You could, but the real problem becomes that such a task would probably be more efficiently filled by some kind of NAS device, which would probably use less power and be more reliable over the long term.
Like many people, I've got an XP desktop that I'm going to replace soon, with a laptop.
Rather than just scrapping it, I was wondering if it made sense to turn it into a server, perhaps using the Linux o/s?
I was wondering if I could then use it to store music and photos, as well as some files that my wife and I share occasionally.
Also, would it be sensible to use some of the disk capacity to backup documents from the new laptop?
Or is this just a daft idea?!

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