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Ask Slashdot: Building a Home Media Center/Small Server In a Crawlspace?
An anonymous reader writes "I've decided it's time for me to build a separate machine specifically for use as a Media Center/Small Home Server. My wife and I haven't had cable TV in years, instead relying entirely on Netflix, other streaming sites, and hard copies we've bought over the years. Having just finished ripping our entire media collection (CDs, DVDs, and even our vinyls and VHS with the help of a capture card and some sweet digital voodoo) to a couple HDDs, I'm feeling froggy. Up until now we've been using WDTV Live, and it's been pretty snazzy, but I want to upgrade to a dedicated media machine instead of piggybacking off of my office computer. It'll be a Windows based machine utilizing Plex, and it's going in the crawlspace of the house. The crawlspace in question is unfinished, but I do have a dry concrete slab down there where I can put/mount/assemble something. Cooling won't be an issue obviously, and I am keeping a close eye on hardware specs with regards to moisture. It is still a crawlspace though. What would be a good setup to to house the hardware? Priorities being to safeguard against moisture, vermin, and dirt. Modified PC Tower? Rack? Build an enclosure? Something I haven't considered?
Please assume I'm stubborn and absolutely dead-set on putting it in the crawlspace to avoid the discussion devolving into the 'best' place to put a media machine." Do you have a question to Ask Slashdot? Fire away, with details, using our submissions form.
Please assume I'm stubborn and absolutely dead-set on putting it in the crawlspace to avoid the discussion devolving into the 'best' place to put a media machine." Do you have a question to Ask Slashdot? Fire away, with details, using our submissions form.
My advice would be to reconsider the location - apologies for not supplying any insight to your request, but I think the approach is questionable. A crawlspace isn't a great place for a PC and while I'm sure there is a way to make it work, it seems a lot of effort. Maintenance issues will occur more often in a poor environment, and if you need physical access you're getting into your crawlspace. I say this as I put a pc into our roof in an old comms cabinet dumped from work, and it was a pain to get access to. In the end I replaced it with a nice looking case with good air flow and no fans and putting the system below the TV. It hummed, but it was ok.