[willystyle]

I am planning to build a personal file server for primarily home use (occasionally, over the web). It will be used as storage to facilitate large files; such as, movies and music. Unfortunately, I've never built a file server before, so I don't know where to begin.

Here are some features that I've taken into consideration.

I will be using Windows Server 2003 as the OS, unless there are better options out there?

Backing up files won't be necessary as they are just multimedia files.

The biggest issue will be connectivity because I want it to be wireless, and if possible, be capable of streaming media off the server. What is the best and most effective way to achieve this? "G" network is too slow for SMB transfer, and "N" is not fully developed yet (How long would it take to transfer a 1gb file within ur own network with "N"?), what about Power over Ethernet?

I am planning to use my old computer as a file server, and just purchase new parts where it's needed like HDs and fans; therefore, would a AMD 3800+ Dualcore with 2gb of RAM be enough processing power to serve 2 clients simultaneously? or should I just build a new one from scratch?

That's all I can think of for now. I am open to suggestions. Thanks!