Building a home streaming server. Need opinions on OS and streaming apps

Software & Operating Systems
#1

Hello,

I have a PC lying around with the following specs:

  • Core i5 - 3570
  • 8GB RAM
  • 120 GB SSD
  • Two free SATA slots that I will use for 2x 2TB HDDs

I want to to turn this PC into a home server / NAS but I don’t know what OS to use. I wouldn’t mind installing a linux distro on it, but I already have a Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 license due to student offers.

Kodi and Plex are also new things to me. I will use it to stream media to my Sony Android TV and my windows PC, which are on the same network. Streaming to my phone would be a nice bonus, but not really mandatory.

Any OS recommendations or personal experience when dabbling with these applications would be very welcome.

#2

FreeNAS 11, freenas has builtin Plex Media Server as plugin, personaly using it, easy setup.