Skip Navigation
Data Hoarder @selfhosted.forum BeefNChed @alien.top
BOT

Absolute beginner, looking for advice on getting started

I'm trying to start things up and really not sure what to do next and would really appreciate any advice!

My main goal is offline information and media storage. I don't have too much to start out with at the moment so working with mostly a blank slate. Work is getting rid of old equipment, so I've got the basics. I have 2 desktops now (aside from my main personal laptop), both older Dells, Optiplex 390 & 7010 pretty much blank slate. I also picked up 4x 1TB HDDs, and 5x 500GB SSDs. They were all free so I just grabbed as much as I could. I've upgraded the drives in my 390, on the 7010 done nothing other than download Windows 10 for now. I'm not exactly computer illiterate, but this is a layer of complexity deeper than I am accustomed to and I am definitely out of my element.

Ok so what do now?

What OS should I use?

What Software should I get for actually storing, managing, and accessing this stuff?

What should I do with the SSDs?

Think my starting idea on all this is stuff like saving Wikipedia, iFixit, handbooks, cookbooks, maps, guides, etc. Then starting to save media, songs, books, movies/tv, whatever. First thoughts are to use one desktop for work stuff and less permanent storage, then the 390 for larger storage and more of a classic 'home computer' type like when I was younger. Not in any hurry to get all this accomplished right away, but looking for the next steps I should be taking and what direction I should be going. Any and all advice is welcome!

3
3 comments