5 Reasons to Build Your Own Personal Home Server

The cloud is all the rage nowadays, but there are some practical reasons to host your own server.

Would you consider setting up a home server?

It may not be the easiest process in the world (depending on the type of equipment you use), but it's a fun way to repurpose your old hardware or improve your computing skills.

You can also do some cool things with your own server if you create one. To learn more about the benefits of building a personal server, keep reading.

1. Make a Server, Control Your Data

What's the point of having a home server when you can just use a service like Google Drive or Dropbox?

Data control is the most critical difference between home servers and third-party cloud services.

Contrary to popular belief, Google Drive et al. do not own the data you upload to the cloud. However, the companies retain a license to reproduce, modify, and create derivative works from your files.

In addition to domain administrators, legal entities, and affiliates, cloud providers can share your data. Those companies' privacy policies contain a disclaimer to that effect.

If you create your own server, you will still be able to benefit from on-the-go file storage without worrying about your privacy or security.

2. Setting Up a Home Server Isn't Expensive

It depends on your needs.

You could spend several thousand dollars on market-leading equipment to build your own server if you so desired. In addition to the upfront costs, ongoing electricity costs for all the cooling equipment and units would be significant.

An old laptop or a cheap piece of kit such as a Raspberry Pi can be used to make a home server.

When using old or cheap equipment, performance is the trade-off. Google and Microsoft host their cloud services on servers that can handle billions of queries per day.

You cannot compare your 10-year-old laptop to that level of performance. It may be sufficient if you only need to access a few files remotely. If, however, you want your personal web server to serve as a hub for your whole family or small business, then you might still need dedicated hardware.

3. Build a dedicated gaming server

Many of the most popular games on Steam allow you to run them on a dedicated server? The best use of a home server is probably for gaming.

Dedicated gaming servers offer a few advantages over rented servers or using someone else's server:

You can control and customize every aspect of gameplay.

Rather than waiting for another person/business to update the game, you are in control.

Enhanced stability and reduced risk to other players if your gaming machine needs to reboot in the middle of the game.

Minecraft, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress, and Call of Duty are some popular games you can run on your own server.

4. Back up your data to your server.

The importance of making backups of your data cannot be overstated. You don't want to lose access to many years' worth of data if your computer hardware dies or is involved in an accident.

It is ideal to have an offsite backup and an onsite backup. You will typically use either a cloud storage provider or a third-party online backup service for offsite backup. Many people use external hard drives, USB drives, or NAS drives for onsite backup.

It's possible, however, to argue that running a personal server is better than all those options. Compared to the most similar alternative -- NAS drives -- home servers are more customizable and (if you have old hardware you can use) cheaper.

In contrast, it is more difficult to set up a server than a NAS drive. Depending on the size of your server, it may also consume more electricity.

5. Make a Home Media Server

One reason to set up a home server is to act as a central hub for all your media.

Most people consume media through streaming services like Spotify and Netflix nowadays, but many people still have extensive collections of locally-saved music and videos.

You can access all your local media on any device in your house if you have a server. To easily manage your media and control playback, you can use a service such as Plex, Kodi, or Emby.

With Plex and Emby, you can even access your content on your server from anywhere with a few clicks. Setting up Kodi for the same purpose is possible, but significantly more complex.

Learn How.

It's fun, cheap, and offers a lot of benefits to set up a home server.

Although there are many more advantages than the ones we have discussed in this article, many of them will be unique to your situation and might not be apparent until you are up and running. You'll never know until you try!