Really Really New to NAS & FreeNas - Need Direction

[MikeyMike]

I think I would like to have access to my home Buffalo Nas via web, etc. I have a Dell PC setup currently as my Plex media server with 500 gig drive / 16 gig ram. I have a standalone Buffalo NAS unit (4 drive raid system) installed.

So so much info here so totally unsure where to / how to start. See stuff about booting off of usb, etc.
If I do this, I am not going to format my OS disk (Win 7 pro) and loose my current setup.

Is there anyone willing to uhhhh tutor me, offer me direction, be my mentor that I can bounce questions etc
sort of look over my should if you will...ha ha.

Appreciate it folks

MikeyMike

 

[L]

There is a really nice video for this

 

[danb35]

What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish, and how to you think FreeNAS fits in with that? I ask because I don't see a way that FreeNAS will do anything to make data on another NAS device web-accessible. If you're talking about your media being accessible over the web, you could do that using the Plex plugin, but you're already running Plex on your Windows PC, so I don't see that FreeNAS will really give you new capabilities there either.

FreeNAS requires a dedicated computer to run--you can't run it side-by-side with Windows or some other OS, and it's really designed to run 24/7. If you don't have (or aren't willing to buy) a fairly high-spec computer (see the sticky thread for hardware recommendations in the hardware forum) that you're willing to dedicate to FreeNAS, it may not be the thing for you.

 

[MikeyMike]

I thank you for the info...I think in a nutshell...you answered my question(s). Thank you.... so that I did not put in equipment/time just to re-accomplish what I am doing already with plex. That being said, any recommendations to use my current Win 7 OS (with Plex installed) but having my standalone Buffalo NAS box attached to access it web...etc?

 

[danb35]

I'm afraid I'm still not clear on what exactly you're trying to accomplish. Is your goal to be able to log in to your home NAS via the web from a remote location? And then be able to view/upload/download/manage the files on that home NAS? If that's your goal, it's going to be tricky, particularly if you care about being at all secure (which you should). Your best bet may be to replace your home NAS unit with a different model that supports this directly, through a secure web portal. It looks, for example, like the Buffalo Linkstation Pro series supports this directly (though I'm just basing this on what their web site says).