how to build a low-budget, energy efficient media server

[gmachine24]

I want to build a low-power server. I learned from a recent vacation that my computers eat up a lot more electricity than I thought.

I have an Ubuntu media server - I used this site several years ago to help build it. It has six drives, not counting the solid state drive with the OS. I have the drives set to "spin down" to save wear and $; still, the power supply is always on.

The server's main function is playing music files via SqueezeBox. It stores some movies and has some file back ups but these are a small part of its job. I guess the "no-duh" solution is . . . an energy efficient ps running some older hardware I *might* have sitting around.

But I'm wondering if I can get away with something like a Raspberry Pi.

I welcome any thoughts/suggestions. I have all computers set to sleep mode save the main one (this desktop) which is a dual-boot, Windows/Mint. I'm about to set it so it will sleep fairly quickly.

Thanks.