Plugging Away: DIY File Server Using Samba

"The Plug Computer is one of the latest products in the newly emerging micro-server market. It doesn't have a video card, keyboard, mouse, fan, or hard disk. It does have Gigabit Ethernet, a USB port, an SD card slot, a 1.2 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a matching 512 MB of solid state storage. The thing is accessed over the LAN using SSH. Oh, yes... it's about a quarter of the size of a brick and costs US$99 (development system version). Add an external disk and Samba for a simple, low-cost networked drive with a lot of potential.

"You can build your own, which is the subject of this article. Or, you buy one already set up to accept your external disk drive. Here are a couple of examples, before we launch down the DIY path.

* Cloud Engines PogoPlug: Just connect the Pogoplug to your home network and attach an external drive or memory stick. Then, go to the Pogoplug site and register your machine. A little setup program will run, you'll answer a few questions, and then the new drive will be available on your LAN or over the Internet.
* CTERA Cloud Plug: CTERA has a similar product that also features automated backups to their cloud.

"Let's see how you put your own system together."

Complete Story

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