Posted October 18, 2012
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http://pcengines.ch/alix1c.htm
I have mine setup with a normal i386 Debian Linux distro with SAMBA and OpenSSH services. I could have just as easily used Win XP Pro though. The file server can be used like a slow hard drive. I do all my backing up/ syncing with simple rsync scripts but there are plenty of rich GUI back-up programs.
I've found a file server or NAS starts becoming more convenient than external hard drives when you have several different computers to service and one hard drive is too small. Also, having a designated place for my data to live has been surprisingly valuable.