Nas and HTPC running both Ubuntu, and Win7

[blank]

Well, not sure if a topic like this one have come up, atleast I have not found one..

here is the dream I am looking for..

a combined NAS/HTPC.

• Low power consumbtion (Very low at idle)
• Running Raid 5 with 5 or 6 drives
• running both Win7, and Ubuntu.
• Being able to play bitstream DTS HD Master (Ripped blu ray movies in ISO (Well.. atleast that is my idea to rip them in, dont know of any better or other solutions)
• playing 1080P abviously in mainly all formats.
• a working PHP/Apache/MySQL Server (With a descent performance)
• maybe also a asp.net/IIS server, just for fun.

Well. I will try to explain.

Low power consumbtion (Very low at idle)
Low power cons. needs no explanation. idle below about 40 watt's would be nice.

Running Raid 5 with 5 or 6 drives
Well.. I dont think that this need any explanation.
I would like to rip my full DVD/Blu ray to ISO or something loseless both sound and picture, no compromises.
so.. I believe that I've got around 250++ DVD's and 30++ Blu Rays so far, but off course this number will increase as time goes by.
Running Raid 5 is for my protection against having my websites saved on this, And I do not want to have extra backup.. the backup is running Raid 5.

Running two OS at once (one virtualized)
Windows 7, because I stream DRM protected WMA files to Sonos (a dlna music player)
Windows is maybe also the better choice for HTPC, dont know.
Ubuntu.. well.. I would believe that Linux is a better NAS server (dlna, working with harddrives in raid, and shares and more), and I know that Apache and MySQL on Linux works better than on Windows. (atleast last I tried, it worked alot better and faster correct me if your wrong.)

Bitstream blu ray sound..
Well.. I've got Hi-Fi equipment to handle this, but my PS3 do not handle it, so thinking of getting a HTPC instead of a stand alone Blu Ray player, and a DLNA movie player (Popcorn hour or so)
As I see it.. it gives me greater flexibilty, and a more future proof solution, because I can be sure that the codecs for either Linux or Windows will be made, so it is only a matter of hardware power, where a popcorn hour or other solutions like this, then I might get some delays before popcorn makes new software for there products, to support the new formats. (And isn't this actually the main reason to build a HTPC to start with..?

Playing FullHD movies.. well.. off course..

a working Apache server.. I want to be able to share pictures through DLNA, but also when viewing outside the house, then through a website like the Synology's Photo Station, in this case, it will be Drupal.
therefor apache/LAMP

the IIS is just for fun, I like to play with some different CMS systems, and some in asp.net are great, and some maybe better than drupal, so would like to be able to host/test them..

also, I make websites on spare time basis, so when I need to show of the work to my customers, I need a fast solution, and having a NAS running, that makes it cheaper to host the test server my self, than to buy/rent one.

so.. the main question..
Would the best solution for this, be having 2 computers running..?
one for NAS, and one for Media player (And sharing WMA DRM Files)

or is this actually a solution that is possible..?

does anyone have any experience with a build like this..?

and what would the main setup for this be..

I thought about the intel i3 processor due to the possibilty for 1080P and bitstream sound.
but as far as I have seen in benchmarks so far, the power cons. is rather high (probably due to the chipset/motherboards.)

Thanks in advance..

 

[sammynl]

I'd run VM Workstation ($$$) or VM Server (free) on Linux and create a Win7 VM. But that requires some RAM like 4GB, and best practice 2 NIC's so you dont have to NAT your Windows machine behind the Linux NIC, but offer it a dedicated NIC for streaming.