It's a good idea to begin anew, especially with Windows 10.
It's a good idea to begin anew, especially with Windows 10.
We changed our mediaserver to Windows 10 to improve speed. After using it for a day, the hard drives got encrypted with BitLocker, but no one did that. We lost more than 1TB of files. Our goal is to back up the unencrypted HDDs before we reinstall Windows 10 using the free upgrade option. The drives are in good condition, showing no bad sectors. We’re curious about the best settings for fast booting and overall performance. Although we hoped it would run smoother, it was still slow with all the old files remaining. Also, we want to switch to Windows 10 without any remnants of the previous operating system. One idea is to reinstall Windows 7 with the key on the machine and then force a free upgrade to Windows 10.
Ah, trouble with the BitLocker issue. Do you understand what caused it? If this machine is handling media files, switching to FreeFileManager might be wise—it helps block malware from encrypting drives. Performance should improve significantly compared to Windows, with less resource usage. You can run Plex inside a "jail" (a term used by FreeFileManager) as your media server, and it offers a user-friendly web interface for setup. It supports Windows, Linux, and macOS. I recommend backing up any data you can and clearing all drives carefully. You might restore one drive at a time, managing storage until everything is clean, but be cautious about restoring—otherwise the drives could revert to their previous state. Remember, FreeFileManager may need to wipe them anyway, giving you a Windows 10 license for another purpose. Regardless of your choice, this mixed configuration won’t leave you with a complicated backup system. I have three hard drives (two over five years) combined, which means if one fails, they all fail too.
Freenas might not be the best choice since my dad still uses it for school work. We also need several other functions like our FTP server, print server, play/plex, and RDP. The data loss isn’t massive—it mainly includes movies, TV shows, and family photos saved online. The only significant loss was the work my dad did on his laptop HDD. I’ve considered Freenas, but it seems simpler to stick with a PC that’s already in use.
If it serves another purpose, maybe not. Running a few virtual machines is also feasible using the free "jails" from freenas. Still, considering everything going on, I believe the slowdown comes from our current setup. What are the specifications of this machine? Windows might simplify things, but with all the existing issues, we might need a different strategy.