that can be used to act like a file server, I know the will all be able to but i am used there are ones just for this sort of thing?

I'm looking at ubuntu because i've heard thats easy to use and understand

(Never used linux)


Cheers guys!

Ubuntu is probably the best turnkey solution, the only reservation is that wireless networking with some cards is tricky.

Can you not ghost the drives onto external (firewire) drives?

There are quite a few you could play with. If you want a basic, easy to use system with a good package manager I suggest looking up the following:

Ubuntu/Kubuntu
Mandrake
OpenSuSE/SuSE
Fedora

If you want to play and learn why not try the following:

Gentoo (My fave distro)
Debian

If you want to build your entire OS, try:

LFS: Linux From Scratch

Thought about putting them in to some external caddies but don't really want to spend any more plus don't have loads of hard drives kicking around on my desk :(

Thanks for your advice guys, going with ubuntu as some other mates have recommended it as well :P