On 10/28/12 11:46, Marc Shapiro wrote: > Is there anything that speaks against keeping it? What is the make and model number of the 1 TB HDD? > ... there are three of us here. Myself, my wife and daughter.
... if the old box stays up as a server. If it does not, then the 1 TB drive goes into the new machine. As I mentioned to Stan, I am hoping that the old box will run OK as a server, without X and multiple logins. If so, then it will keep the old drive.
Most any recent x86 machine can be set up as a file server using Linux, *BSD, etc.. You might want to look for a NAS appliance FOSS distribution.
But, a local HDD in a new machine with sufficient RAM is going to be faster (and more practical) than the same HDD in an older machine set up as a file server (even with Gigabit Ethernet; Fast Ethernet is intolerable).
I'd put the 1 TB drive in the new machine, set it up as a file server, and give the old machine to your wife or daughter.
David