Windows Home Server 2011 vs Win 10 Pro

[Genes Pentax]

I've got an old laptop I'm thinking about using to set up as a file server at home. Wondering which OS may be better. I have both.

Basically, it's a Dell laptop with Intel i5 processor and 8GB RAM + 128GB SSD. So, plenty fast enough for either OS. Planning on plugging in a bunch of external drives to run it was a file server for home/home office use.

What would be some pros and cons of using one OS vs the other?

Thank you.

 

[Mickey67]

What is the difference? 7 years

one is supported one is not, no reason to install 2011 server at all.

If you plan on using plex, dropbox etc support for windows 10 is much better.

the only downside fow win10 is the constant stream of updates. It has hyper v which is great as well as

 

[tcg550]

How about neither?

You could try FreeNAS.

 

[Genes Pentax]

I've got an old laptop I'm thinking about using to set up as a file server at home. Wondering which OS may be better. I have both.

Basically, it's a Dell laptop with Intel i5 processor and 8GB RAM + 128GB SSD. So, plenty fast enough for either OS. Planning on plugging in a bunch of external drives to run it was a file server for home/home office use.

What would be some pros and cons of using one OS vs the other?

Thank you.

I decided to go with Home Server 2011. It's running quite smooth. I think it actually works better than Win 10 Pro. I tried Win 10 Pro for a few weeks by just using one of the existing home computers, but for some reason, don't think it worked as well. Perhaps it's because I just don't know the technical stuff much.

One thing about the Home Server 2011 though is that I had to put in a bigger HD. 128GB wasn't enough for the OS's minimum requirement. Even though the actual OS size is rather small once installed, it created a separation partition for server data. So, it seems like that's the reason WHS 2011 required a bigger drive. I used an old 160GB SSD and after installing the OS, it created a 100GB partition for data.

It's been a bit over 2 weeks now and working well.

 

[BobSC]

I decided to go with Home Server 2011. It's running quite smooth. I think it actually works better than Win 10 Pro. I tried Win 10 Pro for a few weeks by just using one of the existing home computers, but for some reason, don't think it worked as well. Perhaps it's because I just don't know the technical stuff much.

Good choice. I set up a budget "server" with Win 10 and it just didn't work.

Since then I've replaced it with Linux and it's been pretty stable.