Great price for a great product. My primary HD bricked about 6 weeks ago and fortunatley the auto backups by the WHS saved my bacon and all my files (including all the pictures of our new twins!) Works great for streaming movies to my Xbox & running Squeezecenter for my Duet & Boom. Four bays for HDs in the front make adding space a breeze. I HIGHLY recommend WHS.
I too got in on the last deal. Great little server. Install seemed to stop at about 34% but just be patient it is updating the OS on the server. Everything went well for me even though I canceled the install a few times when it appeared to lock up. Highly recommend this server.
fatnorm99
Member
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 6:13a
Thanks OP. I'm considering this or the acer easystore. With the coupon, the acer is $10 less at the moment. The reviews on the HP make me a little nervous. I'm thinking the acer is the way to go, just need it to go on sale like it did a few weeks back.
It's true that it is not a NAS; however, since you can access it from any of your computers on your intranet and use it for data storage, it functions the same as an NAS.
I have the Acer and love it. Got it for $350 at Microcenter. Reports are that the next version of home server OS will only be 64 bit so make sure your processor can support it.
cmrivera said: It's true that it is not a NAS; however, since you can access it from any of your computers on your intranet and use it for data storage, it functions the same as an NAS.
Well, sure, it has functions of a NAS. But it also does MORE than a NAS. I think OP's point was just that; that it is MORE than a NAS.
I have the EX490 (new from eBay for $400 shipped) and I love it. Plug & go for me and it's been backing up my wired & wireless systems nicely. Now, I have to get a redundancy solution to make sure the backed-up data do not get hosed. Backups of backups. Anyone here have a good setup you can share?
gipson said: This is NOT a NAS! and seems perfect for a home with multiple PC.
Well, it is actually a NAS since NAS simply means Network Attached Storage and this is what it is. It does a lot more is another things and is pretty full featured, but most NAS do that.
I believe you meant to say it is not RAID-NAS, which is true since this device does not do RAID.
jhiggins8 said: I have the EX490 (new from eBay for $400 shipped) and I love it. Plug & go for me and it's been backing up my wired & wireless systems nicely. Now, I have to get a redundancy solution to make sure the backed-up data do not get hosed. Backups of backups. Anyone here have a good setup you can share? These support backing up on Amazon S3, so if you want real redundancy you may want to look into that since that not only saves data to another disk, it also does at another location.
kazanjig said: cmrivera said: It's true that it is not a NAS; however, since you can access it from any of your computers on your intranet and use it for data storage, it functions the same as an NAS.
Well, sure, it has functions of a NAS. But it also does MORE than a NAS. I think OP's point was just that; that it is MORE than a NAS.
jjct1 said: What are the best add-ins to install on WHS?
I just got any EasyStore from Frys for $329. Cool little device.
Lights Out is a must - it does a great job of managing the server uptime based on your needs.
vladgur
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 1:26p
fatnorm99 said: Thanks OP. I'm considering this or the acer easystore. With the coupon, the acer is $10 less at the moment. The reviews on the HP make me a little nervous. I'm thinking the acer is the way to go, just need it to go on sale like it did a few weeks back.
My opinion is that if you intend to only use it as a plain vanilla media server/backup the atom-based system will suffice. However if you ever decide to get any advanced functionality going on it(read, on demand transcoding -- Orb, video encoder, Sage TV), the atom will not suffice. Besides from what I read, acer may not be any quieter than HP killing all the advantages of going the atom route.
vladgur
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 1:29p
YumRaj said: jhiggins8 said: I have the EX490 (new from eBay for $400 shipped) and I love it. Plug & go for me and it's been backing up my wired & wireless systems nicely. Now, I have to get a redundancy solution to make sure the backed-up data do not get hosed. Backups of backups. Anyone here have a good setup you can share? These support backing up on Amazon S3, so if you want real redundancy you may want to look into that since that not only saves data to another disk, it also does at another location. With amounts of data EX490 is capable of dealing with S3 will quickly become cost prohibitive. I have mine backup all the important data to Carbonite(all-you-can-eat kind of service). Btw there is a Jungle Disk Plugin to bring S3 to older EX models I believe
herbamatic
Senior Member
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 3:13p
definitely get lights out. I have the prior generation mediasmart and across gigabit ethernet it sure it fast, and its full duplex too. And it definitely is easy to manage.
TheMouse
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 4:56p
I have a Netgear ReadyNAS NVX that does everything that I really 'need'. A WHS would have some additional benefits for sure, but I am not willing to sacrafice on power consumption.
The ReadyNAS uses
62 Watts with 4 drives, RAID 5, downloading via bittorrent 7 Watts idle with drives powered down 1 Watt, Powered off, Wake-On-Lan ready
Anyone know what the power consumption of WHS is in similiar scenerios?
vladgur
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 5:16p
Google search reveals this: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/PowerConsumptionOfTheHPMediaSmartHPHomeServer.aspx * Volts: 112 min, 120 nominal, 124 max * Watts: 46.5 min, 52.2 nom, 80.2 max * Amps: .40 min, .41 nom, .63 max * Power factor: 1.00 * kWh during measurement period: 0.841 * Calculated kWh monthly average: 38.0 * Calculated cost: $3.00 per month @ $0.079 per kWh
will792
Member
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 5:54p
TheMouse said: I have a Netgear ReadyNAS NVX that does everything that I really 'need'. A WHS would have some additional benefits for sure, but I am not willing to sacrafice on power consumption.
The ReadyNAS uses
62 Watts with 4 drives, RAID 5, downloading via bittorrent 7 Watts idle with drives powered down 1 Watt, Powered off, Wake-On-Lan ready
Anyone know what the power consumption of WHS is in similiar scenerios?
Cannot give exact config numbers but here is what I have.
EX485 wtih 3 drives (Original Seagate 750GB + 2 1TB WD Green): ~65-69W while active no idle mode in WHS ~2W in sleep mode
There is always something running in WHS so it never spins down the drives. I have not had a chance to measure power consumption while reencoding video. Probably more since CPU temperature goes up 15-20C when reencoding is running.
Overall it is somewhat surprising how much power this baby takes. I expected something similar to MacMini but it is more than twice more.
Regarding plug-ins. I highly recommend Disk Management, Duplication Info and TiVo Publisher (if you have TiVo). I also installed iPerf server (network performance measurement tool) as a service and Time service (so all PCs at home synch up with that server).
jhiggins8 said: Now, I have to get a redundancy solution to make sure the backed-up data do not get hosed. Backups of backups. Anyone here have a good setup you can share?
Backups of backups....I have a second HD in my main pc. It is to backup some of the folders on my WHS. I also have a HD that is not on the pool. Its mounted in my WHS to back it up....I need to automate it somehow...
Also, I don't run any add on's. I got burned by one and had to reinstall it all. A lot of the add on's are made by amateurs. Skip it and just let the WHS do its thing.
unadog
Member
posted: Oct. 12, 2009 @ 7:26p
I have thought about buying this many times, but it is just "too in between" for me.
I got an Intel SS4200 NAS for $135. It is fast and solid, Linux 2.6 based box. I have 4 x 1.5 TB drives in a Raid 10 configuration. It is fast, solid, silent and easay to run. It only takes 1 minute to boot up and 15 seconds to shut down. I put in 4 Caviar Green drives and have them shut off at 15 minutes to save power. Sorry, no way top measure it.
It will also run things like Twonky media server and can be upgraded to WHS easily (Directions on the Intel site. There is also a version that ships with WHS.) You can log in to teh box remotely using SSH.
So the HP is a step up from that, but not quite a real PC, or a real server. I also understand that it has a "crippled" version of WHS. There are a lot of negative comments at Newegg also.
I almost bought it this time, but decided to buy a Dell Poweredge T100 server instead. Xeon CPU with almsot as much power as a Quad 8200, etc. Scalable, able to stack a lot of hard drives in, etc. $375 with tax and shipping with the Xeon and 2GB of RAM. Minus 10% Bing Cash Back is $337. Add a copy of WHS at Newegg for $91, total is $428 shipeed.
You might also have a look at an article at smallnetbuilder.com on building a Raid with a good hardware controller card. "Build a Cheap and Fast RAID 5 NAS"
Not exactly what you will want to do, but should give you some idea.
I got one of them too, a VERY nice piece, larger than the HP but easy to upgrade the CPU/Ram.....but at $135 it normally comes with no hard drives, and this deal is no longer available. While it is not extremely difficult to upgrade the OS to WHS, changing the operating system on a computer with no video output to monitor the situation will be daunting for some folks.
So the HP is a step up from that, but not quite a real PC, or a real server. I also understand that it has a "crippled" version of WHS. There is nothing crippled about the software. It includes FULL WHS and adds exclusive features that you can remove if you want to. There is a huge user group (mediasmartserver.net) that can help in any hacking includine upgrading hardware and adding features. It is a great size, is well built. My only complaint is that it's fans are louder than the SS4200-e.
I almost bought it this time, but decided to buy a Dell Poweredge T100 server instead. That does look like an excellent alternative for folks who want to add their own operating system. However, I think for them that want excellent plug and play functionality out of the box, the Mediasmarts are a great cost effective choice, especially on sale.
unadog
Member
posted: Oct. 13, 2009 @ 2:56p
Thanks! All good points.
As you can see from the typos, my post was a pretty quick one. I was mostly laying out the process I went through when I was thinking about buying the HP.
I was set to buy it at Newegg, had it in my cart, but couldn't pull the trigger. It wasn't quite what I needed. Then I moved to the Dell Poweredge T100 with the Xeon instead at about the same price (with 2GB and 2x160 GB drives).
I actually am going to run VMware ESXi free virtulization software on the T100. I may run WHS on top of that. Along with a lot of other software installs for testing. I bought cards and cables to build out the server with a number of drives, plus 8GB of RAM.
Good to hear that the HP is a full version of WHS! I will try to track down the post that said otherwise.
I appreciate the link to the forum too. Probably talk myself into buying one though as I read too much.
I expect the Intel SS4200 to go on special again soon. They were out of stock for a while at Newegg and some other places. Thinking they were waiting for a shipment to do another offer. That would be the 3rd in the last 3 months. It is a fun box to hack. A little technical as you said with no video to load WHS. But after all is said and done, I learned to really trust the box and just let it run as-is. Nice Linux 2.6 install running behind the sometimes confusing (lack of information) web interface. Really a solid box!
Total cost for the SS4200 with 2 Hitachi 1TB drives for me was $265 AR. The drives were $65 each AR.
I tried to buy an open box at Newegg for $95, but when it came time to ship it was already sold .... grrr ....
Thanks, and Cheers!
Michael
Edit: A quick "FWIW." The Xeon 3110 CPU in the Dell box retails at Newegg for $185. Same processor as the Core 2 Dual E8400. Not a bad deal to get the whole box at $329.
The Celeron in the HP is about $40. WHS 32 bit is $81 at Newegg today. (Newegg has the 1.5 TB version of the HP today at $499.) (The Dell T100 at $329. is posted as a deal at techbargains today - can I get a "hot deal" credit for this babble here?)
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